This is a book for those concerned about the trajectory of development, and about the continuing encroachment of managerialism into social life. The authors challenge the objectivity and neutrality claimed by proponents of managerialism and seek to overturn and/or reclaim ideas such as participation, community, governance, NGOs and civil society.

'Development management' is an idea that blends the seemingly innocuous claims of managerialism with notions of modernity and utopian ideals of 'third world' progress. This book views both phenomena as problematic and modernizing interventions. In doing so, it overturns and reclaims such ideas as participation, community, governance, NGOs, and civil society. The contributors argue that the practices of development are often threaded together by the language of managerialism - reports, logframe, encounters with the boss - yet all of these serve to further development's disengagement from the mundane.

In voicing such concerns about the way development is going, and about the encroachment of managerialism, The New Development Management will breathe fresh life into post-development debates.

This critical treatment of development management is a sorely needed and very persuasive intervention. Dar and Cooke remind us that development management is never simply a technical matter, but comes with its own historical baggage, perennially entangled in complex sets of unequal power relations. The everyday tools of the trade will never seem the same again.