Author Archives: Corinna R. Unger

About Corinna R. Unger

Corinna R. Unger is Professor of Global and Colonial History (nineteenth and twentieth centuries) at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. In recent years, her research has focused on the history of development and decolonization, the history of international organizations, and the history of knowledge. She is the author of International Development: A Postwar History (Bloomsbury, 2018) and of Entwicklungspfade in Indien: Eine internationale Geschichte (Wallstein, 2015).

Development Projections: The World Bank in Calcutta in the 1970s

May 14, 2020 by
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Abstract: This article studies the World Bank’s Calcutta Urban Development Project (CUDP) in the 1970s through the lens of institutional projection. Specifically, it focuses on the World Bank’s effort to strengthen the administrative capacity of the state of West Bengal as part of and as a condition for the success of urban development. The article critically engages with the characterization of the World Bank as an ‘anti-politics machine’ and argues that case of the CUDP shows that the organization, rather than trying to depoliticize India’s Continue reading → Continue reading →

Comment on Joseph Hodge, On the Historiography of Development (Part I and II)

April 28, 2016 by
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This post is part of a roundtable discussion on two historiographic articles by Joseph Hodge published in recent issues of Humanity. For more about the roundtable and all currently available posts please see this page. In comparatively little time, the history of development has become a highly popular and equally populated subject of scholarly research. It is characterized by lively debates and a high number of publications of all genres, and it might well be considered one of the most productive fields of research in Continue reading →