Postgraduate Course: Global Development Challenges (Distance Learning) (PGSP11326)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
| Course type | Online Distance Learning |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Globalisation, rapid technological change and constantly changing political and economic systems are linking the world together in hitherto unimagined ways. These new connections are symptomatic of, but also drivers, of emerging sets of global challenges that we need to think about in new ways if we are to deal with them. Environmental change, climatic change, new health challenges, clashing beliefs and concurrent economic overconsumption and stagnation require new ways of thinking about development and global governance. Both globalization and development are highly contested concepts that defy simple explanations. This course will examine the issues of global development challenges. We will explore how development challenges get defined and turned into practical strategies, we will examine whose interests are served and who is excluded in this process. In doing so students will be equipped to analyse complex problems in context, and debate possible solutions, and constraints, to the ways in which global development works as an idea, as a practice and as a process. |
| Course description |
By the end of the course students will have gained familiarity with the major issues with respect to the problems of developing holistic, integrated systems of governance. They will have an understanding of the key challenges we face and the global and local drivers that shape their form and function. Students will have learnt how to engage critically with the complex social, political and economic contexts in which governance takes place, as well as be able to apply that understanding to thinking about key global issues that face us today and in the future.
This course is taught entirely online in a virtual learning platform called Learn. The course is delivered through short lecture clips, podcasts and pre-recorded lectures. There are weekly readings and students engage with the material through online asynchronous discussion boards as well writing activities across the semester.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2025/26, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 80 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
| Course Start Date |
15/09/2025 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
196 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
60% of the course assessment will be based on a final essay (2500 words)
20% of the course assessment will be based on a portfolio of two online activities. Activities that can count towards the portfolio selection will be indicated on Learn. These may be blog posts, posters, policy briefings, case study reports, etc.
20% based on participation in the weekly discussion forums. Marking criteria will be available on Learn. |
| Feedback |
Written feedback will be provided for all assignments. Students can submit an essay plan for formative feedback. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate knowledge of major global issues and pressures and their genesis and drivers.
- Demonstrate knowledge of key approaches to the governance of development.
- Critically examine and analyse the regimes and strategies of development governance.
- Analyse and evaluate the implications and impacts of select global issues and the effects of responses to those issues.
- Convey information and analysis regarding global development challenges to a range of potential audiences.
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Reading List
Indicative literature:
Escobar, Arturo (2008) Territories of Difference: Place, Movements, Life, Redes. Durham: Duke University Press.
Ferguson, James (2006) Global Shadows: Africa in the Neoliberal World Order. Durham: Duke University Press.
Grabel, Ilene (2018) When Things Don't Fall Apart - Global Financial Governance and Developmental Finance in an Age of Productive Incoherence. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Rodrik, D. (2011) The Globalisation Paradox: Why Global Markets, States, and Democracy Can't Co-exist. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Wilson, Kalpana (2012) Race, Racism and Development: Interrogating History, Discourse and Practice. London: Zed Books. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Students will develop analytical approaches to complex, integrated analysis. They will develop an ability to sift complex information and generate conclusions. |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Ian Russell
Tel:
Email: irussell@exseed.ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Maria Brichs
Tel: (0131 6)51 3205
Email: mbrichs@ed.ac.uk |
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