This article traces the evolution of the ideologies and narratives that have framed ‘development’ since its post-Second World War inception, through growth and dependency, adjustment and human development, state to market, to more equitable and globally supported sustainable development strategies required for the post-2015 decades. It analyses the ideas that became the main contributors to a multipolar and still contested narrative of national and global development, highlighting what can be learned from the process that led to current perspectives and goals for sustainable development.

The article focuses especially on contributions by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and its global partners, both as critic of dominant orthodoxies and as creator or supporter of alternatives. It ends with reflections on the adequacy of the current narratives and perspectives in light of the challenges facing a multipolar, interconnected and interdependent world, and conclusions about future directions for thinking,action and research.