Postcolonialism and Development
ulation would tacitly characterise outsiders of the Eurocentric centre as
intrinsically less intellectually, culturally and technologically capable of
producing wealth and thus would naturally require assistance from the
‘superior’ West. This dynamic has been materialised in the role of the
World Bank in its relationship with the ‘third world’ as managerial, providing a ‘knowledge bank’. This means that, according to development
discourse, the World Bank is a preeminent source of knowledge regarding ‘third world’ development even though it is a western institution.
It holds a role in defining models of development, managing overseas
education of policy makers and advocating policy change (Pender 2001).
All of these factors have important societal implications, yet originate
from a western institutional perspective. Postcolonial scholars would
fundamentally disagree with this speculation that Eurocentric policies
and strategies are superior to those in the Global