Introduction: the panorama of development policy

The landscape of development policy is vast and varied. In all societies of the contemporary world, development is crucial both as a means and an end. Unlike in the past, when the underdeveloped countries invariably had to strive hard across many sectors - economic, political and social - to accomplish the goals of development, the developed countries also now encounter similar challenges despite having attained significant social and economic progress. Thus, the process of formulating and implementing development policies is a core function in all states, regardless of their size, location, level of prosperity, ideological inclination and strength of the economy.
   Managing development remains a consistent challenge for many countries as they struggle to perform the essential activities of governing with limited resources and weak institutions. These handicaps have forced governments - in developing countries, in particular - to concentrate on only a limited number of areas for improvement, notably those that allow regimes to showcase their 'accomplishments' for gaining political advantages locally and globally. For that reason, the more pressing problems of societies are usually overlooked, with merely a few privileged groups reaping benefits from development initiatives.
   Since the late twentieth century, the compass of development has been widening and multiplying the range of policies and strategies for a variety of development sectors - some traditional, others contemporary. The policy process has increasingly become intricate and unwieldy, given the rise of unfamiliar challenges often hard to assuage, such as recurring financial crises, climate change and the global coronavirus pandemic. Issues in an uncertain milieu keep accumulating, testing national governments and international policy regimes' capability to cope with them. Global conventions and international organizations, with the support of regional bodies, national governments and civil society, make relentless efforts to find solutions for a plethora of issues. But universal solutions to local problems, more often than not, prove futile. In many developing countries, policymakers - uninformed of the gravity of problems because of flaws in policy research or inaccuracies in the collection, assimilation and integration of qualitative and quantitative data - make incorrect assessments that compromise the quality of policies. Critical thinking is indispensable for sound policymaking, but this requirement is not always acknowledged or internalized.