Preview
IB DP Global Politics — Thematic study: Development and sustainability | SL | Alternative Views on Development and Sustainability
📋 What You Will Learn
- Define development and sustainability, and explain why these concepts are contested
- Describe mainstream (Western/liberal) models of development and their assumptions
- Explain alternative frameworks: post-development, degrowth, Buen Vivir, Ubuntu, feminist and postcolonial critiques
- Analyse how different actors and communities define and pursue development on their own terms
- Compare how theoretical perspectives (realism, liberalism, postcolonialism, feminism) interpret development and sustainability
- Evaluate the claim that dominant development models are inadequate or harmful, and assess what genuinely sustainable alternatives might look like
🔍 Guiding Question If "development" has largely been defined by wealthy, Western-dominated institutions, whose interests does it serve — and can genuinely alternative visions of human flourishing and sustainability replace or transform it?
🌍 Why This Matters In 2023, Ecuador became the first country in the world to vote in a national referendum to halt oil drilling in the Yasuní National Park — one of the most biodiverse places on Earth — despite the economic costs. The decision reflected indigenous Waorani and Kichwa communities' vision of nature as a rights-holder, not a resource. It challenged the assumption that economic growth and environmental protection are always in tension, and asked: who gets to define what "development" means?
🔑 Key Concept Link This topic engages all four key concepts. Power is central: who defines development, and whose knowledge counts? Sovereignty is at stake when international institutions impose development conditions on states. Legitimacy is questioned when communities reject externally imposed models. Interdependence shapes both the global spread of dominant models and the transnational networks through which alternatives are shared and advocated. Return to these links throughout.
What Is Development — and Why Is It Contested?
The word "development" sounds neutral — who could oppose it? But every definition of development contains a political choice: about what counts as progress, who measures it, and who benefits. Understanding why development is contested is the starting point for understanding alternative views.
📖 Definition — Development Development refers to processes of change that improve human well-being and quality of life. In mainstream usage it is often equated with economic growth, industrialisation and modernisation; in broader usage it encompasses political, social, cultural and environmental dimensions. The IB subject guide treats development as a contested concept: there is no single agreed definition.
📖 Definition — Sustainability Sustainability refers to meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (Brundtland Commission, 1987). It encompasses environmental sustainability (ecological limits), social sustainability (equity and justice) and economic sustainability (long-term viability). Like development, it is contested: different actors prioritise different dimensions.
- Mainstream development discourse emerged largely from post-1945 Western institutions (World Bank, IMF, USAID) and assumed a universal path: from "traditional" to "modern" society, measured by GDP per capita.
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