Beyond Mainstream Development: The Moral Economy Alternative

Abstract Calls for moral economy abound as evidence accumulates of growing social, ecological and racialized failings of mainstream development conceived as a Westerncentric/Eurocentric construct largely driven by the notion of ‘economic growth’ as basis of development. There is now a considerable and diverse literature on contradictions of the mainstream development, including questions of inequality, climate change vulnerability, white racism, modern slavery, child labor, terrorism, new nationalism, decline of multilateralism at post-Brexit Europe and more recently COVID-19 pandemic-which has exacerbated existing poverty and inequality in the Global South. Yet these growing concerns are neglected in mainstream development discourse. Importantly, the broader landscape within which climate change, modern slavery, white racism, ecological and human security is situated is increasingly changing bringing new challenges to the understanding and rational of mainstream development. In view of this context, this article makes a new contribution to the debate on the failures of the mainstream development in post-pandemic world order. Building on post development debate, it argues that there are several disconnects, tensions and contradictions between the economic growth model and more ethical and equitable treatment of development. It proffers a moral economy and what makes it an alternative model and draws new distinctions between development as economic growth, which inhibits an understanding of moral economy that can address more directly the underlying contradictions of mainstream development in an historically asymmetrical global system.