The persistence of development in times of biopolitics and modular survival

Abstract

The article examines the persistence of development programs and policies at a moment that seems to indicate a certain exhaustion of this narrative. Based on critical approaches about the theme of development and especially on Giorgio Agamben’s thought (and other authors with whom the Italian philosopher dialogues in his writings), the text seeks to analyze, based on contemporary literature, which purpose of real social transformation remains in development processes. It also intends to examine how the development narrative is updated with recent trends around neoliberalism, biopolitics and the modular survival of our time. The modular plasticity of production and government of the living and the incessant metamorphosis of what is development accomplish a convergence with market mechanisms and post-disciplinary instruments of regulation, presenting development as a still effective apparatus for capturing and controlling life.

Key-words: Societies of control. Neoliberalism. Algorithm. Development.