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The Diffusion of Ideas in Development Theory and Policy

SUM, University of Oslo, Norway

The article uses quantitative bibliographic data from 1972 to 2002 to trace how three selected ideas–‘the informal sector’, ‘sustainable development’ and ‘social capital’–took off and spread throughout the academic, policy and popular realms during this period. It analyses data from electronic databases–of academic journals, dissertations, newspapers, magazines, and World Bank and United Nations publications–and also draws on insights from the CANDID-project (an acronym for the ‘Creation, Adoption, Negation and Distortion of Ideas in Development’). It appears that the rate of diffusion of ideas is increasing over time; and that the rate, and extent, of diffusion is more rapid when the idea is initiated/promoted in the policy or popular realms than in the academic realm. The most successful ideas are not those that are most analytically rigorous but those that are most malleable, achieving consensus by conveying different meanings to different audiences.

Key Words: development policy • diffusion • ideas • multilateral organizations

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