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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2015/2016

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Geosciences : Postgraduate Courses (School of GeoSciences)

Postgraduate Course: Development: Principles and Practices (PGGE11211)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Geosciences CollegeCollege of Science and Engineering
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis course aims to introduce students to the field of development by offering an overview its theoretical underpinnings, historical linkages, its inherently contested and ideological nature and how it pans out in contemporary practice. We start by appreciating the ways in which different ideologies have shaped understandings of development theories to glean the deeply political nature of various theoretical foundations underpinning development. It is intended to offer a working knowledge of how development has been shaped, where it is going, and why it remains complex and contradictory, and hence its practices contingent.
Course description The overwhelming objective of this course is not about how to do development but rather what it means to do development, as the latter helps appreciate the intersection between social justice and current preoccupations with development sans social justice. The course is structured to appreciate the academic endeavours around development theories and practices rather than as a vocational training unit on doing development.
Course topics:
1. Development and Disparity
2. Theories of Development (I)
3. Theories of Development (II)
4. Emerging Powers? Recipients to Donors
5. Neo-liberalism's Ascendency: State, Non-state & Welfare
6. Group Presentations
7. Social Movements & Participatory Development
8. Global Governance & Stakeholder Capitalism
9. Gender, Ethnicity & Vulnerability
10. Practical Activity (TBC)
11. Development: Which Way Now?

This is one of two core courses for the MSc in Environment and Development, and examines issues of environment and society with a particular emphasis on international dynamics relevant to developing country contexts. The related complementary core course is: Understanding Environment and Development.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2015/16, Not available to visiting students (SS1) Quota:  None
Course Start Semester 1
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Lecture Hours 20, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 10, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 166 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) There are two components of assessment within this course unit; one which is a group presentation and another which is an individual essay from a set of essay topics linked to the themes covered within the course. The group presentation will assess current approaches to development and is worth 40%, while the essay of 3000 words is worth 60%. You will also prepare a 1-page essay plan and include a 1-page reference list; these will not be assessed but written guidance and feedback will be offered.
Feedback Not entered
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Acquire advanced knowledge for developing a reasoned arguments by evaluating, interpreting and providing a critique of complex evidence;
  2. Understand the relationship between theory and practice, both in a 'development' context and in the formulation and conduct of academic research;
  3. Begin to develop an appropriate academic writing style and method;
  4. Learn to critique and comment on scholarship on development and its contemporary practices, through written word and via debate, dialogue and conversation
Reading List
Bergeron, Suzanne (2004) Fragments of Development: Nation, Gender and the Space of Modernity Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press
Chang, Ha-Joon (2002) Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Perspective London: Anthem Press
Crush, Jonathan (ed.) (1995) Power of Development London and New York: Routledge
Escobar, Arturo (1995) Encountering Development: The Making and
Unmaking of the Third World Princeton University Press: Princeton, NJ.
Harvey, David (2005) A Brief History of Neo=Liberalism Oxford: Oxford University Press
Kabeer, Naila (1994) Reversed Realities: Gender Hierarchies in Development Thought London: Verso Books
Murray-Li, Tania (2007) The Will to Improve: Governmentality, Development and the Practices of Politics Durham: Duke University Press
Rai, Shirin (2008) The Gender Politics of Development: Essays in Hope and Despair London: Zed Books
Scott, James (1998) Seeing like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition have Failed New Haven & London: Yale University Press

Background Text-Books:
Peet, Richard with Elaine Hartwick (2009 OR 1999) Theories of Development New York & London: The Guildford Press
Willis, Katie (2005) Theories and Practices of Development London and New York: Routledge
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Critical thinking, intellectual problem solving and analysis of complex inter-related environment society problems, confident and well argued essay composition.
KeywordsDevelopment theories,debates,practices and international challenges.
Contacts
Course organiserDr Kanchana Ruwanpura
Tel:
Email: Kanchana.Ruwanpura@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMrs Karolina Galera
Tel: (0131 6)50 2572
Email: k.galera@ed.ac.uk
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