Research Article
Joseph Mimbale
Abstract
A long time ago, the theory of development was, implicitly or even explicitly, linked to Western society. However, such a vision of the world made it difficult to grasp other possible paths of organization, change or development. We summarized and brought everything back to Westphalian order. We accused others of refusing otherness when we ourselves were the first to refuse it. It was even unacceptable to talk about development without reference to the West. Could we today have the courage to admit that it is because of this refusal of otherness that the West, by its excessive esteem of superiority, has given itself the luxury of colonizing certain countries of the South. Didn't Alain Peyrefitte point out in his book entitled "The immobile Empire" that “the confrontation between the industrialized countries and the Third World _ or between North and South, was tainted at the outset by colonial conquest, which inflicted intolerable damage on the soul of the colonized peoples and often aroused a sense of guilt among the colonizers for their acts of plunder, once the intoxication of domination had passed". Also, this refusal of otherness has led the West to develop universal thoughts, universal models, universal programs, universal visions, even universal orders. And the societies that do not meet the criteria for these ready-to-wear are automatically banned from the restricted circle of great powers and qualified, as the case may be, the Rogue states, the Failed state, the States of the axis of Evil, etc. Samir AMIN remarkably clarifies this situation in these terms.