From "Growth" to "Basic Needs": The Evolution of Development Theory

Abstract

There is no topic in the world today more important, or more subject to ideological mystification and obfuscation, than that of "development." To be clear about it is to be clear about the crucial issues, including the issue of peace and war, that are decisive for the future of humankind. Ibrahim Samater's article, which we are proud to publish as this month's "Review of the Month," goes directly to the heart of the matter. We commend its careful study to all MR readers. The author, a former finance minister and minister of planning in the government of Somalia and Somalia's ambassador to West Germany, is now a doctoral student in economics at the University of California, Riverside. - The Editors.

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