Course Outline and Required Readings

Course Outline and Required Readings

Professor W. W. NyangoniFall 2014

Mandel Center 220Mandel G11

Email: Tuesdays 6:30 – 9:20 PMTelephone: 781.736.2091

Office Hours: Tuesdays 3-5 PM

Friday 3 – 5 PM

AAAS 158a

“Theories of Development and Underdevelopment”

Course Description

Theories of Development and Underdevelopment: Humankind has for some time now possessed the scientific and technological means to combat the scourge of poverty. The purpose of this seminar will be to acquaint students with contending theories of development and underdevelopment, emphasizing the open and contested nature of both the process involved and the field of study itself. Among he topics to be taken up are modernization theory; the challenge to modernization posed by dependency and world systems theories and more recent approaches centered on the concepts of basic needs and of sustainable development.

Introduction

This course brings the dilemmas of international poverty and the developing world into the twenty-first century. Besides including the most current information and discussions of economic structural adjustments, globalization and international trade, the course highlight the divergent path adopted by different development models and strategies of development.

In this class we will explore and analyze complex interrelationships between trade, and economic development. With a move to a greater integration of economies throughout the world, trade has become a vital factor in the economic, social and political development of Third World nations. Students will be required to consider the forces and structures that have led to unequal conditions and poverty in developing countries, the debt crisis, and the international financial institutions including the World Bank and the International Monetary fund and the ongoing problem of a widening gap between the rich and the poor.

In the seminar we shall critically examine the major contending theories of development, with particular attention to the experiences of the so called “Newly Industrializing Countries” in East Asia, Latin America, and Southern Africa. As student of international relations, we shall be most interested in the articulation of national and international processes as a crucial link in the explanation of their distinctive developmental paths.

We shall begin by reading John Rapley’s Understanding Development: Theory and Practice in the Third World in order to uncover the inextricable relations between knowledge and power, which are all too often concealed by the sanitized language of self-possessed experts. The discussion of the concept of development sets the stage for a more detailed examination of the major competing theoretical traditions, modernization theory and its reincarnation as the “new orthodoxy” on the one hand, and the Marxian tradition with its offshoots, dependency and world-systems, on the other. Comparative studies of the experiences of East Asia and Latin America will help us to evaluate the fruitfulness of these traditions. Finally, we shall attempt to recover two concepts—basic needs and self-reliance—which potentially challenge both traditions.

There is no single satisfactory text for the course. For this reason, I am requiring the following books:

  1. John Rapley, Understanding Development: Theory and Practice in the Third World. (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2007)
  2. Mitchell A. Seligson and John T. Passe – Smith. Development and Underdevelopment: The Political Economy of Global Inequality, Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publications, 2014.
  3. Samir Amin, Maldevelopment: Anatomy of Global Failure. Capetown: Fahama/Pambazuka Press 2011.
  4. Mark A. Martinez, the Myth of the Free Market: The Role of the State in a Capitalist Economy Stering: VA. Kumarian Press, 2009.

These books will be supplemented by a few films and outside speakers. In addition, I will assign supplementary readings during the course of the semester.

Course Requirements and Evaluation

As this is a seminar, attendance and class participation are a matter of course. Your final grade will be based on four elements:

1)A middle semester take home examination will be handed out on October 7

2)The mid-term to be submitted to the instructor on October 14, 2014.

3)A ten pages longterm paper based on either Understanding Development or Regional

Integration in Africa or South America will be handed out on September 30th, and will be due on October 21.

  1. On a comparative basis (e.g., multinationals in South Africa and Zimbabwe, or India and China; and in the Americas, Brazil and Mexico): or
  2. from the point of view of two competing theories (e.g., Maquiladoras in

Mexico as seen by modernization and dependency): or

c. with attention to the interaction between national and international processes e.g., the development of the textile industry in Taiwan and protectionism in the West: and

d. deindustrialization in specified Third World countries: or

e. IMF, International Debt and Problems of Development in Latin America and Africa or World Trade Organization’s philosophy of trade

4)The term paper will be expanded to between 15 and 20 pages long, and the final copy should be submitted to the instructor on December 9th, 2014.

5)Take Home Final Exam due on December 12th

If you have a documented disability and would like a reasonable accommodation made for you, please see me immediately after class.

Academic integrity is central to the mission of educational excellence at Brandeis University. Each student is expected to turn in work completed independently, except when assignments specifically authorize collaborative effort. It is not acceptable to use the words or ideas of another-be it a world-class philosopher or your lab partner-without proper acknowledgement of that source. This means that you must use footnotes and quotation marks to indicate the source of any phrases, sentences, paragraphs or ideas found in published volumes, on the internet, or created by another student.

Violation of University policies on academic integrity, described in section 3 of Rights and Responsibilities, may result in failure in the course or on the assignment, and could end in suspension from the university. If you are in doubt about the instruction for any assignment in this course, you must ask for clarification. If you are working in a group that I have authorized, I will expect you to do your work separately from your friends, classmates, family members, and so on. You are not permitted to have anyone other than your professor to help you on written assignments outside of class. If you have questions, please ask me before you seek help from someone.

Weekly Outline and Required Readings

Week 1: Introductory Discussion on course objectives and expectations

9/2

Week 2: Knowledge and Power

9/9

1.John Rapley, Understanding development: Theory and Practice, Chapter 1

2.Samir Amin, Maldevelopment: Anatomy of Global Failure. Capetown: Fahama/Pambazuka Press 2011. Pp. 1 to 22

3.Mitchell A. Seligson and John T. Passe – Smith. Development and Underdevelopment: The Political Economy of Global Inequality, Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publications, 2014. Chapters 1 to 2

Week 3: The Concept Development

9/16, 2014

1.John Rapley, Understanding development: Theory and Practice in the third world. Chapters 2-3.

2.Mitchell A. Seligson and John T. Passe – Smith. Development and Underdevelopment: The Political Economy of Global Inequality, Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publications, 2014. Chapters 3-6

3.Mark A. Martinez, The Myth of the Free market: The Role of the state in a capitalist economy, chapters 1-3

4.Samir Amin, Maldevelopment: Anatomy of Global Failure. Cape Town: Fahama/Pambazuka Press 2011. Chapters 1 to 3

Week 4 and 5: Theories of Development

9/23 and 9/30

  1. John Rapley, Understanding development: Theory and Practice in the third world. Chapters 4-6
  2. Mitchell A. Seligson and John T. Passe – Smith. Development and Underdevelopment: The Political Economy of Global Inequality, Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publications, 2014. Chapters 3 and 4.
  3. Samir Amin, Maldevelopment: Anatomy of Global Failure. Cape Town: Fahama/Pambazuka Press 2011. Chapters 4 to 6
  4. Mark A. Martinez, The Myth of the free market: The Role of the state in a capitalist economy, chapters 4 to 6.
  5. Hand-out Term Paper Topics on 9/30, 2014.

Week 6 and 7: Theories of Modernization

10/7 and 10/14

1.John Rapley, Understanding development: Theory and Practice, Chapters 7

2.Mitchell A. Seligson and John T. Passe – Smith. Development and Underdevelopment: The Political Economy of Global Inequality, Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publications, 2014. Chapter 5

3.Mark A. Martinez, The Myth of the free market: The Role of the state in a capitalist economy, chapters 7 and 9

4.Samir Amin, Maldevelopment: Anatomy of Global Failure. Cape Town: Fahama/Pambazuka Press 2011. Chapters 7

5.Hand-out Mid-term Take Home Exam Questions on 10/7

6.Midterm exams to be submitted on 10/14

Week 9 and 10: Marxism, Neo-marxism and state-led Approaches to Development.

10/21 and 10/28

  1. Mitchell A. Seligson and John T. Passe – Smith. Development and Underdevelopment: The Political Economy of Global Inequality, Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publications, 2014. Parts 6.
  2. John Rapley, Understanding development: Theory and Practice, Chapters 8
  3. Mark A. Dittmer, The Myth of the free market: The Role of the State in a Capitalist Economy, chapters 8 and 9.
  4. Submit 5 pages of essay!

Weeks 11 and 12: Documentaries on Mexico, West Africa, India and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

11/4 and 11/11

11/14. Submit Revisions of paper 1.

Weeks 13 and 14: Africa and Latin America in the Global Economy

  • Hand in Final Take Home Exams = 11/25

.

Weeks 15 to 20: Last day of Instruction

  • Submit final take home exams on 12/2
  • Submit final 15 to 20 term paper on 12/9
  1. Printed materials to be handed in class
  2. Mark A. Dittmer, The Myth of the free market: The Role of the State in a Capitalist Economy, part 14.
  3. Samir Amin, Maldevelopment: Anatomy of Global Failure. Cape Town: Fahama/Pambazuka Press 2011. Chapters 7 and 8.
  4. Mitchell A. Seligson and John T. Passe – Smith. Development and Underdevelopment: The Political Economy of Global Inequality, Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publications, 2014. Parts 8 and 9

Library Reserve List for AAAS 158a

  1. Richard J. Paine and Jamal R. Nasser, Politics and Culture in the Developing World. Upper Saddle River, Longman/ Pearson: Education Inc.NJ 2012
  2. Mitchell A. Seligson and John T. Passe – Smith. Development and Underdevelopment: The Political Economy of Global Inequality, Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publications
  3. Samir Amin, Maldevelopment: Anatomy of Global Failure. Cape Town: Fahama/Pambazuka Press 2011.
  4. Mark A. Dittmer, The Myth of the free market: The Role of the State in a Capitalist Economy.
  5. Richard Harris and Jorge Nef, Capital Power Inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean, Lanham, MD. Rowan & Littlefield, 2008.
  6. Howard Handelman, The Challenge of the Third World, Upper Saddle River, Pearson: Education Inc. NJ. 2011
  7. Rapley, John, Understanding Development: Theory and Practice in the Third World. (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2007).
  8. Franko, Patrice, The Puzzle for Latin American Development. (New York: Rowan and Littlefield, 2007).
  9. Buthelezi, Sipho. Regional Integration in Africa, (Michigan University Press, 2007).
  10. Rodan, G., Hewison, K, and Robison, R., The Political Economy of South-East Asia : Markets, Power, and Contestation. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006).
  11. Nyangoni, Wellington W.,Global Capitalism and Developing Countries. (Marlborough, MA: Msasa Publications, 1998).
  12. Nyangoni, Wellington W.,Development and Underdevelopment: The Political Economy of North/South Relations. (Marlborough, MA: Msasa Publications, 1995).
  13. Klak, Thomas,Globalization and New Liberalism: The Caribbean and Context. (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 1997).
  14. Ndulu, Benno. Agenda for Africa’s Economic Renewal. (Washington, DC: Overseas Development Council, 1996).
  15. Nyangoni, Wellington W.,Economic Integration in the Caribbean and Latin America. (Marlborough, MA: Msasa Publications, 2001).
  16. Terry, EdithB., How Asia Got Rich. (New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2002).
  17. Isbister, John,Promises Not Kept. (Kumarian, 2003).
  18. Ellerman, David, Helping People Help Themselves: From the World Bank to an Alternative Philosophy of Development Assistance. (Pluto Press Publications, 2005).
  19. Stieglitz, Joseph E., Globalization and its Discontents. (New York, NY: W.W. Norton and Company, 2003).
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