Development Discourse and Practice: Alternatives and New Directions from Postcolonial Perspectives

Development and aid programs, such as those aimed at promoting economic growth and prosperity in ‘Third World’ nations and transition economies, often arise out of Western and neo-liberal policy ideologies and practices. These programs may, in some cases, provide useful guidelines for restructuring institutional structures and governance mechanisms in nations that have long struggled with poverty, economic instability, health crises, and social and political turmoil. However, a growing number of critical voices are raising concerns over the guiding assumptions and inclusiveness of these policies and programs in their aims to promote economic development and social well-being in non-Western nations. We join these critical perspectives by way of postcolonial frameworks to highlight some of the problematic assumptions and oversights of development programs, while offering new alternatives and directions. By doing so, we contribute to organizational theorizing in a global context, as postcolonial insights provide much needed engagement with international aid policies and programs, as well as development organizations and institutions. To accomplish this, we offer a historical perspective on development, present a critique of the policies and practices guiding many aid programs, and conclude with suggestions emanating from postcoloniality

Enacting the rules of global finance : sovereign wealth funds and the promotion of corporate governance reform

In the wake of the financial crises of the last two decades, the promotion of corporate governance reform has emerged as a priority concern of the international financial community. This paper draws attention to the role played by Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) in this process. It shows that SWFs’ enactment of a common set of shareholder-oriented corporate governance reforms has not solely been driven from the ‘outside in’—i.e. conforming to prevailing global financial norms and pressures. Indeed, various SWFs are in fact attempting to change financial best practice from the ‘inside out’ by promoting a transformative shareholder-value model of corporate governance throughout the companies they hold in their investment portfolios. To better elucidate the dynamics of this process, this paper looks at the experience of two SWFs in Asia and Europe. More specifically, it will explore the corporate governance agendas of Norway’s Government Pension Fund-Global and Malaysia’s Khazanah Nasional Berhad