In recent years world politics was moved by a serious financial crisis, global economic recession and conflicts about the access to resources and their use. Most of these problems were created by the consume-oriented countries of the Global North, the so called industrialized countries, while the countries of the Global South, the so called (least) developing counties are being exploited ever since. Despites the negative experience of capitalism recently, politicians all over the globe haven’t launched a discussion on alternatives to development. Progressive and left development approaches are seldom discussed in the international debate on development models. Neoliberal ideas are still thought to provide the right answers to all the occurring questions on development without being questioned.

To discuss and exchange about alternatives to development and to share the transformation experiences from other countries of the Global South, the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Southeast Asia (RLS SEA) and the Burmese Local Resource Centre (LRC) jointly organized a conference in Yangon and Mandalay on 27th – 29th May. The report below presents the conference's results and contributions.