Thinking and Working Politically: Are we seeing the emergence of a second orthodoxy? – Teskey (2017)

The purpose of this paper is to consider the extent to which a ‘second orthodoxy’ is emerging within development and the implications of these new understandings. This ‘second orthodoxy’ is typically associated with Problem Driven Iterative Adaption (PDIA) Doing Development Differently (DDD) and Thinking and Working Politically (TW). This paper proposes how these new insights of Doing Development Differently and Thinking and Working Politically can be integrated into the traditional project framework. It analyses well-known arguments regarding why politics, institutions and interests matter in development, traces the origin of the ‘second orthodoxy’ and offers a comparison with the old project orthodoxy. The paper clarifies the differences among the three most widely quoted approaches: PDIA, DDD, and TWP, and suggests a revised way of visualising the project framework as well as a new template that can be used by practitioners who are aiming to think and work politically.