Construed most broadly, development refers to the goal of improving the general conditions in which human beings lead their lives (eliminating poverty, reducing illness, improving infrastructure, etc.), thereby promoting human well-being. For this reason, international organizations, governments, and ordinary citizens have long regarded development as an obvious goal for all communities. Nations were classified in terms of stages of development, and a host of programs and policies were designed with the stated goal of furthering the development of "underdeveloped" nations and communities. For reasons both historical and ideological, the idea of development rather quickly came to be understood as closely connected with modernization, understood in such terms as technological advancement, political and economic liberalization, and social emancipation.

Increasingly, however, critics have raised objections to development understood this way. Some claim that the idea of development represents simply a façade for parochial and often exploitative interests, and is thus simply a modern manifestation of colonialism. Others insist that development has no context-independent meaning, and so policies informed by this ideal are incoherent. Still others suggest that the idea of development does have a clear meaning (i.e. modernization on the model of the West) and has genuinely been the aim of international policies and programs, but they maintain that development so understood constitutes a serious harm to many cultures. Coming to terms with these and related criticisms is central for anyone concerned with issues like the duties of richer nations to poorer ones, the spread of market capitalism and multi-national corporations around the world, the commitment to ideals of equality within a diverse world, the threat of environmental deterioration, and the design and implementation of institutions and policies that might make the world a better place.

To explore these and related themes, the Center for Ethics and World Societies is sponsoring, throughout the academic year 2001-02, a series of events organized around the theme of development By bringing in scholars, artists, activists, and professionals representing various areas of expertise, the Center hopes to stimulate discussion of these issues and promote better understanding of the complex questions at stake in such debates