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| NEW INTERNATIONALIST 232 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| THIS MONTH'S THEME | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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The discovery of
poverty SUCCESS! Technology as a
Trojan horse The economist's blind
eye BEHIND THE FACTS Whose environment? One world against many
worlds Development ended
in Kuwait
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Development |
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| FROM THIS MONTH'S EDITOR | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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I'VE just been processing the results of a readership survey which for the first time has been carried out simultaneously in all our main read- ers' countries. Only the UK results are in so far and we'll report on the whole picture as soon as we have it. But one interesting section of the questionnaire asked readers to tick their three favourite departments in the magazine (Facts, Country Profile and so on). The only section which got no votes at all was this one, the Editor's Letter. Not a sausage. Even the ads got approval from three per cent of readers. We can only assume that you take such violent exception to the mug shot of the editor con- cerned that you pass on to less distasteful sights with indecent haste. What should I say in the first Editor's Letter after this knowledge has been digested? The Letter is designed as an informal introduction to the magazine each month which at the same time offers readers a demystify- ing glimpse behind the scenes. In this case the magazine has more need of
an introduction than usual, Sachs' ideas are dynamite. They call into question the whole phase of human activity which we are used to describing as 'development'. The NI has been happy enough over the years to fight under this banner even while attacking whole areas of development in practice. But perhaps the time has come for us to cast aside the underlying assumption that everyone in 'development' is working towards broadly similar ends. At the very least this issue has given the editorial team a great deal to think about. We freely admit that Sachs' arguments make for a more challenging read than a standard NI issue: but the pay-off at the end is probably greater too. Last year at around this time I was introducing in this space the Starve Trek comic book, which was as big a departure in a lighter direction as this is in a heavier direction. We would like to feel that the NI is a broad enough church that it can embrace these polar opposites in terms of style. But just in case you don't agree - normal service will, as they say, be resumed next month. |
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Letters FRONT COVER ILLUSTRATION: |
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Chris Brazier
for the New Internationalist Co-operative |
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since
the central section of the issue has been almost entirely devoted to one person's
writing - a German thinker called Wolfgang Sachs who is based at the Institute
for Cultural Studies in Essen. His series of essays On the Archaeology
of the Development Idea landed on my desk more than a year ago. It sounded
pretty heavy going. German academic? Heavyweight title? Development theory?
It found its way into a useful file marked 'Possible Future Issues' that meant
I could postpone looking at it indefinitely. When it came round to preparing
for the annual meeting at which we choose magazine subjects I plucked it out
and had a look at the first paragraph, expecting not to get any further. But
I kept on reading... and by the end I knew I'd hap- pened upon a future NI
issue. 
