Social and political development: out of conceptual mazes and into political agenda-setting

The article presents the results of the analysis and systematization of discourses describing the dynamics and key areas of social development. The purpose of the study is to determine the guidelines and priorities in discussions on development that dominate the research and expert agenda, and to identify the ideas and meanings that are invested in this concept by actors participating in public discussions and political goal-setting. The research methodology is based on the structural and functional approach, and on a comparative evaluation of the target settings present in the current expert discussion and in public policymaking. A quantitative content analysis of a sample of EU documents defining priorities of interaction with third countries to achieve development goals is offered as an illustrative example. The conclusions are presented in the form of a conceptual tree constructed by correlating the main concepts that exist in the research and expert field dealing with social development discourses and their political implications. According to the results of the study, the ideological appeal of narratives circulating in the public space of the “developed world” and the normative projection of this agenda worldwide transform discursive power into discursive hegemony through “green colonialism” and other forms of “promoting development”. The authors take a critical approach to the monopolization of the expert and political field by the concept of “sustainable development” which is widely regarded as a politically correct approach and a universalist political attitude. An ambiguous understanding of “social development” beyond the progressive paradigm and purely normative approaches in the social sciences makes the need to clarify this concept all the more urgent. The paper proposes to interpret “political development” as a multidimensional process leading to the complication of political interactions and not limited to institutional change, and “politics of development” as a system of management practices correlated with the public demand for security and social well-being. The current research agenda in this field in Russia aims to promote the analysis of the subjective dimension of politics, with a focus on identity studies and on evaluating intangible development resources.