Abstract of my 7th semester lecture for the Masters Programme in Development and International Relations (DIR) on 3, 5, and 12 October 2011 at Aalborg University, Denmark:
The lecture will be composed of three interrelated parts and will be held in three different sessions—on 3, 5, and 12 October.
The first and second parts will give a comprehensive survey and review of the classic debates — both old and contemporary — that have shaped development theory and policy in the last 500 years. The scope ranges from the political economy of capitalist development under conditions of imperialism to the particularities of state-market relations in the epoch of neoliberal globalisation. It will investigate the causes of the wealth and poverty of nations, examining varying factors (such as culture, institutions, geography, disease, technology, and economic activities) identified and promoted in development thought and practice from the 17th century to the present.
The third part will give an overview of political-economic development strategies that have made rich countries rich, from England to continental Europe and the United States of America in the 17th-20th centuries, and East Asia since the late 20th century. At the same time, it will discuss why poor countries stay poor and why it has been difficult to create middle-income countries at this historical juncture with reference to the centuries- and decades-old tragedies in major parts of Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. Special attention is given to policy success and failures in specific contexts, history of colonialism, theory of uneven economic development, the crisis of neoliberalism, ‘welfare colonialism’ in the development aid system, and the material and ideological interests in the politics and economics of development.
The three lecture sessions will be discussed in an interdisciplinary approach derived from the fields of critical political economy, development economics, and economic history. Particular emphasis is given not only on the ‘history of development thought’ (i.e., what theorists said must happen) but on the seemingly non-existent academic discipline: the ‘history of development policy and strategy’ (i.e., what policies and strategies were/are actually followed).
Students are very much encouraged to read the references before the lecture sessions. Lecture slides are not substitutes for the reading references. Active participation in the debates and discussions is most earnestly sought.
