Business, the Commonwealth, and the Rhetoric of Development: The Federation of Commonwealth Chambers of Commerce and Africa, 1945-1974

In the decades after 1945 development rose dramatically up the global political agenda. European empires pursued colonial growth, exports and welfare both to legitimate their existence and to facilitate metropolitan post-war reconstruction, not least via the acquisition of dollar-earning exports. Decolonisation then transferred power to anti-colonial nationalists whose aspirations were usually also heavily developmental, pursuing sovereignty to transform economies and societies. In the context of the Cold War, the Western Bloc sought to prevent communist infiltration of the ‘third world’, and by raising living standards there sought to buttress and validate capitalism. These forces produced fluid languages and practices of development, themselves grounded in ideas about the relationship between the global north and south. This praxis of development played out not only in the actions of states and politicians, but also in those of multinational organisations like the United Nations and the Commonwealth of Nations, and in the activities of NGOs including businesses and business associations.