People and the State; An anthropology of planned development

In this book Robertson traces the emergence of the notion that development can be 'planned'. He maps the Western historical and cultural context of the current stress on planning, and shows how planning has now become one of the principal means of exercising political power, especially by modern states, and has been replicated almost all over the world. There are several interesting points to note regarding the present ubiquitous discourse of planning development. Firstly, planning was once a novel approach, but is now often regarded as routine and bureaucracy, and the political power relations involved are therefore often hidden. Secondly, although development policies differ across contexts, the wider notion that development can be planned is remarkably unitary; (at least in the early 1980s when Robertson wrote his book; there is now an increasing focus on process approaches to development).
A necessary precondition for planning is some degree of predictability. Development policies often 'produce' this predictability through using simplified models of reality. For example, Robertson explores the models of 'community' used in development, and finds that they often portray the community as a harmonious and homogenous group of people that will all react in the same way to an external stimulus (such as policy implementation). This model enables policy-makers to draw up coherent plans.

Robertson concludes with some reflections on the role of (anthropological) research in sustaining or challenging the discourse of planning. He suggests that research which aims to make certain groups (e.g. slum-dwellers) intelligible to certain other groups (e.g. policy-makers, academics) is corrupt. Instead, research should attempt to engage in mutual explanation between groups, and broader explanations for popular use (e.g. making the planning process more accessible and amenable to change).