Description
Book SynopsisBecause it provided the dominant framework for the "development" of poor, postcolonial countries, modernization theory ranks among the important constructs of twentieth-century social science. This title offers the intellectual history of a movement that has had far-reaching, and often unintended, consequences.
Trade ReviewThe detailed analysis and broad-ranging explorations in Mandarins of the Future will interest scholars and graduate students in a variety of areas. -- Johanna Bockman Journal of Cold War Studies 2006 Intellectual fashions come and go, and this well-researched book artfully analyzes the rise and fall of one of the more powerful paradigms in post-World War II American political science-so-called modernization theory. -- William B. Quandt Ethics and International Affairs Mandarins of the Future both helps us understand a past paradigm in its historical context and offers insights for those seeking to comprehend the social world of today. -- Daniel Geary Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences 2004 Gilman's analysis is original, well-researched, probing, and provocative. -- Walter Hixson American Historical Review 2006 The author carefully surveys and explains modernization theory and how it shaped the U.S. post-WWII foreign policy to contain Communism during the Cold War. Choice 2004 Development specialists and scholars of the academy... will welcome Gilman's attention to the nuances of academic debate. -- Deborah Kisatsky Journal of Interdisciplinary History 2007
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
1. Modernization Theory and American Modernism
2. From the European Past to the American Present
3. The Harvard Department of Social Relations and the Intellectual Origins of Modernization Theory
4. The Rise of Modernization Theory in Political Science: The SSRC's Committee on Comparative Politics
5. Modernization Theory as a Foreign Policy Doctrine: The MIT Center for International Studies
6. The Collapse of Modernization Theory
7. The Postmodern Turn and the Aftermath of Modernization Theory
Notes
Essay on Sources
Index
