The Guardian: Does the west really care about development?
Jason Hickel, anthropologist at the London School of Economics

“…[‘Developmentalism’] was built on the twin values of economic independence and social justice. … Instead of supporting the developmentalist movement, [Western powers] set out on a decades-long campaign to topple the elected governments that were leading it and to install strongmen friendly to their [own] interests … It reflects an organized effort on the part of western powers to destroy the developmentalist movement that flowered in the global south after colonialism. They simply would not tolerate development if it restricted their access to resources and markets. The legacy of this history is that there is now greater inequality between the west and the rest than there was at the end of colonialism. … No one has been brought to justice for the coups and assassinations that destroyed the global south’s most promising attempt at development and crushed popular dreams of independence. Probably no one ever will. But we need to acknowledge that they happened, and stop pretending that the U.S., France, and Britain are benevolent champions of the poor” (3/5).