This chapter describes some of the historical aspects of how development was received by international lawyers in the inter-war and post-WWII period and the impact this had on the generation of particular forms of Third World resistance. This sets the stage for the chapters that follow. Let me begin by noting that there are at least three key moments in the evolution of development ideology in international law, overlapping between the desire to advance the ‘primitive’ to civilization in a purely cultural sense, and the attempt to develop the ‘backward’ to well-being in a material, developmental sense. The first moment was the positing of a cultural divide, articulated in a pre-modern, theological sense, between the Christians and the infidels. This was first seen in the work of Pope Innocent IV (1243–54 AD) in the argument over whether the lands of the infidels could justly be taken by Christians, an argument that became central in the founding texts of international law, such as those by Francisco de Vitoria, that have deeply influenced the evolution of the doctrine of sovereignty. This moment was repeated over time in the work of the naturalists and could be seen at work in contemporary international law in the doctrines of humanitarian and pro-democratic interventions as well as in the advocacy of trusteeships for so-called failed states.

The second moment was the construction of a civilizational divide, articulated in pre-modern, but economic, sense between the people of commerce and others, or in the words of A. O. Hirschman, the “doux commerce thesis”.