Completing the Political Turn and Rethinking in Development Studies

Document Type : Research

Authors

1 Associate Professor of Political Science, Dept. of Political Sciences, Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.

2 Ph.D in Political Science, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Since the 1990s, a political turn called "political economy" has been visible in development studies. The main purpose of this turning was to pay attention to the political components and specific characteristics of each society. Over time, however, it becomes clear that this new approach has not been successful. In particular, this turning does not address the issue of change and how it is realized and continued as the most important issue of development. So many questions in this regard has remained unanswered. Accordingly, this article seeks to answer the reasons for this failure and how to complete this political turn by examining the theories and literature in this field in a qualitative manner. Our hypothesis in response to this question is that "the focus of the political economy approach on the proper design of institutions and incentives stems from a technical approach that ignores the difficult political process of their regulation. Emphasizing the role of the agent, power, ideas, and generally a deeper political analysis to explain change can provide the theoretical framework needed to pay attention to developmental leadership and complete this turn." The findings of this study showed that the use of new theories in the form of the third phase of institutionalism in development studies can provide the necessary contexts and tools to consider the role of political variables in development, especially the role of agency, institutional and political work.

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References

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International Political Economy Studies
Volume 5, Issue 2
December 2022
Pages 389-413

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History

  • Receive Date: 03 October 2021
  • Revise Date: 14 November 2022
  • Accept Date: 16 July 2022

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