For some time now, 'development' has been simultaneously the motto and theme of the official and 'professional' ideology - as well as government policies. It is perhaps useful to recall briefly the genealogy of the notion.

Text of a Conference paper given at Florence in 1974. First published in Esprit, May 1976. Reprinted (with a lengthy discussion, not  given here) in C. Mendes ed., le Mythe du développement, le Seuil, Paris, 1977.

Praxis International, Volume 4 no. 4, January 1985