Evolving Themes in Rural Development 1950s‐2000s

Frank Ellis and Stephen Biggs

Development Policy Review, 2001, vol. 19, issue 4, 437-448

Abstract: This article provides a brief overview of the major switches in rural development thinking that have occurred over the past half‐century or so. Dominant and subsidiary themes are identified, as well as the co‐existence of different narratives running in parallel. The continuing success of the long‐running ‘small‐farm efficiency’ paradigm is highlighted. The article concludes by asking whether sustainable livelihoods approaches can be interpreted as providing a new or different way forward for rural development in the future. The answer is a cautious ‘yes’, since these approaches potentially permit the cross‐sectoral and multi‐occupational character of contemporary rural livelihoods in low‐income countries to be placed centre‐stage in efforts to reduce rural poverty.

Date: 2001
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (25)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-7679.00143

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:devpol:v:19:y:2001:i:4:p:437-448

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0950-6764

Access Statistics for this article

Development Policy Review is currently edited by David Booth

More articles in Development Policy Review from Overseas Development Institute Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().