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Climate crisis. Cost of living crisis. Proliferating geopolitical crises. Post-pandemic austerity. Development over the next decade and beyond is in an age of crises.

Emerging questions include: What is the core crisis? Are developing countries experiencing one polycrisis or many separate crises? What is cause and what is a symptom? Is this likely to be a long crisis? Can it be fixed? Is it a crisis of capitalism, a crisis of governance or a crisis of ideas or simply the ongoing day-to-day crisis for many of the world’s population? In short, whose crisis is it? Who frames the crisis cause and solutions? Will there be a final collapse or a long period of dystopia, dysfunctions and suffering for millions of people?

This plenary will focus on the study of development in this turbulent time: How can development studies respond to the frequent, interconnected and mutually reinforcing crises the world is facing, and is likely to face in years to come? How do different approaches in development studies contribute to our understanding of crises and what to do about them? How can these approaches help analyse and understand the idea of crisis differently? Are these interpretations in tension or are they complementary? Will development studies be able to prove that is truly inter- and trans-disciplinary and contribute to the understanding of policy and governance challenges in the Global South? 

In summary: what is development studies for, and what can it contribute, in the age of crises?

Chair: Andy Sumner, EADI President

Speakers:

Karina Batthyány, Executive Secretary of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO)

Eun Mee Kim, President of Ewha Womans University, representing the Asian Political and International Studies Association (APISA)

Dr. Sebeka Richard Plaatje, President of the South African Development Studies Association (SADSA)

Arief Anshory Yusuf, President Indonesian Regional Science Association