Space in Governance: The Dialectic Between Proximity and Distance in the Field of International Development/Espacer la Gouvernance: La Dialectique de la Proximite Et de la Distance Dans Le Champ Du Developpement International (Part III: the Inevitable Ideological Issue/Partie III: L'incontournable Enjeu Ideologique‪)‬

Abstract Emphasizing the issue of territorial governance, this paper compares two paradigms in the field of international development. The first of these, which is currently described as the 'mainstream' paradigm, produces discourses and policies stemming from large international organizations. The other one, known as the 'post-development' paradigm, claims to be closely related to the grassroots. Our main conclusion is that the territorial aspect of governance is relatively marginalized in both paradigms. In the first case (mainstream paradigm), actors are induced to pay less attention to the territorial issue than to other dimensions of governance. In the second case (post-development paradigm), actors are brought to share an idealized vision of social relations in which the governance issues appear to be virtually irrelevant.