Discussions about resistance are currently enjoying broad media attention as well as increasing popularity among ‘radical’ and ‘progressive’ academics. The over-extensive application and unreflective, indiscriminate use of ‘resistance’ has, however, also attracted criticisms which question the term for its analytical value. This special issue, Rethinking Resistance in Development Studies, unfolds different theoretical understandings of resistance that have led empirical research on struggles against, for and within ‘development’ since the 1990s. Due to the explicit specification of theoretical understandings, which often remain implicit and empirically vague, authors encourage and facilitate further dialogue and exchange on the possibilities, challenges and limits of applying the highly popularised term ‘resistance’ in development studies.