Freedom from Debt: The Reappropriation of Development Through Financial Self-reliance

Freedom from Debt is a realistic view of the development process. Gelinas defines it as all those activities that contribute to the gradual formation of physical and human capital for the purpose of self-sustained production geared to fulfilling a community's present and future needs as articulated by the community itself. With this in mind, he argues that self-financing, not external financing, is the key to all economic start-ups. This book provides development NGOs, students and advocates of renewed practices of genuine cooperation - North and Southwith a coherent critique of the Bretton Woods-oriented development system on the one hand, and a feasible alternative illuminated by successful experiences of self-conceived, self-financed and self-managed development on the other.