Professor Stuart Corbridge, V503, Dr Kate Meagher and other DESTIN Staff

Core course for MSc Development Studies, MSc Anthropology and Development, MSc Population and Development, MSc Political Economy of Late Development and MSc Urbanisation and Development. Available to MSc Environment and Development and MSc Gender, Development and Globalisation only.

The course deals with definitions, causes and consequences of, and obstacles to, development, as well as patterns of growth and distribution of poverty and inequality in development processes. It aims to integrate the concepts and perspectives of a range of disciplines and to consider: major trends of development and change in modern history and interpretations of them in the social sciences; contemporary social theory and its bearing on the policy and practice of development; critical appraisal of current development policy.

Concepts of ‘development’ and historical evolution of paradigms of development thinking and policy. Colonial legacies and path dependencies. Geography and institutions as leading causes of development/underdevelopment. Governance and regime change. Growth, poverty and climate change. Review of key policy issues, most likely including: demographic change, social policy and poverty; international trade; industrial policy; agriculture and agrarian reform; development aid; governance and democratisation; security and development.

DV400 (20 two-hour lectures, MT and LT) and 20 one-and-a-half hour seminars, MT and LT.

DV400.2 (20 two-hour lectures by a visiting speaker on Fridays, MT and LT).

Students will write at least two essays for presentation and evaluation in class.

The following are recommended basic readings for the course: P.Collier The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It (Oxford, 2007), S.Chari and S.Corbridge (eds.) The Development Reader (Routledge, 2008), W.Easterly The White Man’s Burden: Why The West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done so Much Ill and So Little Good (Oxford, 2006), J.Ferguson The Anti-Politics Machine: ‘Development’, Depoliticisation and Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho (Cambridge, 1990), J.Sachs The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time (Penguin, 2005), HJ Chang, Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Perspective (Anthem, 2002). H De Soto, The Mystery of Capital (Black Swan, 2001); A. Kohli, State-Directed Development: Political Power and Industrialization in the Global Periphery (Cambridge, 2004). A Sen, Development as Freedom (Anchor, 1999).

Three-hour examination taken in the ST (80%) and the best mark of two submitted essays (20%).