Patterns of difference and practical theory: researching the new poverty strategy processes in Africa

A collection on the past and future of social-development analysis provides an opportunity to reflect and connect. This article reflects on a ten-year-old book called Rethinking Social Development and connects it with a recent study of Poverty Reduction Strategy processes in Africa. It argues that the recent work fills a gap in the empirical basis of the book, adding force to its main arguments - about dominance, agency and diversity in development - while also speaking to some unresolved issues: about the place of macro-institutional analysis, the limits of ʹactor orientationʹ and the generation of practical theory.