Module description
The aim of this module is to explore development and social change in and from the Global South. The module adopts a critical political economy perspective to trace the recent history, politics and power relations which, following the 1980s debt crisis, saw the Global South integrated into neoliberal globalisation. The module starts by locating the globalisation project in the Global South and provides two further weeks of critical theory introducing students to the economic and political processes that makes development in the Global South a profoundly unequal, gendered and racialised project. Led by case studies and comparative empirical information, the following weeks are organised around key thematic issues in order to explore the uneven and combined experiences, and contestation, of economic and political transformation in the Global South.
Please note that module information is provisional and may change year to year.
Module is also suitable for Economic and International Business Students
Assessment details
One Individual ten minute presentation (15%) and one 3,000 word essay (85%)
Educational aims & objectives
- To understand the potentialities and limits of national governments and social movements in relation to political and economic change in/from the Global South
- To understand the importance of the political economy of development in relation to the politics of the global south in global context
- To engage students in transdisciplinary thinking and research as means to understand and apply a range of theoretical frameworks and concepts to the analysis of relevant and contemporary case studies and comparative examples
- To understand the politics of poverty and inequality in the global south from a decolonial vantage point
Learning outcomes
On completion of this module students will be able to:
- Demonstrate nuanced knowledge and understanding of the political economy of development in the Global South
- Critically evaluate relations of inequality and dependence in a global context through the application of academic knowledge
- Critically apply a range of theoretical frameworks and concepts to development issues in the Global South
- Communicate (written and verbal), complex information and independent arguments about development and social change in the Global South
Teaching pattern
Two hours per week, one lecture and one seminar
Suggested reading list
- McMichael, P (2016) Development and Social Change: A Global Perspective 6th Edition. London: Pine Forge Press