in our Introduction, this is the fi rst ‘knowledge foundation’ or ‘the focus or domain
of study’.
In this introduction we discuss the opening quotations to this chapter in order to
‘set the scene’. The writers who have been cited are, of course, not unique in addressing
the meaning of development, but the selections have been made in order to
introduce the reader to the wide range of perspectives which exists.
It would be an understatement to say that the defi nition of ‘development’ has been
controversial and unstable over time. As Thomas (2004: 1) argues, development is
‘contested, … complex, and ambiguous’. Gore (2000: 794–5) notes that in the 1950s
and 1960s a ‘vision of the liberation of people and peoples’ dominated, based on
‘structural transformation’. This perception has tended to ‘slip from view’ for many
contributors to the development literature. A second perspective is the defi nition
embraced by international development donor agencies that Thomas notes. This is a
defi nition of development which is directly related to the achievement of poverty
reduction and of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).