Dr Sue Onslow

For students taking MSc Development Studies, MSc Development Management, MSc Environment and Development, MSc Anthropology and Development, MSc Urbanisation and Development, MSc Global Politics, MSc Political Economy of Late Development and MSc Human Rights only.

This course is concerned with processes of economic, political, social and cultural change in Sub-Saharan Africa. It provides critical analysis of key development interventions and processes. It seeks to combine general theoretical overviews with country case studies illustrating the variety of experiences and trajectories. It does not aim to provide a comprehensive coverage of development issues or of regions. Most of the course relates to Anglophone Africa.

The major concern of the course is with the political economy of African development. Course content will vary from year to year, depending on the specialities of staff. Attention is paid to legacies of the colonial encounter; the constraints and opportunities presented by African countries’ positions in the global economy; alternative explanations of poor economic performance and increasing poverty; the role of corruption and capital flight and the dynamics of state collapse. This will be supplemented by a consideration of issues critical to Africa such as the HIV/AIDS pandemic, humanitarian and human rights interventions, urbanisation and life in cities, terrorism and war, and governance and traditional authority structures.

The course will be taught through 10 lectures and 10 classes, both lasting one-and-a-half hours in the Lent Term.

Students will write a 2,000 word essay chosen from class questions and in discussion with the course leader, to be submitted by the beginning of week 6 of Lent Term.

A detailed weekly reading list will be provided at the first course meeting. The following readings provide an introduction to the course: Paul Nugent, Africa Since Independence: A Comparative History, Palgrave Macmillan: 2004; Nick Van de Walle, African Economies and the Politics of Permanent Crisis, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001; Robert Bates, Markets and States in Tropical Africa, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1981; George Ayittey, Africa in Chaos, Houndmills, Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1997; G. Hyden, No Shortcuts to Progress: African Development Management in Perspective, London: Heinemann, 1983; Mahmood Mamdani, Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism, London: James Currey, 1996; J-F Bayart, The State In Africa: The Politics of the Belly, London: Longman, 1993; Patrick Chabal & Jean-Pascal Daloz, Africa Works: Disorder as a Political Instrument, Oxford: IAI & James Currey, 1999; W Reno, Corruption and State Politics in Sierra Leone, Cambridge: CUP, 1995; C Clapham, Africa and the International System, Cambridge: CUP, 1996; T Callaghy and J Ravenhill (eds), Hemmed In: Responses to Africa’s Economic Decline, New York: Columbia University Press, 1993; A Villalon and P Huxtable (eds), The African State at a Critical Juncture, Boulder, Co.: Lynn Rienner, 1997; R Joseph (ed.), State, Conflict and Democracy in Africa, Boulder, Co.: Lynn Rienner, 1999; B Wisner, C Toulmin and R Chitiga (eds) Towards a New Map of Africa, London: Earthscan, 2005.

Two-hour exam (80%) and 2,000 word essay (20%).
The essay will on a different topic to the formative essay and submitted by the beginning of week 1 of Summer Term.