Routledge Communication in International Development: Doing Good or Looking Good? (Rethinking Development)

Product Description International development stakeholders harness communication with two broad purposes: to do good, via communication for development and media assistance, and to communicate do-gooding, via public relations and information. This book unpacks various ways in which different efforts to do good are combined with attempts to look good, be it in the eyes of donor constituencies at large, or among more specific audiences, such as journalists or intra-agency decision-makers. Development communication studies have tended to focus primarily on interventions aimed at doing good among recipients, at the expense of examining the extent to which promotion and reputation management are elements of those practices. This book establishes the importance of interrogating the tensions generated by overlapping uses of communication to do good and to look good within international development cooperation. The book is a critical text for students and scholars in the areas of development communication and international development and will also appeal to practitioners working in international aid who are directly affected by the challenges of communicating for and about development. Review "This fine volume thoughtfully addresses the provocative and important question of its title. The well-focused essays by development scholars and scholar-practitioners from a number of countries challenge those involved in development communication to think carefully not just about what they are doing but also about why they are doing it." ― Nancy Morris, Temple University, USA "Communication in International Development: Doing Good or Looking Good? provides a well-illustrated documentation of the communication of international development practices and ideas. As being seen to ‘do good’ with the requisite branding, photo-ops and celebrity endorsements becomes central to the mandate of humanitarian and development organizations, this book helps us to understand how ‘looking good’ is produced, performed and who is affected by it." ― Lisa Ann Richey, Roskilde University, Denmark "Delving into the complex and conflictual world of communication in international development, this important contribution reveals the imperatives and motivations of agencies caught between the desire to ‘do good’ but who end up investing in ‘looking good’ and the gaps between ideological promise and institutional performance. A must read." ― Pradip Thomas, University of Queensland, Australia "This book aptly interrogates the relationship between the ‘walk’ and ‘talk’ of communication and development practices through a range of case studies. The authors balance concerns about the increasing focus of development actors on looking good rather than doing good with empirical material to illuminate the stakes for democracy." ― Eleftheria Lekakis, University of Sussex, UK "What does it mean to claim to ‘do good’ with development assistance resources? Do the requirements of funding agencies mean that whatever is done, it must be made to ‘look good’ to sustain a future flow of funds? What tensions does the donor-recipient relationship give rise to and how are they managed in practice? This outstanding collection of papers probes for answers. It reveals how international development stakeholders frame problems and solutions, how asymmetric power relationships work themselves out, and how media and communication strategies are implicated. The complexity of the challenges in the ‘media and communication for development’ arena are highlighted, providing an essential critique of prevailing practice. Students, scholars and practitioners seeking to change the world in a just, ethical and equitable way must read this book." ― Robin Mansell, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK "Does looking good outweigh doing good in international development cooperation? In what ways do conceptions of justice define what actual "improvement" should involve in developme