In both capitalist and socialist nations, industrial growth has destroyed the natural world, intensified social inequalities, and abrogated intergenerational equity. The greatest obstacle on the path to sustainability is the hegemony of developmentality, which equates affluence with happiness, measures development in terms of GNP growth, and accepts development to be the destiny of civilization. To arrest further destruction of the natural world and build a sustainable society, the economy must terminate growth. State economic institutions must eventually introduce, and be accustomed to, zero rates of interest and profit. This revolutionary proposition seems absurd to the layman, policymakers and the traditional Left alike. Public acceptance of a new economic order – where money cannot buy any resource that could yield rent in perpetuity, where internalization of environmental costs would nullify profit, and where saving in banks would yield no interests – would seem extremely difficult at the outset. But from ecological economic perspective, zero-growth economy is our only option if we really want to save our common future.

Contents

Acknowledgements

Preface: A View from America
        by Richard Norgaard

Introduction

Chapter 1: The Doctrine of Development

Chapter 2: Myths and Misconceptions

Chapter 3: Propagating Profligacy

Chapter 4: Fantasies and Falsities

Chapter 5: Arguments for Alternatives

Chapter 6: Search for Sustainability

Chapter 7: Consilience and Change

Chapter 8: Superstructural Superpositions

Chapter 9: Inferences and Implications 

Index

Reviews

This book could not have been better timed, coming as it does in the midst of the worst economic crisis the world has faced for decades. Debal Deb, has written an incisive analysis of what is fundamentally wrong with the global economic system. He also presents a framework for an alternative path of human welfare that does not imperil the very earth that sustains us, and is available to all people. He combines various disciplines and perspectives in an impressive synthesis. Read More…

Ashis Kothari, Frontline, 26(51); 18-31 July 2009

 

This book takes a hard look at what is wrong with the mainstream interpretation of development and explores alternatives to the developmentality.… The book is a must read for all those concerned with environmental and social dimensions of the current growth path. Read More…

‘With this book Debal Deb moves into the ranks of critical philosophical practitioners speaking from developing countries – Enrique Leff, José Lutzenberger, Vandana Shiva, Victor Toledo and others – whose writings and lives are testaments of sanity, care, and vision.’

From the Foreword by Richard Norgaard, UC Berkeley, USA

‘From what I have read this looks like a truly extraordinary work – one that is very exciting to me…’

—John Bellamy Foster, University of Oregon, USA

‘For the better part of the last two decades the debate has raged over development as a modernist project questioning its epistemology, its enlightenment roots, its relation to imperial power and the massive machineries of development discourse associated with institutions like the World Bank. In its contemporary variant – neoliberal globalization – the search for alternatives to the hegemony of the market and of corporate power has taken on a new life driven by the so-called movement of movements. In Beyond Developmentality, Debal Deb takes on board this long history of resistance to development in its multiplicity of forms and opens the door for a serious discussion of alternatives. Deb has scaled the walls of the fortress of development and shaken the structure to its very foundations.’

—Michael Watts, Class of 63 Professor, University of California-Berkeley

‘Debal Deb gives a fascinating, erudite and remarkably cosmopolitan guided tour around the erroneous assumptions and pathologically compartmentalised reasoning prevalent in mainstream so-called development thinking and its historical and contemporary practice. He also offers valuable suggestions for improvement. Just as many economics text should carry a toxicity warning this should carry a commendation for promoting intellectual health. Deb’s work makes a substantial contribution to furthering the existing body of critiques by the likes of Rahnema, Korten, Escobar and Illich.’

—Oliver Springate-Baginski, Overseas Development Group, University of East Anglia

‘Debal Deb is one of the most important voice for ecological sanity on our planet. He shows that consumer capitalism destroys ecosystems and that traditional models of development paradoxically create poverty when they offer prosperity. He shows in this vitally important book that it is possible to create real wealth while sustaining our environment by drawing upon the knowledge of indigenous people and grassroots social movements. He shows that only by rejecting ‘developmentality’ and embracing eco-socialism can we solve problems of poverty, climate change, deforestation and declining resources. He is a rare voice of sanity in a field where superficial techno-fixes are offered to address ecological problems instead of the revolutionary changes in society, epistemology and economics which are actually required.’

—Derek Wall, Principal Speaker of the Green Party of England and Wales

‘Debal Deb combines sharp and detailed scientific analysis with deep social commitment. This book is a must read for anyone who wants to get development right, so that it works for nature and people and not against them.’

—Vandana Shiva, Director, Research Foundation for Science, Technology & Ecology, New Delhi