About the Journal

Challenges of economic and social development are, by their nature, diverse. They cover the coordination of action through social and political institutions, as well as actions of individuals and of organizations. Its welfare dimensions are also broad, ranging from narrowly defined economic interests to broader conceptions of human progress. Constraints and enabling mechanisms arise from both human agency, and the environment within which humans exercise their agency. Inevitably, this means that a range of disciplines are relevant to scholars interested in development, from the social sciences such as economics, political science, and sociology, through management disciplines, and an ever-increasing set of the natural sciences, from genetics to environmental sciences and beyond. Following relevant progress across such a wide array of disciplines, each with their specific sets of methodologies and styles of presenting evidence and assessing its robustness, is non-trivial in and of itself, and made more challenging by ever-increasing specialization in each area of enquiry. The Journal of Development Perspectives intends to provide an opportunity for scholars interested in development to contribute to improved communication across disciplines. It does so by providing a platform both for the publication of new research findings presented in a manner accessible to a generalist audience, and by actively encouraging synoptic assessments of the state of knowledge in areas of interest to scholars of development. In doing so, it invites contributions from all disciplines that are relevant to development questions.