The main purpose of this paper is to briefly summarize and discuss the paper, called “The Rise and Fall of
the Washington Consensus”. The article generally discusses the trends in the practices on the issue of
development from about 1950s to today and; extendedly analyzes the Washington Consensus which was
the main alternative to the national developmentalism in the 1980s.
The article begins with clarifying how the topic of development has become much-debated issue of the
world through describing the developing countries as an international practice. The author underlines
the importance of how the policy frame should be decided; what elements should be included when
viewing a problem and what elements excluded. Especially, whether policy problems are seen within a
global or national frame of reference has significant impacts on the practice of developing countries.
Overall, the author draws attention to the fact that the practice of development should be issued within
both global and national frame.
In my response, the most significant factor of the improvement in the development practices was the
disputes between the economists who support mainstream development theories and the ones who
supported structuralist and dependency theories.
After the collapse of the growth rates of most developing countries in the late 1970s and early 1980s,
the politicians and economists have realized that the former mainstream development practices have
failed. This is exactly the same point as we discussed in the Economic Development class: People realize
the problem after the doctor gets sick! The author indicates that after these crises, arguments which
emphasized the positive role of the free markets in development attracted greater attention.
In the early 1980s, Washington Consensus – which is the most powerful alternative to national
developmentalism – has shown up. The frame of reference for this new approach was partially global
and partially national. I think this is why with the appearance of Washington Consensus, the practices on
the development have improved.
countries should focus more on the domestic policies.