Their Future

A compelling examination of how economic development projects ignore local history, and the effects of this shortsightedness

Foreign aid planners rarely consider the history of the societies in which they work, an oversight noted in the development literature but rarely examined. Aid programmes costing billions of dollars operate largely in a historical vacuum, divorced from the knowledge of what succeeded or failed in the past.

Michael Gubser chronicles the varieties of ahistoricism in international development theory and practice since 1945. He traces the history of development ideas, analysing key theoretical and policy statements to highlight the marginalisation of history in favour of technical solutions to economic and social problems.

He examines aid programmes in several developing countries to show how Western models of social and economic development have been applied and misapplied.

Their Future provides a critical perspective on the intersection of development and history, urging a more considered approach to aid that respects and incorporates local historical contexts.