THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL SERVICE

SPRING SEMESTER 2001, HURST HALL 211 THURSDAYS 8:10-10:50 PM

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (SIS 637-001)

COURSE SYNOPSIS AND OBJECTIVES

This course introduces and surveys the international development field. It focuses on conceptualizing development, alternative models of development, the relationship of development to international economic and political institutions and "stakeholders" in the development process. Vigorous debates currently exist regarding the best strategies to produce development and even the meaning of development, itself. Our purpose is to explore and critically evaluate basic assumptions underlying competing theories and visions of international development; also to analytically evaluate some of the propositions that emerge from these theories and visions. Both costs and benefits of development strategies are examined, with particular attention given to how they impact the most vulnerable members of society. The course achieves its principal goal to the degree that participants begin to view development problems from a number of viewpoints simultaneously and can use this multifaceted perspective to create more effective, original strategies for change. Each week could fill an entire course by itself (and many do: see our higher-level course offerings!). Recommended readings can give you additional depth, either while you are taking the course, or later.

LOGISTICS AND PROCEDURES

Instructor: John Richardson

Office Hours: Wednesdays 6:00-10:00 ; Fridays 2:00-4:00.

Teaching Assistants: Ann Provencher (propeopledc@aol.com)

Anton Winder (Wyndr@usa.net)

Consultations during office hours are scheduled by appointment. You will find sign up sheets posted outside the International Development Office for the entire semester. You may sign up or call the International Development Program Office Manager for an appointment at 202 885 1657 and 202 885 1660. When you do sign up, please be sure to leave your phone number so that you can be called if a conflict or emergency arises. Occasionally, a meeting or other event may interrupt the time scheduled for office hours. Information about such conflicts will be posted as soon as it is available. If you have signed up and left your phone number, you will be called.

Office: Hurst Hall 204D

Phone: Office Phone: 202-885-1487; Home Phone: 703 527 5497

Email & Fax: jrich@american.edu ; 703-527-8970

(Feel free to call me at home if you need to, but don’t call after 7:00 PM unless it is an emergency.)

BOOK’S, PAPERS AND OTHER RESOURCES

At the Bookstore

The following texts have been ordered for the course and should be available at the AU Campus Store.

James H. Weaver, et. al., Achieving Broad Based Sustainable Development (West Hartford: Kumarian Press, 1997) [henceforth will be called "#BBSD"]

David C. Korten, When Corporations Rule the World (West Hartford: Kumarian Press, 1995) [#Korten]

Mike Tidwell, The Ponds of Kalambayi: An African Sojourn (New York: Lyons and Burford, 1990)

Mitchell A. Seligson and John T. Passe-Smith, eds. Development and Underdevelopment: The Political Economy of Global Inequality, 2nd Edition (Boulder, Colorado: Lynne Rienner, 1998) [#SPS]

(Note: Readings from books ordered for the course are marked "#")

The Human Development Report 1999

Readings will also be assigned from the UNDP Human Development Report 1999 – Globalization with a Human Face.[#UNDP] Unfortunately, this volume is now out of print, however it is available on line at: the UNDP Web site, http://www.undp.org/toppages/publications/index.html . Used copies may also be available from students who took the course last year.

Other Reading

Because this course draws on a multiplicity of sources, it would not be desirable to make all them available in book form. Because of some logistical problems, we have chosen not to reproduce a course pack of readings this semester. Apart from readings in the books listed above, assigned readings will be available through Bender Library On Line Reserve [OLR], in the Bender Library reference collection [REF] in a packet of materials that can be signed out from the International Development Office [ID] as handouts [HO] and on the Internet [On line at http://www…] and on the class Blackboard site [BB]. Details about accessing the Blackboard site and on line reserves will be provided and demonstrated during Week 2’s class session, part of which will be held at the Social Science Computing Laboratory, located in Hurst Hall.

Depending on your means and inclinations, some books other than those at the bookstore would probably be worth owning, however you can make those judgements for yourself. If, for logistical reasons, you are unable to get to a particular reading in a particular week, don’t let this frustrate you; simply catch up later.

E-MAIL, THE INTERNET AND OTHER COMPUTER-RELATED MATTERS

We will be using the Internet and E-mail extensively in this course. The University does provide computer resources in various laboratories, however if you don’t have a personal Internet connection either at home or at the office, this might be a time to consider one. Anton Winder or other staff members at the Social Science Computing Laboratory would be happy to discuss this with you.

In addition to using the Internet, I will also be sending you E-mail with documents attached, from time to time. The suite package I use is Microsoft OFFICE 97 for world processing (MS WORD), spreadsheets (MS EXCEL) and presentation graphics (MS Power Point). If you do not have this software, you will need access to software that can translate to a package you are using. The latest versions of Word Perfect and QUATROPRO, available on the University network, do this reasonably well.

The University network can be a source of computer viruses from time to time. If you do not have a virus checker on your home or office computer that is updated at least monthly (weekly is better), this would be a good time to consider purchasing one. Computer’s can also crash, with disastrous consequences if you are not protected. Mechanical failures, software glitches and carelessness in virus checking can all cause crashes. Protect yourself with software that checks Windows file and registry integrity and reminds you to defragment your hard disk periodically. The package I use is Norton Systemworks. There are competing packages that may be equally satisfactory. Back up your hard disk frequently. If you can afford it, I recommend that you purchase a ZIP drive or other similar device to use for backing up. Backing up on regular diskettes is simply too cumbersome. 100 MB external ZIP drives are available for about $100 and 250 MB drives for about $180. If backing up saves you from one crash or virus infection it will be more than worth it.

A major assignment in this course assumes that you have basic spreadsheet skills. Since this is a requirement of the SIS 600 sections required of all first year ID students, this should not be a problem. If you are not taking one of those sections and are not proficient, contact Anton Winder to arrange a tutorial through the Social Science Computing Laboratory.

Some of the handouts in this course, to be distributed by E-mail, use the "outlining" feature of Microsoft WORD 97. If you are not familiar with this helpful technology, which I use extensively, this might be a good time to learn it. Contact Anton Winder to arrange a tutorial through the Social Science Computing Laboratory.

SUPPORT GROUPS

During the our first class session, we will divide the class into support groups. You will be expected to use support group members as resources throughout the semester and there will also be (ungraded) group presentations in class. The support group structure will also be used for some class exercises and discussions and for weekly reports on the "International Development of the Week" (to be discussed below).

FORMAL COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING:

CASE STUDY BRIEFING PAPER: During the semester, each class-member will be asked to become our "in-house expert" on one country’s development experience. A "briefing paper" on your country, of about ten pages in length, will be due at about mid-semester. Either individual or group projects are acceptable. Since teams do so much international development work, group work is are encouraged. You may also want to collaborate with one or more class members on a comparative briefing paper. Details of this assignment will be the subject of a separate handout. Due March 1 (Week 7).

SYNOPSIS/DISCUSSION PAPERS will record your "reactions to" or "reflections on" the week’s reading, guided by the discussion questions for each part of the course. Papers should be about 2 pp. in length, double-spaced. There will be no numerical grade given, but each paper will receive a check (1.5 points) a check plus (2 points – but these will be rare) or a check minus (1 point) depending on my assessment of its level of thoughtfulness and thoroughness. Only papers that are delivered on time will be graded, and you must be in class to have your paper graded. Choose a minimum of 5 weeks to submit papers. You may submit more for additional credit. Grades will be given by ranking the aggregate point totals for all class members and then scaling the ranked values. Sign up sheets for synopsis/discussion papers will be distributed in week 2. You need not stick rigidly to the dates for which you sign up, however. If you must miss class, simply submit a paper for another week.

"CONSULTING REPORT": Class-members will be asked to write a professional briefing paper focusing on a set of policy-relevant problems in international development. When writing this paper, you will play the role of a junior professional in a consulting firm and will asked to tailor your paper to the needs of a particular client. The briefing paper provides you with an opportunity to demonstrate a thorough knowledge of assigned readings and the ability to integrate essential ideas presented around a theme or problem. A detailed description of the requirements for this assignment will be the topic of a separate handout. Due March 29 (Week 10).

ORAL REPORTS AND WEB POSTINGS ON RESOURCES FOR DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATIONS. Class members, organized in groups, will be asked to prepare briefings for the class as a whole on "Resources for Development Research" and "Development Organizations." Two class sessions will be devoted to these reports, which are described in separate handouts.

COMPILATION OF INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT "LANDMARKS" AND PROPOSITIONS ON IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENT ISSUES. In lieu of a final examination, class members will be asked to keep throughout the semester and submit at the end of the semester compilation of key "Landmarks" in the history of international development and propositional inventory focusing on major issues that we discuss in the course. Our final class session, held during the final examination period, will be devoted to brief oral reports on this assignment. Due May 5th (Final examination week).

"DEVELOPMENT EVENT OF THE WEEK." Except during weeks when group reports are being given, one support group will be responsible, each week, for giving a succinct, professional report on some significant event in the field of international development. An "event of the week" could be a political event, the initiation or completion of a significant project, the publication of an important report, a speech, or some other newsworthy event. It might address a significant trend (relating, for example, to global warming or AIDS) that received attention in the news.

GROUP WORK ENCOURAGED AND REWARDED: Most professional work in international development is done by teams. In this course we try to strike a balance between this reality and the strong individualist ethic characterizing the assignment of university grades in the following manner.

WEIGHT GIVEN TO GRADED ASSIGNMENTS:

test test
test test
test test
test test
test test
test test

 

NUMERICAL GRADES AND LETTER EQUIVALENTS: Numerical grades will be assigned to all written work and examinations. Correspondence between numerical and letter grades is as follows:

                       

A  96-100
C+ 71-75
A-  91-95
C  66-70
B+  86-90
C-  61-65
B  81-85
D  60-54
B-  76-80
F   0-53

 

Criteria for evaluating written work will be given in separate handouts.

TIMELY SUBMISSION OF WORK/LATE PENALTIES: Timely submission of work is required. Work submitted late will be penalized three points for each working day late that I receive it up to a maximum of 30 points.

I recognize circumstances may occasionally necessitate an extension of due dates. Should this be the case, please request an extension by e-mail this is so I will have a written reminder. Your request should reach me at least one day before the due date of the assignment, however the earlier the better. I do recognize that in the case of unusual emergencies requests may come later. Your request should briefly state the reason that an extension is requested and specify the date that I will receive your work. With sufficient notice, I am quite willing to grant extensions. However I regard work that is turned in late with no notice and no explanation as a serious matter. Late assignments should be placed in my mailbox in the International Development office. Please have a staff member date the assignment when you turn it in.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: You should have received a copy of The American University Academic Integrity Code. You are expected to be familiar with the provisions of the code and to follow them. If you have not received a copy of the code, let me know and I will see that you are given one.

 

LIST OF CLASS TOPICS AND ASSIGNMENTS

PART I. DEVELOPMENT: WHAT IS IT?

NOTE: The extensive listings and discussions of recommended readings found below were, for the most part, prepared by Professor Deborah Brautigam, who taught two sections of this course in the fall. Her contributions are gratefully acknowledged.

Week 1: January 18 - Introduction: What Is Development?

No readings.

Week 2: January 25 - Is Development "Measurable"? What's the Score? Who's Winning?

DUE: Synopsis/discussion paper for Week 2

DIST: Description of case studies and case study briefing paper ; Description of reports on development resources.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Do you think "development" can be measured? Why or why not?
  2. In your judgement, which measures of development are best? What factors should be included in a measure of development?
  3. What are the most surprising changes in development indicators for developing countries over the past several decades? Have some "less developed" countries become "developed" (as you measure development) over this period?
  4. A recent article noted "the average per capita income in the world's poorest countries [fell] from 3.1 percent of rich nations' incomes in 1970, to 1.9 percent in 1995." Why is the gap between the high income and low income countries continuing to grow?

Bring your UNDP Human Development Report to class today! Read the first chapter, and be sure you have familiarized yourself with the tables in the back.

Readings:

#BBSD: Chapt. 2.

#UNDP: Overview and Trends: Ch.1, pp. 1-24; pp. 127-163 (Note how HDI is computed, described in the Technical Notes)

#Korten, Prologue, Chapt. 1 and Chapt. 3.

#Rostow, Walter W. "The Five Stages of Growth," In #SPS, pp. 9-16.

Cobb, Clifford, et al.. If GDP is Up, Why is America Down? Atlantic Monthly October 1995. (Available on the web at: (http://www.theatlantic.com/election/connection/ecbig/gdp.htm

Recommended Readings and Resources: One of the best discussions of criteria for a good development index is found in Morris W. Morris (1979), Measuring the Condition of the World’s Poor (New York: Pergamon Press and the Overseas Development Council). For a critical view of some terms we frequently use, see "A Standard of Living," by Serge Latouche, and other terms defined in Wolfgang Sachs, ed. , The Development Dictionary. If you're interested in the issue of inequality, a very good source is an article by Klaus Deininger and Lyn Squire, "A New Data Set Measuring Income Inequality," in The World Bank Economic Review, v. 10, n. 3 (1996): 565-91. This includes a table with the best collection of gini coefficient data I've seen. It's reproduced in our course book, Seligson and Passe-Smith, pp. 67-76.

More information on measurement can be found in: Overseas Development Institute, "The Meaning and Measurement of Poverty," Overseas Development Institute Poverty Briefing Paper #3. February 1999. http://www.oneworld.org/odi/briefing/pov3.html . Donella Meadows essay on "Quality of Life" [OLR] addresses fundamental issues relevant to the measurement of development and surveys a number of indices.

Week 3: February 1 - Alternative Development Paradigms

DUE: Synopsis/discussion paper

DIST: Description of Landmarks and Propositions Assignment

Readings:

#BBSD, Chapts. 1 & 15.

#Korten, Chapt. 2, Epilogue, and Appendix.

#Lewis, Oscar. "The Culture of Poverty," in SPS, pp. 223-230.

#Harrison, Lawrence E. "Underdevelopment is a State of Mind," in SPS, pp. 231-239.

[OLR] Wolfe, Marshall. "Development: Images, Conceptions, Criteria, Agents, Choices," UN Economic Bulletin for Latin America (now CEPAL Review), v. XVIII, n. 1, pp. 1-12.

[OLR] Hardin, Garrett."Lifeboat Ethics: The Case Against Helping the Poor" Psychology Today, 1974.

[OLR] Ariel Dorfman (1988) "Into Another Jungle: The Final Journey of the Matacos?" Grassroots Development, 12, 2: 2-15.

The Mystery of Growth" The Economist May 25, 1996, pp. 15-25; available at: http://www.economist.com/editorial/freeforall/library/index_library.html

[OLR] Paolo Freire, (1968) Excerpt from Pedagogy of the Oppressed, New York: Continuum Publishing Corporation, pp. 29-56.

Recommended Readings and Resources: A good survey of development issues from a broad historical perspective is David S. Landes (1998), The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some are So Rich and Some are so Poor (London: W.W. Norton). Two survey issues of The Economist cover somewhat similar terrain, Reflections on the 20th Century (September 11th – 17th, 1999) and Millennium Special Edition: Reporting on a Thousand Years (January 1st , 1000 – December 31st, 1999).

Week 4: February 8 - Development From the Bottom Up; Group Reports on Resources for the Study of Development

DUE: Oral and written reports on "Resources for the Study of Development"

DIST: Consulting Report Assignment

Readings:

# Mike Tidwell (1990) The Ponds of Kalambayi : An African Sojourn New York, NY : Lyons & Burford. Read the entire volume.

PART II. THE DEVELOPMENT FIELD: history and recent trends

Week 5: February 15 - From Bretton Woods to Basic Needs: 1945-1975

DUE: Synopsis/discussion paper

Discussion Questions:

  1. Has development assistance done more good than harm or more harm than good?
  2. To what degree has US development assistance been shaped more by domestic policy and by national security agendas as opposed to the needs of recipient nations?
  3. Which institutions – bilateral, multilateral or NGO have been most effective in delivering development assistance; what are the strengths and shortcomings of each?

Readings:

#BBSD: Chapts. 3 & 17.

[OLR] Adams, Nassau (1993), Establishing the Post-war World Economic Order, Chapt. 2 in Worlds Apart :The North-South Divide and the International System (London; Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey: Zed Books, 1993).

[OLR] Hellinger, Hellinger and O'Regan (1988) "Evolution and Perpetuation of Developmental Assistance." In Aid for Just Development, Chapter 2.

[OLR] Hans Singer (1993) "The Bretton Woods System: Historical Perspectives," Third World Economics, August 16-31, pp. 13-16.

[ID] Paul Streeten (1982), "Growth, Redistribution, and Basic Human Needs," Chapt. 2 in Development Strategies and Basic Needs in Latin America (Boulder, CO: Westview Press), pp. 31-48.

[OLR] Vernon W. Ruttan (1989), "Improving the Quality of Life in Rural Areas," in Ann Krueger, et al, eds. Aid and Development (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press).

Recommended Readings and Resources: For more on the construction of the foreign aid industry, see The World Bank : its first half century by Devesh Kapur, John P. Lewis, and Richard Webb. Washington, D.C. : Brookings Institution, 1997; see also Riddel, Roger. "Foreign Aid Theory," in Foreign Aid Reconsidered. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press; Robert Ayers. 1983. Banking on the Poor Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; Morss, Elliot R. "Institutional Destruction Resulting from Donor and Project Proliferation in Sub-Saharan African Countries," World Development 12:4 (1984), pp. 465-470. Vernon Ruttan (1996), United States Development Assistance Policy (Baltimore: John’s Hopkins University Press) is a very complete survey of US assistance policy from a domestic perspective. The latest report by the World Bank on the impact of aid can be downloaded at: http://www.worldbank.org/research/aid/aidtoc.htm . If you are in the mood for a video, The Power to Change (VHS 868) contains useful material on this topic.

Week 6: February 22 - Modernization and Dependency: The Theories of Development and Underdevelopment

Although responsibility for the third world economic disaster is widespread, the principle cause has been the wholesale transfer of Western development models that are counterproductive to the notion of self-reliance. (Source unknown.)

The economic opportunities available to today's developing countries are indeed unprecedented. Paradoxically, the gap between the richest countries and the poorest - wider now than at any time in history - is itself a measure of that. The enormous wealth of the world's rich countries is due to nothing more than advanced technology and accumulated capital. Yet both of these, it seems, are available to all.

(The Economist "The mystery of growth." 25-May-96)

DUE: Synopsis/Discussion Paper

Discussion Questions:

  1. Why did the dependency critique of modernization gain so much credibility in the 1970s? Why did it lose favor in the 1980s and 1990s?
  2. How are the issues raised in modernization and dependency theories still with us today?
  3. What are the linkages between the issues raised in this session and those raised in the session on "Alternative Development Paradigms?

Readings:

#SPS: Economic modernization: Chapt. 2: Rostow, "The Five Stages of Growth," pp. 9-16.

Culture/Sociology & modernization: Chapt. 14: McClelland, "The Achievement Motive in Economic Growth"; Chapter 17, Inkeles and Smith, "Becoming Modern." Chapt. 21, Portes, "On the Sociology of National Development: Theories and Issues,"

Dependency & World-System Theory: Chapt. 22, dos Santos, "The Structure of Dependence," Chapt. 23, Valenzuela and Valenzuela, "Modernization and Dependency: Alternative Perspectives in the Study of Latin American Underdevelopment,"; Chapt. 24 Wallerstein, "The Present State of the Debate on World Inequality,"

[BB] Text of the United Nations Resolution on a New International Economic Order

Ahiakpor, James C. W. 1985. "The Success and Failure of Dependency Theory: The Experience of Ghana," International Organization, Vol., 39, No. 3. Available on JSTOR [full text articles] at AU Library’s ALADIN website: http://www.aladin.wrlc.org/.

Recommended Readings and Resources: The thinking that was later labeled "modernization theory" had proponents in economics, political science, sociology and psychology. For a good overview of the entire modernization school, see Alvin So, Social Change and Development (Beverly Hills: Sage Publications); Colin Leys (1996), The Rise and Fall of Development Theory ( Indiana University Press) gives another good overview. Gerald Meier, "Introduction" in Pioneers in Development also summarizes and gives an overview of the development experience over the past 40 years.

For the classic view of economic modernization, see Walt W. Rostow (1960) Stages of Economic Growth:A Non Communist Manifesto, pp. 4-16. Another important work from this period was Gerschenkron, Alexander (1966) Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective, which argued that "late" and "late-late" developers" could catch up more quickly than the leaders, because they could take advantage of the learning and costly mistakes that had already been made. Simon Kuznets "Economic Growth and Income Inequality," (reprinted # SPS) pointed out that the small group of countries that had "developed" economically by the 1950s had experienced a curve of rising inequality that peaked and then declined as their economies grew. He attributed this to dualism: the development of "enclaves" of modern economic growth, that grew faster, while the rest of the traditional economy stayed stagnant. Eventually, when growth spread around the country, the enclaves would disappear and inequality would drop.

Political change was also part of modernization. Among the classics on political change are Seymour Martin Lipset (1959) "Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy," American Political Science Review (March), Karl W. Deutsch (1961), "Social Mobilization and Political Development," The American Political Science Review (September) and Gabriel A. Almond and Sidney Verba (1963) The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press)

For a gender-sensitive review, see Catherine V. Scott (1995) "Tradition and Gender in Modernization Theory" and From Modernization Theory to the Soft State in Africa." In Gender and Development: Rethinking Modernization and Dependency Theory. More critical views of dependency theory can be found in Robert A. Packenham (1992), The Dependency Movement: Scholarship and Politics in Development Studies and in Tony Smith (1986), "The Underdevelopment of Development Literature: The Case of Dependency Theory," in Atul Kohli (1986) State and Development in the Third World (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press). Smith is pretty critical of modernization theory, too.

Week 7: March 1 - The Debt Crisis and Structural Adjustment: 1975-

DUE: Case Study Briefing Paper; Synopsis/discussion paper

Video: The Money Lenders (VHS 1578)

Discussion Questions:

  1. What was the relationship between the development strategies followed by many developing countries in the 1960s and 1970s, and the debt crisis? The US policies of the 1970s and the debt crisis?
  2. Why is structural adjustment so controversial? How do structural adjustment and the debt crisis fit together? Are there alternatives to adjustment?
  3. What might work to resolve the continuing debt crisis? Is your solution politically feasible?

Readings:

#BBSD Chapt. 5

#Korten, Chapters 5 and 12

[BB] The Washington Consensus

[OLR] Lairson, Thomas and David Skidmore (1993), "The Economics of International Political Economy" in International Political Economy : the Struggle for Power and Wealth (Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers) Read for background on how the international political economy works.

[OLR] Sparr, Pamela (1994) "What is Structural Adjustment?" (Chapt. 1) and "Feminist critiques of structural adjustment," (Chapt 2) in Mortgaging Women's Lives : Feminist Critiques of Structural Adjustment (Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey: Zed Books)

[OLR] Jo Marie Griesgraber (1997) "Forgive Us Our Debts," The Christian Century, (January 22), pp. 76-83.

[OLR] Richard Jolly (1991) "Adjustment with a Human Face: A UNICEF Record and Perspective on the 1980s, World Development, Vol. 19, pp. 1807-21.

IMF (1999), "The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs) Initiative: Putting Debt Relief in Perspective: Aid Flows, Debt Service, and Social Spending," (June 24, 1999). See at: http://www.imf.org/external/np/hipc/persp.htm

Jubilee 2000 also has extensive readings and data on the debt issue. The original website in the UK is: http://www.jubilee2000uk.org/main.html. The USA Jubilee 2000 website is: http://www.j2000usa.org/introusa.html.

The Case of Ghana:

Films… VHS 1321 "Ghana: Facing Hardships in Sub-Saharan Africa" (14 minutes). In IMF (1990), One World, One Economy: Pulling it Together or VHS 3546 "Banking on Life and Debt"

[OLR] 50 Years is Enough, pp. 78-82 (on Ghana).

Overseas Development Institute (July, 1996), "Adjustment in Africa: Lessons from Ghana," Available from ODI's website: http://www.oneworld.org/odi/briefing/index.html

[OLR] Jeffrey Herbst (1993) "Alternatives to Orthodox Economic Reform" Chapt. 8 in The Politics of Reform in Ghana, pp. 138-151.

World Bank and IMF websites: Check out the latest reports on Ghana.

Recommended Readings and Resources:

Gerald Scott (1998) "Who Has Failed Africa? IMF Measures or the African Leadership? Journal of Asian and African Studies 33 (3), pp. 265-74.

Michel Chossudovsky. The Globalization of Poverty: Impacts of IMF and World Bank Reforms

Oxfam, "Debt Relief and Poverty Reduction: Failing to Deliver," Media Briefing, April 2000, http://www.oxfam.org/advocacy/papers.htm

For some somewhat dated, but still helpful readings on structural adjustment and the debt crisis, see the two books edited by Joan Nelson, including Economic Crisis and Policy Choice. A good piece that describes some of the ins and outs of various plans to solve the debt crisis is Nafziger, Wayne. 1993."The Brady Plan, Toronto and Trinidad Terms, and Debt Exchanges," in The Debt Crisis in Africa, pp. 178-198.

For an early, critical view of adjustment, and an alternative, see a path breaking volume by ID Professor Fantu Cheru (1989) The Silent Revolution in Africa (London: Zed Books).

Week 8: March 8 - East Asia

DUE: Synopsis/discussion paper

Video?: The Asian Century

Discussion Question: Is East Asia a successful case of structural adjustment?

Readings:

"The East Asian Miracle": #SPS: Chapt. 18, Herman Kahn, "The Confucian Ethic and Economic Growth," and Chapt. 32, Michael Sarel, "Growth in East Asia: What We Can and Cannot Infer."

#BBSD, review Chapt. 2, pp. 43-55.

[OLR] Page, John. "The East Asian Miracle: An Introduction," World Development Vol. 22:4, pp. 615-625.

[OLR] Wade, Robert. "Japan, the World Bank, and the Art of Paradigm Maintenance," New Left Review Vol. 217.

[OLR]Linda Y. C. Lim (1998) "The 'Asian Miracle' Reconsidered: Has it Failed?" Current (November), pp. 19-24.

World Bank, "Adjusting Social Policy and Protecting the Poor," in East Asia: Recovery and Beyond, pp. 122-146 (Chapt. 6) available in PDF format at: http://www1.worldbank.org/publications/pdfs/14565.pdf

See also Oxfam's October 1998 briefing paper: "East Asian ‘recovery’ leaves the poor sinking" at Oxfam International’s website: http://www.oxfam.org/advocacy/papers/eastasia.htm. This is the most recent study by Oxfam on East Asia.

Recommended Readings and Resources: On the environment, see Chapt. 6 "Environment in Crisis," in East Asia: The Road to Recovery which can be downloaded from the World Bank's web site: http://www.worldbank.org/html/extpb/rdtorec2.htm.

For a great website on the Asian Crisis, see Noural Roubini's homepage at New York University: www.stern.nyu.edu/~nroubini/asia/AsiaHomepage.html

See Robert Wade's now classic book, Governing the Market on the rise of Taiwan and the role of the developmental state, and Alice Amsden's similar book on South Korea.

Ahuja, Vinod, Benu Bidani, Francisco Ferreira, and Michael Walton (1997), Everyone’s Miracle: Revisiting Poverty and Inequality in East Asia (World Bank, August ). Also World Bank (1993) The East Asian Miracle: Economic Growth and Public Policy (New York and London: Oxford Univeristy Press), especially Chapter 1: Overview and Summary. Brautigam, Deborah (1994) "What Can Africa Learn from Taiwan? Journal of Modern African Studies.

SPRING BREAK

Week 9: March 22 - Globalization

DUE: Synopsis/discussion paper

DIST: Description of Group Reports on NGOs and Grassroots Organizations

Video: American Friends Service Committee. 1986. The Global Assembly Line, VHS 1059

Readings:

#Korten, Chapts. 7-9; 13-17.

#UNDP, Chapts. 1-4.

#BBSD, Chapt. 17

[OLR] Bord, Nancy A. (1997),"Multinational Corporations: Saviors or Villains?" The World and I (November).

[OLR] Dani Rodrik, Has Globalization Gone Too Far? (Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics, 1997), pp. 69-85.

Zia Quereshi (1996), "Globalization: New Opportunities, Tough Challenges," Finance and Development, Vol. . 33, No. 1 (March), pp. 30-33. See at the IMF website:

http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/1996/03/pdf/qureshi.pdf

Recommended Readings and Resources: Dani Rodrik (1997), "Sense and Nonsense in the Globalization Debate" Foreign Policy (Summer )

The "Global Trade" Website of Ralph Nader's group, Public Citizen. Lori Wallach heads up this unit, and she is widely credited as the mobilizing force behind the November 1999 WTO Meetings "Battle in Seattle" See http://www.citizen.org/pctrade/tradehome.html

 

PART III. THE SECOND 25 YEARS – contemporary issues and fads

Week 10: March 29 – Privatization and Competition – The "Fishbanks" Game

DUE: Consulting Report Assignment

Readings: Fishbanks Game description

NOTE: When Professor Brautigam taught this class in the fall, she discussed land reform and assigned the following readings.

#BBSD, Chapt. 7

[OLR] Chambers, Robert (1983), "Rural Poverty Unperceived," in Rural Development: Putting the Last First (New York: John Wiley & Sons).

Beck, Tony (1989) "Survival Strategies and Power Amongst the Poorest in a West Bengal Village," IDS Bulletin, 20, 2: 23-33. Not on reserve.

[OLR] Puchala, Donald (1979) "The Political Economy of Taiwanese Agricultural Development," in R. Hopkins, D. Puchala, and R. Talbot, eds. Food, Politics and Agricultural Development: Case Studies in the Public Policy of Rural Modernization (Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 107-131).

Week 11: April 5 - Environment, Population, and Development

"Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It contains within it two key concepts:

(World Commission on Environment and Development. Our Common Future (a.k.a. "The Bruntland Report") New York: Oxford University Press, 1987, p. 43)

DUE: Synopsis/discussion paper

#BBSD, Chapters 11-12; 15-16.

#Korten, Chapters 21, 22.

#SPS Chapter 34 Thomas and Belt, "Growth and the Environment: Allies or Foes?"

[OLR] Hardin, Garrett. "The Tragedy of the Commons." Science 162: 1343-1348.

*Nancy Scheper-Hughes. 1989. "Death Without Weeping." Natural History, 10.

*Simon, Julian. "Why do we Think Babies Create Poverty?" The Washington Post Sunday, October 13, 1985 ; Page B1.

*Fornos, Werner. 1998. "No Vacancy," The Humanist (July/August).

Recommended Readings and Resources: In the United States, consciousness about the environment was first raised by the publication of Rachel Carson ‘s Silent Spring. Globally, the issue of sustainability and the environmental consequences of growth reached popular consciousness with publication of The First Report to the Club of Rome, The Limits to Growth, by Donella and Dennis Meadows and other members of their team at MIT (1972). This lead to the field of Global Modeling which spawned a number of projects focusing on the issues raised in Limits to Growth, which are described in Donella Meadows, et. al. (1983), Groping in the Dark: The First Decade of Global Modeling (London: John Wiley and Sons). The U.S. Government became involved in the process with publication of the Global 200 Report to the President (1980), Evoked a conservative response from Julian Simon and Herman Kahn (1984) The Resourceful Earth (1984). The United Nations weighed in on the issue with the report of the World Commission on Environment and Development. Our Common Future a.k.a. "The Bruntland Commission Report. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987. The whole report is worth reading. More recently, the authors of The Limits to Growth published a follow-up on the 20th anniversary of the release of the original volume entitled, Beyond the Limits (Chelsea Green, 1992).

Week 12: April 12 - NGOs & Grassroots Organizations: Microcredit: Group Reports

DUE: Group reports on NGOs and Grassroots Organizations

Video: "The Women's Bank of Bangladesh," VHS 4542

Readings (we will discuss some of these next week)

#BBSD 12-13

#Korten, ch. 23

[OLR] Michael Maren (1993), "The Food-Aid Racket." Harper's Magazine (August).

[OLR] John Clark (1990) "New Pragmatism," in Democratizing Development: The Role of Voluntary Organizations, pp. 150-164.

[OLR] Peter Reiling (2000), "Letter From the President to the Development Community: Risk and Responsibility," Technoserve (Winter ), pp. 1-3.

Recommended Readings and Resources:

[OLR] Anthony Bebbington and Thomas Perreault (1999), "Social Capital, Development, and Access to Resources in Highland Ecuador." Economic Geography, Vol. 75: 4, pp. 395-418.

Vicki L. Wilde (1994) "W = Female + Male," CERES (July/August)

[OLR] Dichter, Thomas (1997), "Appeasing the Gods of Sustainability: The Future of International NGOs in Microfinance," in David Hulme and Michael Edwards, NGOs, States, and Donors: Too Close for Comfort? (New York: St. Martin's Press) pp. 128-139.

Jessica Vivian. "NGOs and Sustainable Development in Zimbabwe: No Magic Bullet." Development and Change v. 25, n, 1.

Jonathan Morduch, (1999), "The Microfinance Promise." Journal of Economic Literature v. 37 (December): 1569-1614.

Nan Scully. 1997. "Microcredit: Band-Aid or Wound?" Indian Economic Overview.

Check out Grameen Bank's website: http://www.grameen-info.org/

Hernando de Soto (1990) The Other Path : The Invisible Revolution In The Third World (New York: Harper and Row) and (2000), The Mystery Of Capital : Why Capitalism Triumphs in The West and Fails Everywhere Else (New York: Basic Books)

Putnam, Robert (1995), "Bowling Alone," .Journal of Democracy, January 1995, Vol. . 6, No. 1.

THANKSGIVING BREAK

Week 13: April 19 - Democracy, Governance and Civil Society

DUE: Synopsis/discussion paper

#BBSD, Chapters 4 and 14..

#Korten, Chapt,. 24

#SPS, Robert Bates, "Governments and Agricultural Markets in Africa," (Chapt 28), Erich Weede, "Why Poor

[

People Stay Poor," (Chapt. 29) Michael Lipton, "Urban Bias and Inequality," (Chapt 30). Adam Przeworski and Fernando Limongi, (Chpt 31) "Political Regimes and Economic Growth."

[OLR] Jessica Matthews, "Power Shift" Foreign Affairs (January/February 1997), pp. 50-66.

BB] J. Richardson (1993) "Designing Democratic Institutions to Meet the Challenges of Development."

Week 14: April 26 - Conflict and Development; Development Visions

DUE: Synopsis/discussion paper

Readings:

[BB] JR and Shinjinee Sen (1995), "Development and Ethnic Conflict, A Policy Oriented Analysis"

[BB] JR (2000) "JR Jayewardene’s Open Economy Reforms and the Escalation of Violent Conflict in Sri Lanka: A Revisionist View."

[OLR] Francis Fukuyama (1989), "The End of History" The National Interest, No 16 (Summer) pp. 3-18.

[OLR] Samuel Huntington (1993), "The Clash of Civilizations? "Foreign Affairs (Summer)

Robert Kaplan (1994). "The Coming Anarchy" The Atlantic Monthly (February) available online at: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/foreign/anarchy.htm

Barber, Benjamin (1992) "Jihad vs. McWorld". The Atlantic Monthly (March) available online at: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/foreign/barberf.htm

Week 15: May 5 (Final Examination Date) Presentations on Landmarks and Propositions

Due: Landmarks and propositions assignment