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Development: Social capital

| By Anthony Bebbington | Published in the International Encyclopedia of Human Geography, pp 165-170. Edited by N. Thrift and R. Kitchin. Oxford: Elsevier. | Abstract: The concept of social capital generally refers to the assets that reside within social actors’ relationships. These assets are understood as constituting an important part of people’s identities, livelihood and political strategies, […]

Social capital and development studies 1: critique, debate, progress?

| By Anthony Bebbington | Published in Progress in Development Studies, 4(4): 343-349 | Abstract: This is the first in a series of short notes on social capital in development studies. Departing from three recent critical interventions (Fine, 2001; Harriss, 2002; Studia Africana, 2002) this first note reflects on the nature of the debate about the concept, […]

Exploring Social Capital Debates at the World Bank

| By Anthony Bebbington, Scott Guggenheim, Elizabeth Olson, and Michael Woolcock | Published in Journal of Development Studies, 40 (5):33-64 | Abstract: This article explores the ways in which discussions of social capital have emerged within the World Bank,and how they interacted both with project practices and with larger debates in the institution. These debates are […]

Practice, power and meaning: frameworks for studying organisational culture in multi-agency rural development projects

| By D. Lewis, A. Bebbington, S. Batterbury, A. Shah, E. Olson, M. S. Siddiqi and S. Duvall | Published in the Journal of International Development, 15: 541-557 | Abstract: Culture has received increasing attention in critical development studies, though the notion that there are important cultural differences within and between development organisations has received less […]

Geographies of development in Latin America?

| By Anthony Bebbington | Published in the Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers Yearbook, Vol 27 pp. 105-148 | Introduction: “Powerful,” “evocative,” “imprecise,” “debated”–all adjectives that might come to mind when we think of the word “development.” “Development” has been used to refer to modernization, economic growth, empowerment, the expansion of human capabilities, and change of various forms and […]

Sharp knives and blunt instruments: social capital in development studies

| By Anthony Bebbington | Antipode 34(4): 800-803 | Introduction: Social capital is a fascinating and perplexing concept—not only (and perhaps not even mainly) because of its strengths or weaknesses qua concept, but also because of the vibrancy and virulence of the debates to which its post-Putnam popularization has given rise. I have encountered and been part […]