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Module details for 2021/22.

30 credits

FHEQ Level 7 (Masters)

Module Outline

Through this module, students will get to grips with key theories and paradigms from the Global North and the Global South which have shaped development thinking and practice. We start the course by examining broad and influential paradigms like Modernisation Theory and Dependency Theory, devoting attention to the claims these theories make about the world, as well as how they have been used to inform development policy and practice (whether implicitly or explicitly). We then move to explore specific theoretical perspectives that have shaped approaches to particular areas of development policy and practice – for example, the ‘Smart Economics’ approach to gender and development.

Throughout the course we put our theoretical understanding to work, in order to make sense of a changing landscape of development actors – paying particular attention increasing private sector participation in development and the role of Global South nations as development partners and donors. One of the foundational assumptions of the course is that theories matter to our efforts to make sense of development, not only because they provide us with analytical tools as researchers, but because policy-making, development practice, and social movements always rely upon implicit or explicit theoretical assumptions about where change comes from, whose decisions count, and what kinds of developmental change are possible or desirable.

We encourage students to cultivate a sense of 'critical hope' that rests on a deep theoretical understanding of the social, historical and material roots of contemporary inequalities and injustices, but seeks to use that understanding to work towards transformative developmental change.

Module learning outcomes

Systematically understand key theories and paradigms which have shaped development thinking and practice.

Demonstrate critical awareness of the implications of these theories and paradigms for development policy and/or practice.

Critically appraise development theories and paradigms in light of scholarship from the Global North and the Global South.

Select and apply one or more theories relevant to the module to analyse complex development issues of their choosing

View timetable

Timing

Submission deadlines may vary for different types of assignment/groups of students.

Weighting

Coursework components (if listed) total 100% of the overall coursework weighting value.

How to read the week pattern

The numbers indicate the weeks of the term and how many events take place each week.

Mx Emilia Moscardini-Powers

Assess convenor
/profiles/214700

Dr Demet Dinler

Assess convenor, Convenor
/profiles/426370

Dr Paul Gilbert

Convenor
/profiles/275733

Prof Anne-Meike Fechter

Assess convenor
/profiles/158737