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Challenges of Development in Difficult Sociopolitical Contexts

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Development in Difficult Sociopolitical Contexts

Part of the book series: Rethinking International Development Series ((RID))

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Abstract

In the middle of writing this chapter, I visited a friend who has been in the development industry for a couple of decades. I had not seen him for a while as he had been in Afghanistan and, for a considerable period after that, in hospital. Afghanistan has arguably been the most dangerous place in the world to do development work, perhaps since the 1960s, and, of course, undertaking development while a war is ongoing is almost a contradiction in terms. Especially in Afghanistan, but perhaps in many other ‘difficult sociopolitical contexts’, development gains have been few, extraordinarily expensive for their outcomes, and probably not sustainable.

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© 2014 Damien Kingsbury

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Kingsbury, D. (2014). Challenges of Development in Difficult Sociopolitical Contexts. In: Ware, A. (eds) Development in Difficult Sociopolitical Contexts. Rethinking International Development Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137347633_3

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