"thwart development" is a correct and usable phrase in written English.
You can use it to refer to something that is preventing or hindering progress or advancement, often with regards to a project or plan. For example: "The closure of the factory is certain to thwart development in the area."
Opponents say there are other legal hurdles that could delay or thwart development.
Hariri has tense relations with Hezbollah, which has accused him of trying to thwart development in poor Shiite areas.
This view has powerful supporters, such as international NGOs and Brazil's Catholic church.But to farmers, miners and lumbermen, this looks like a conspiracy to thwart development.
Malawi, for instance, subjects corn to periodic export and import restrictions as well as to price controls, all of which thwart development of a well-functioning market.
Mr. Bishop said he hoped any infrastructure bill would incorporate changes to the Endangered Species Act, which many conservatives argue has been used to thwart development.
Building on ECLA's perspective, dependency theorists argued that colonialism recast economies in the Third World in a highly specialized export-producing mold, creating fundamental and interrelated structural distortions that have continued to thwart development.
On the fringes of the forum, French President Jacques Chirac replied to the repeated restitution demands by contending that Haiti's dire economic straits were more the consequence of corrupt government than thwarted development inflicted by payoffs to France in exchange for recognition of the nation's independence.
Such changes can be painful to carry through in policy areas that apply to national interests...Nevertheless, there is no excuse for not changing a policy that thwarts development in poor countries (PCC, pp.21-22; emphaddedadded).
Too much strength can lead to arrogance and too much self effacement can thwart growth and development.
In addition to melatonin's direct oncostatic properties, the endogenous melatonin signal may thwart cancer development and growth via indirect mechanism's involving its ability to enhance immune activity and mitigate against stress-induced immune suppression (Maestroni 1993; Sephton and Spiegel 2003).
Think for a moment of poverty as a disease, thwarting growth and development, robbing children of the healthy, happy futures they might otherwise expect.
