Fall/Winter Timetable

POL2408H1F L0101

The Political Economy of International Development (Core)

Themes

This course explores the political economy of development strategies within the context of neoliberal globalization. It focuses on both the evolving market-oriented approaches and alternative development strategies. Case studies drawn from Latin America, Asia and Africa examine the design, implementation, and performance of the various development models. This course, offered jointly by the Departments of Geography and Political Science, is restricted to graduate students.

Texts

The following are some of the books that will be heavily used in the course: David Harvey, A Brief History of Neoliberalism (2005); Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation (2001[1944]); John Rapley, Understanding Development, 3rd ed. (2007); Joseph Stiglitz, Globalization and Its Discontents (2002); Atul Kohli, Poverty amid Plenty in the New India (2012), R. Sandbrook & Ali Burak Guven, eds, Civilizing Globalization: A Survival Guide (revised and expanded ed., 2014), and R. Sandbrook, Reinventing the Left in the Global South (2014 – available in September).

Format and Requirements

This is a seminar course in which one-third of the sessions are introduced by an instructor and two-thirds by students. Participants will make two oral presentations, write one research paper (due in the spring term), prepare four brief (two-page) critical reflections on key readings and write a take-home test.