Abstract
Technical assistance (TA) has a long and varied history as a development practice. It initially emerged as a set of 'hard' programs, tools, and technologies delivered to developing countries by imported First World experts, typically in the agricultural and resource sectors. Later, in response to critical and antidevelopment theories, TA morphed into its 'soft' version, attempting to empower marginalized people in the Global South by delivering the know-how - often collaboratively generated - sufficient to produce forms of development 'from below'. In spite of this shift in the politics and practices of TA, it remains susceptible to neoliberal styles of development that have proceeded apace with withdrawal of state institutions in the funding and operation of social and economic development programs, and with the concomitant rise of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). In this paper, we follow the operation of one TA program operated by an intermediary NGO in Oaxaca, Mexico. We find that the program intersects with neoliberalization in two prominent ways, relying on a form of governmentality that codifies and prescribes: (a) the social spaces of action and need, and (b) learning subjects deficient in entrepreneurial initiative and know-how. We conclude by commenting on the political economic conditions that continue to underwrite TA as a development practice in spite of a decade or more of criticism directed at it and we consider the possibilities for its subversion.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 527-542 |
| Number of pages | 16 |
| Journal | Geoforum |
| Volume | 39 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 2008 |
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Keywords
- Community foundations
- Development
- Governmentality
- Mexico
- Neoliberalism
- NGOs
- Oaxaca
- Technical assistance
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Sociology and Political Science
Cite this
Neoliberal development through technical assistance : Constructing communities of entrepreneurial subjects in Oaxaca, Mexico. / Walker, Margath; Roberts, Susan M.; Jones, John P; Fröhling, Oliver.
In: Geoforum, Vol. 39, No. 1, 01.2008, p. 527-542.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Neoliberal development through technical assistance
T2 - Constructing communities of entrepreneurial subjects in Oaxaca, Mexico
AU - Walker, Margath
AU - Roberts, Susan M.
AU - Jones, John P
AU - Fröhling, Oliver
PY - 2008/1
Y1 - 2008/1
N2 - Technical assistance (TA) has a long and varied history as a development practice. It initially emerged as a set of 'hard' programs, tools, and technologies delivered to developing countries by imported First World experts, typically in the agricultural and resource sectors. Later, in response to critical and antidevelopment theories, TA morphed into its 'soft' version, attempting to empower marginalized people in the Global South by delivering the know-how - often collaboratively generated - sufficient to produce forms of development 'from below'. In spite of this shift in the politics and practices of TA, it remains susceptible to neoliberal styles of development that have proceeded apace with withdrawal of state institutions in the funding and operation of social and economic development programs, and with the concomitant rise of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). In this paper, we follow the operation of one TA program operated by an intermediary NGO in Oaxaca, Mexico. We find that the program intersects with neoliberalization in two prominent ways, relying on a form of governmentality that codifies and prescribes: (a) the social spaces of action and need, and (b) learning subjects deficient in entrepreneurial initiative and know-how. We conclude by commenting on the political economic conditions that continue to underwrite TA as a development practice in spite of a decade or more of criticism directed at it and we consider the possibilities for its subversion.
AB - Technical assistance (TA) has a long and varied history as a development practice. It initially emerged as a set of 'hard' programs, tools, and technologies delivered to developing countries by imported First World experts, typically in the agricultural and resource sectors. Later, in response to critical and antidevelopment theories, TA morphed into its 'soft' version, attempting to empower marginalized people in the Global South by delivering the know-how - often collaboratively generated - sufficient to produce forms of development 'from below'. In spite of this shift in the politics and practices of TA, it remains susceptible to neoliberal styles of development that have proceeded apace with withdrawal of state institutions in the funding and operation of social and economic development programs, and with the concomitant rise of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). In this paper, we follow the operation of one TA program operated by an intermediary NGO in Oaxaca, Mexico. We find that the program intersects with neoliberalization in two prominent ways, relying on a form of governmentality that codifies and prescribes: (a) the social spaces of action and need, and (b) learning subjects deficient in entrepreneurial initiative and know-how. We conclude by commenting on the political economic conditions that continue to underwrite TA as a development practice in spite of a decade or more of criticism directed at it and we consider the possibilities for its subversion.
KW - Community foundations
KW - Development
KW - Governmentality
KW - Mexico
KW - Neoliberalism
KW - NGOs
KW - Oaxaca
KW - Technical assistance
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=37449005612&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=37449005612&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.geoforum.2007.10.009
DO - 10.1016/j.geoforum.2007.10.009
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:37449005612
VL - 39
SP - 527
EP - 542
JO - Geoforum
JF - Geoforum
SN - 0016-7185
IS - 1
ER -