Dr E A Brett, V511 and Dr L Gruber,V410

The core course for MSc Development Management and MSc Anthropology and Development students only.  To be taken in conjunction with two units chosen from the following DV425, DV426 or DV427.

An analysis of the mechanisms that govern the institutions and organisations used to meet people’s political, economic and social needs by providing their managers with appropriate incentives and making them accountable to their clients, customers or beneficiaries. The course reviews ongoing debates about the most effective ways of designing state agencies, private firms and NGOs in order to maximise the quality of their performance and contribution to development. It provides an analytical basis for making practical judgements about institutional reform programmes by showing how different kinds of institutions and organisations, centralised bureaucracies, markets, participatory and solidaristic agencies operate to provide essential services.

The course is divided into three parts. Part I looks at the institutional theories that explain and justify developmental transitions involving shifts from authoritarian institutions to those based on free markets and pluralistic organisational systems. Part II looks at debates over public management systems and the problems of national and international governance. Part III looks at problems of participatory development and the nature and role of private firms and NGOs. This option provides the general theory that can be used to identify organisational ‘best practice, and will be followed up in DV425, 426 and 427 where students will explore practical problems related to the management of development transitions in poor countries. The lectures address theoretical debates and students will use the analytical tools it provides, and relevant case-study material to re-evaluate their own practical experience.

There will be an introductory 4 hour workshop, 10 two-hour lectures and 9 one-and-a-half hour seminars over the MT. Additionally, during the LT students also take part in a group research project on topics identified by development agencies in consultation with staff. A lecture and workshops will be organised to assist student groups to formulate their proposals and negotiate their projects with their commissioning agencies.

In the MT students are expected to produce one 2,000 word essay on a topic agreed with an individual tutor. In the LT students are assessed on the group project report.

A detailed weekly reading list is provided at the first course meeting. Background readings include: Allen, T. & A. Thomas. 2000 Poverty and development into the 21st century, Oxford University Press. Brett, E.A. (forthcoming) Reconstructing Development Theory, Chambers, Robert, (1997) Whose reality counts? putting the first last, London, Intermediate Technology;. Clague, C. 1997 Institutions and economic development, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins. Edwards, M. & D. Hulme, 1995 Beyond the magic bullet: NGO performance and accountability; Gruber, L., 2000 Ruling the World: Power Politics and the Rise of Supranational Institutions. Princeton University Press; Kohli, A. 2004 State-directed development: political power and industrialization in the global periphery, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press; North, D. 1990. Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance. Cambridge University Press. Olson, M. & S. Kahkonen. 2000 A Not-so-Dismal Science: A Broader View of Economies and Societies. Oxford University Press; Putnam, R. 1993 Making democracy work: civic traditions in modern Italy, Princeton University Press; Robinson, D. & others, Managing development: understanding inter-organizational relationships, London, Sage, 2000. Sen. A., 1999 Development as Freedom. Oxford University Press; Stiglitz, J. 2002 Globalization and its discontents, Allen Lane, 2002; World Bank, World Development Report, 2004, Making services work for poor people, Washington, World Bank.

Two-hour unseen examination (60%), and a project (40%).