Abstract
Abstract; The term “development” is one that has many different meaning. While many overlap, some inherently contradict each other. To many people development is either a process or outcome that is often bad in terms of its impact on people and the societies in which they live. Some others see development as both a process and an outcome, and as necessarily good. These see development as something that should be actively sought after. And to complicate matters further, there are many others who define development in many different ways. The broad aim of this paper attempts to identify, explain and resolve those issues by introducing and outlining various conceptualizations of development. Such an exercise is an important one; if we are to study something, it is essential to first understand what we are to studying. It is especially important in a study of development, for without a definition of this term we cannot determine whether a country is achieving higher levels of development, for without a definition of this term we cannot determine whether it should be considered developed practice. Development practitioners, irrespective of whether they are involved in policy, planning or in implementing development projects, need a working definition of what it is they are seeking to achieve. This paper looks at various definitions of development. It adopts a largely chronological examination, given that many new definitions are actually responses to earlier ones. To understand the latter one first needs to understand the former. The paper commences by introducing and critiquing various traditional or early meanings of conceptualizations of development. This is a delicately brief discussion. Also, focuses predominantly on various conceptualizations that are consistent with the ‘good change’ approach, many that are provided by the literature on human well-being.