Development administration: The state of the discipline

Abstract

Development administration abroad is of fairly recent origin and is a result of chiefly American academic interest in foreign aid programmes and more particularly in the transfer of administrative skills, structures and training programmes to Third World countries. The South African counterpart of development administration goes back to the founding of Native law and administration as a one year course in 1918, with anthropology providing the main intellectual stimulus.

Soon several important themes relating to development problems and institutions were established, while development theory, community studies, development needs and problems received increasing attention. Too little attention is devoted to international development issues.

Notes

Head of the Department of Development Administration and Politics, Unisa.