Decolonising Development: Exploring Conceptual Space of Debates on the Past, Present and Futures of Development Cooperation

Civil society, academic and government views and activities around "decolonising development" span a broad range of positions – they open up a conceptual space. Exploring this space as part of discussions and controversies about the past, present and future of international development cooperation is a key part of engaging with the topic. This interactive tool invites you to navigate select texts in three steps. First, you are invited to explore different viewpoints along three conceptual axes in the Axes View. Then, you can explore how these positions relate to each other in the 3D Conceptual Space. Lastly, in the Your Position section, you are invited to position yourself in the conceptual space you have just explored. Importantly, the tool features several sources by the same institutions/authors to demonstrate their varying perspectives depending on the context of the work. These findings are based on analysis conducted by the Africa Policy Research Institute’s (APRI) staff.

The axes view categorises literature on development cooperation using three distinct axes identified through desk and thematic clustering: Reform–Transformation, Collective–Individual, and Western–Global South. The Reform–Transformation axis differentiates between adapting current systems of development cooperation from within (which is represented on the reform side) versus completely replacing them (which is represented on the transformation side). The Collective–Individual axis balances shared responsibility and community engagement against initiatives that rely heavily on individuals to spearhead change. Finally, the Western–Global South axis distinguishes between perspectives that critique Western universalism/altruism and those that actively center Global South empowerment and indigenous knowledge. Placement along these axes serves strictly as an objective coding mechanism rather than a value judgment or a normative stance on the literature. All sources are placed according to their level of conviction and based on a scale of -10 to 10. Sources that fall on 0 for any particular axis do not address the respective axis categorisation.

The 3D conceptual space view is based on the three axes but puts them into a coordinate system that visualises how texts cluster together thematically. It organises the sources into distinct octants based on each source's placement on the three axes. This aligns them with a position that encapsulates how each source broadly understands and analyses colonial continuities in development cooperation. The octants include: Reformist Western Establishment, State-led Southern Development, Technocratic Western-led Development, Local Southern Champions, Global Solidarity, the Pluriverse, Critical Western Voices, and Radical Vanguards.

In this section, after having interacted with the axes and the 3D conceptual space, you are invited to locate yourself along certain positions taken in the mapped texts by selecting the options that best resonate with you. Based on your responses to each of the nine questions, your position is then mapped onto the conceptual space you have just explored. The questions are randomly selected, with three of each representing a particular axis and source. By responding to these questions, a set of coordinates will be established to place you in an octant on the 3D conceptual space that best aligns with your responses. Once you receive a placement, we invite you to reflect on this position and how you see yourself fitting into the conceptual space with regard to where you align and converge with the sources listed.