Introduction To Development Studies

Module description

This module provides a critical introduction to some of the key concepts and debates in development studies. It addresses such questions as: What does “development” actually mean, and who defines and measures it? What is an “emerging economy”? What have been some of the key development challenges facing the Global South and the international community? What are some of the major theoretical perspectives on development, and how have they changed over time? What are the most important issues in international development? The module is a mixture of theory and issues. Theory covered includes human development, critical structural theories, post-development, and neoliberalism. Issues include emerging economies, sustainability, human rights, and governance. 

Module Structure

Semester 1

• Week 1 - Introduction to development (studies)  
• Week 2 - Development and history: capitalism as a world-system, colonialism and uneven development 
• Week 3 - Gender and development: an introduction
• Week 4 - Race and development: an introduction 
• Week 5 - Class and development: an introduction 
• Week 6 - Reading Week
• Week 7 - Marxism and development theory 
• Week 8 - Modernisation and its critics: ECLAC and dependency theory
• Week 9 - From the right to development to (human) rights based approaches 
• Week 10 - Development beyond growth: capabilities approach and human development 
• Week 11- Postdevelopment  

Semester 2

• Week 1 - Globalisation 1: Neoliberalism and the making of global capitalism
• Week 2 - Globalisation 2: Planetary production – Labour, Capital, and Global Value Chains
• Week 3 - Globalisation 3: Crisis, the state, and geopolitics in late neoliberal globalisation.
• Week 4 - Informality, popular economies and new labour precarities
• Week 5 - Urbanisation, cities and development
• Week 6 - Reading Week
• Week 7 - Migration, mobilities and development
• Week 8 - Agrarian change
• Week 9 - Sustainability, environment, and development
• Week 10 - Climate change and development
• Week 11 - ‘Poly-crisis’? ‘Organic crisis’? The question of development in the 21st century 

Assessment details

Semester 1:

• Coursework

Semester 2: 

• Coursework 

Educational aims & objectives

This module aims to:

• Introduce students to current critical debates about development challenges facing “emerging economies”, including challenges to reduce poverty and inequality, promote social inclusion, strengthen good governance, ensure economic growth, and protect the environment.
• Provide students with an overview of key notions from economics, gender studies, international relations, law, philosophy, political economy, political science, post-colonial theory, and sociology through the discussion of relevant contemporary issues.
• Expose students to critical perspectives on development via comparative assessment of emerging economies in the Global South.
• Enable students to use analytical tools and theoretical concepts to understand contemporary global affairs from a development perspective.

Learning outcomes

At the end of this module:

• Students will have developed an understanding of the concept of emerging economies and alternative ways to define and measure it.
• Students will have developed a systematic understanding of the main differences in disciplinary approaches to international development with its advantages and shortcomings.
• Students will have developed an awareness of the main differences across “emerging economies” including diverging socio-economic profiles, political systems, and some of the historical background shaping current developments.
• Students will have developed analytical skills to offer critical readings, make revealing comparisons, and construct good arguments in order to produce or support social scientific claims.

Teaching pattern

20 x 2 hr lecture

20 x 1 hr seminar

Module description disclaimer

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Please note that the module descriptions above are related to the current academic year and are subject to change.