DISS281 SPRING 2012

[PDF version of the syllabus available by clicking this link.]

Introduction to International Development

 

Prof. Cuz Potter

 

Division of International Studies

Korea University

Spring 2012

Course: Introduction to International Development
  Course Number: DISS281
  Lecture: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3:30-4:45pm
  Location: 216 ISH

 

Introduction

Why does development occur in one place but not another? This introductory course fosters the cognitive tools and concrete knowledge needed to consider an answer to this question. The course structures readings from multiple disciplines into four modules. The first module explores the conventional economic theories of development, exploring the foundations of contemporary understandings of development. The second module explores development as political and economic modernization. The third module questions the assumptions of the authors examined previously, offering a critical, alternative approach to conceiving development. This module also traces the history of the world economy, including colonialism and contemporary globalization, to better understand both examples of development and the context within which contemporary development takes place. This semester the fourth module shifts focus to poststructuralist understandings of development and development discourse. Paralleling the theoretical readings throughout the course, students will work in groups to identify and examine the contours of a particular development challenge and propose a solution.

Objectives

By the end of this course, students will be knowledgeable on:

  1. A broad range of theoretical perspectives on development, including both those that are widely accepted and those that are contentious.
  2. Selected foundational readings that inform contemporary theories of development.
  3. How different actors, including governments, urban dwellers, rural dwellers, international institutions, and private sector non-profits, interact within the international and national context.
  4. A student-selected set of developing countries, the development issues they face, and how those issues are being confronted.

 

Course Requirements

  • Great consideration has been given to what readings are assigned. As such, you are expected to have completed all the readings assigned prior to our class meetings. Do not expect that you can complete the readings assigned in one night simply because there are only two chapters or a few articles to read. The readings can be dense and take time to get through.
  • A one-page Reaction Paper (RP) is due electronically by 9am MONDAY morning each week for 8 out of the 11 weeks for which there are readings. This allows you to choose which weeks to write a reflection paper. The papers will not be graded with a letter grade, but will be allocated zero, one, or two points depending on how actively your paper engages the material. The paper should usually be 350-500 words (about one page single-spaced). These brief papers are intended to facilitate class discussion. You can use the Reaction Paper (RP) to ask for clarification about any aspect of the readings you did not fully understand or to express an opinion about one or more of the readings. In general, I would advise you to focus the RP on only one of the readings assigned for each week. RPs should be clearly written, spell-checked, and grammatically correct.
  • In addition to writing your own RP, you are expected to read and reflect on those of all other seminar participants prior to our class meeting. This will enable you to think about your classmates' reactions to the readings in advance of our collective discussion.
  • Class attendance is mandatory. Your grade for class attendance will be a simple percentage of the number of classes attended between March 13 and June 21 divided by 15. Beyond this, class participation is strongly encouraged. I would grade on the basis of participation, but I do not wish to penalize students who are naturally reticent. However, you should expect to have your opinions solicited if you do not offer them freely...and nobody enjoys that.
  • There will be midterm and final examinations. These exams will be brief, oral exams.
  • Each student will contribute to a group project. Groups will select a country and a relevant development issue in conjunction with the professor and will propose a solution. The development challenge and proposed solution will be written up into a report of 5,000 words or more and presented to the class during the final three weeks of class. The 20-minute presentation may be in one of two forms: a slide presentation or a documentary film. The presentation should briefly introduce the country of interest, explain the development challenge selected by the group, identify efforts to address the issue, and the group's proposed solution.

 

Grading

Weights  
20% Midterm exam
20% Final exam
20% Response Papers
20% Group paper
10% Group presentation
10% Attendance

 

Required texts

There is one required text for this course. We will read it in its entirety.

  • Arturo Escobar. Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1995.

You may consider purchasing the following book, as it informs the basic structure of the course.

  • Richard Peet and Elaine Hartwick. Theories of Development: Contentions, Arguments, Alternatives. The Guilford Press, New York, second edition, 2009.

All other readings will be available as a reader at 공문화사. All readings but Escobar's Encountering Development will also be available online, either through Google Books or cuzproduces.com.

Schedule of Topics and Reading

Module 1: Conventional theories of development

Suggested reading: Peet and Hartwick, part one.

Week 1 (March 6 and 8): Introduction

Week 2 (March 13 and 15): Roots of capitalism and global trade

  1. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Adam and Charles Black, Edinburgh, 1863, Book 1, chapters 1 through 3. Available through Google Books.
  2. David Ricardo. On the Priniciples of Political Economy and Taxation. John Murray, London, third edition, 1821, pages 131{149. Available through Google Books.

Week 3 (March 20 and 22): Measuring development

  1. John Stuart Mill. Utilitarianism. Parker, Son, and Bourn, London, 1863, chapters 2 and 5. Available through Google Books.

Week 4 (March 27 and 29): Cyclical and unbalanced growth

  1. Joseph Alois Schumpeter. The Theory of Economic Development: An Inquiry into Profits, Capital, Credit, Interest, and the Business Cycle. Transaction Books, New Brunswick, 1983, chapter 2.

Suggested reading:

  1. Albert O. Hirschman. The strategy of economic development. Yale University Press, New Haven,, 1958, p. 83--97.
  2. Paul R. Krugman. Geography and trade. Gaston Eyskens lecture series. MIT Press, Cambridge, 1991.

Week 5 (April 3 and 5): The developmental state

  1. Atul Kohli. Where do high-growth political economies come from? The Japanese lineage of Korea's "developmental state". In Meredith Woo-Cumings, editor, The Developmental State, Cornell studies in political economy, pages 93{136. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, N.Y., 1999.

Week 6 (April 10 and 12): Neoliberal economics

  1. Freidrich von Hayek. The Road to Serfdom. George Routledge and Sons, London, 1944, chapters 3 through 5.

 
Module 2: Development as modernization

Suggested reading: Peet and Hartwick, chapter 4.

Week 7 (April 17 and 19): Stages of growth

  1. W.W. Rostow. The takeoff into self-sustained growth. In Amitai Etzioni and Eva Etzioni, editors, Social Change: Sources, Patterns, and Consequences, pages 275{290. Basic Books, New York, 1964.
  2. Jerey D. Sachs. The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time. Penguin Books, New York, 2005, chapters 2 and 3.

Week 8: Midterm exam

Module 3: Critical Theories of Development

Suggested reading: Peet and Hartwick, chapter 5.

Week 9 (May 1 and 3): Marxism

  1. Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party.

Week 10 (May 8 and 10): Imperialism and colonialism

  1. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Selected Works, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, pages 667--766. Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1963, chapters 4 through 7. Available through the Marxists Internet Archive.

Suggested reading:

  1. Andre Gunder Frank. The development of underdevelopment. Monthly Review, 18(4):17--31, September 1966.

Module 4: Postdevelopment

Suggested reading: Peet and Hartwick, chapter 6.

Week 11 (May 15 and 17): Postdevelopment I

  1. Escobar, chapter 2.

Week 12 (May 22 and 24): Postdevelopment II

  1. Escobar, chapter 3.

Week 13 (May 29 and 31): Postdevelopment III

  1. None.

Module 5: Presentations

Week 14 (June 5 and 7): Final presentations

Week 15 (June 12 and 14): Final presentations

Week 16 (June 19 and 21): Final exam and presentations