Firooza pavri progress in development studiesthis lucidly written book thoroughly updated provides both an assessment of the current state of development theory and an extensive survey of the. Understanding development theory and practice in the third world inproceedings rapley1996understandingdt title understanding development theory and practice in the third world author j rapley year 1996 j rapley published 1996 political science the progress of development development theory in the postwar period. Rapley critically traces the evolution of development theory from its strong statist orientation in the early postwar period through the neoclassical phase to the present emerging consensus on people centered development. An introduction to the theory and practices of development in the third world tracing the evolution of development theory over 40 years and examining why so many of the benefits of development are still not shared by millions