Course Catalogue

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This course explores the main approaches and theories, the role of key international organisations, emerging powers, and non-state actors (multinational corporations and civil society), and the various means of cooperation (foreign aid and other development-related policies, such as trade, environment, migration) used by the international community to promote development and tackle global inequalities.

This course may not be running this year. For further information please check the Politics and IR Moodle page or contact the subject directly.

Standard entry requirements to Honours Politics or International Relations.

None

None

Essay, 3000 words (75%)

Quizzes (25%)

Policies of international development have undergone several shifts since their heyday following the end of the Second World War, with different theories and approaches, sometimes even in contraposition (i.e. modernization and dependency, neo-liberalism and neo-statism, post-development), having been hailed as the magic bullet that would generate economic growth, reduce inequalities, and eliminate poverty. In fact, the outcomes of their prescriptions have been mixed at best, as despite many extraordinary advances, the conditions of millions of people living in the South have not significantly improved. Importantly, the very notion of development itself is contested: over the years, it has broadened from maximization of economic growth to employment creation and satisfaction of basic needs, and from human development to sustainable and inclusive economic growth and development. Furthermore, a potentially paradigmatic shift is in the offing, pointing to the limitations of the North-South binary due to the decrease of inequalities between countries and the increase of inequalities within countries, the emergence of a middle-class in the South and the growing incidence of marginalization in the North, as well as the universality of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on climate change. However, despite signs of increasing convergence between "developing" and "developed" states, the challenges of development are still paramount to a large majority of countries of the world. Against this background, this course explores the main approaches and theories, the role of key international organisations, emerging powers, and non-state actors (multinational corporations and civil society), and the various means of cooperation (foreign aid and other development-related policies, such as trade, environment, migration) used by the international community to promote development and tackle global inequalities.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ demonstrate a clear grasp of contemporary debates on the politics of international development in a broader theoretical and historical perspective;

■ assess why and how international donors allocate and deliver foreign aid;

■ evaluate the impact of development-related policies on the economic and social development of developing countries;

■ examine the role of international organisations and key international states in promoting international development;

■ examine the role of multinational corporations and non-governmental organisations as agents of development

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.