Development and Social Change explores the historical, socio-political, and ecological aspects of development. The Eighth Edition critically engages with the concept of development, tracing its roots and examining its implications in the contemporary world. Authors Philip McMichael and Heloise Weber use case studies and examples to help describe a complex world in transition. Students are encouraged to see global development as a contested historical project. By showing how development stems from unequal power relationships between and among peoples and states, often with planet-threatening environmental outcomes, it enables readers to reflect on the possibilities for more just social, ecological and political relations.