Preface -- Understanding underdevelopment -- The explosion of third world democracy -- Religion and politics -- The politics of cultural pluralism and ethnic conflict -- Women and development -- The politics of the rural and urban poor -- Revolutionary change -- Soldiers and politics -- The...

The article provides a broad-based overview on competing development strategies and the economic performance of developing countries, mainly since the year 2000. Four traditional mainstream development strategies are discussed (Washington Consensus, neo-liberalism, "good governance" and MDGs)...