Institutions, Governance, and International Development
PADM-GP 2201
Fall 2017
Professor Salo V. Coslovsky
Puck Building, Office 3096
Office Hours: By appointment (email me)
Location: 24 Waverly Place - Room 667
This version: Sept 6th 2017
Course description
Why are some nations, provinces, and cities rich while others are poor? This is a central question in international development, and this course addresses it by examining the challenges of institutional and governance reform in low- and middle-income countries.
The field of international development rose in prominence after World War II, when the western world grappled with the reconstruction of Europe, decolonization in parts of Africa and Asia, and the relatively low standards of living in Latin America. Since then, progress has been uneven. On the positive side, the number of people living in poverty has decreased considerably and access to health, housing, electricity and education has gone up. And yet, problems remain not only in historically disadvantaged localities but all over the world. The challenge of international development remains enormous, and the meaning, ethics, and appropriateness of this enterprise continue to be highly political and therefore hotly contested. Not surprisingly, reasonable people disagree on what development is, what should be pursued first, how it ought to be done, and who should pay the costs and reap the benefits.
This course addresses a narrow slice of this large pie. To be clear, it does not examine the politics and practices of foreign aid, it does not focus on NGOs or social enterprises, and it does not emphasize the role played by international or multilateral organizations. Rather, it examines two critical challenges faced by elected politicians, career civil servants, activists and their allies around the world:
(1) How to create vibrant and dynamic markets (including markets for products, services, capital, and labor) so everyone can benefit from specialization and the gains from trade, and
(2) How to create resilient and responsive government agencies that can complement, sustain and tame these markets.
Correspondingly, the course is divided into two modules. The first one, named “Institutions” provides a brief survey of the history of development thinking, from the “Big Push” (class 2) to the recent emphasis on institutions & governance (class 9). The second module (class 10 to 13) explores the challenges of governance, i.e. the processes and structures that society adopts to manage its collective affairs, with an emphasis on the better delivery of public services.
By design, this course avoids offering blueprints or one-right-answers to the perceived pathologies of underdevelopment. Rather, it encourages students to search for the levers of change that matter given the constraints that actors face. Rigorous analysis is essential to this task, but at the end of the day development professionals must be creative to find opportunities for constructive action.
Course objectives
By the end of the course students will:
1. Understand the evolution of the theory and practice of institutional and governance reform in developing countries
2. Acquire a critical perspective on blueprints, received wisdoms and other misconceptions prevalent in international development thinking
3. Identify some of the roles that are or can be played by national and local governments, private businesses, NGOs, citizens and international organizations in promoting economic development
4. Think analytically and strategically about existing levers of institutional reform, improved governance and opportunities for pragmatic change
5. Be a step closer to becoming reflective practitioners, i.e. professionals endowed with a sophisticated grasp of the opportunities, limits and dangers of action in the international development field
Requirements
Grades will be based on class participation (30%), three short assignments (10% each) and a final assignment (40%).
Class participation (30%) means attending class and contributing to the discussions. Students can contribute by asking good questions and answering questions posed by others.
The first short assignment (10%) consists of short memo (one to two pages) detailing one dirigiste, heavy-handed, purposefully distortionary policy adopted by a country of your choice to foster economic growth. These types of policies were particularly prevalent from 1940s to 1980s so you might have to do some archival research. More details will be discussed in class. This assignment will be graded as pass-fail.
The second short assignment (10%) consists of a short (one to two pages) memo examining the “secrets of success” of a thriving industry or economic sector in a low- or middle-income country. Your memo should identify the industry or sector of your choice, display some descriptive statistics that illustrate its recent upward trajectory, and list some of the reasons that has helped this industry or sector thrive when it did (as opposed to thriving at earlier or later periods). This assignment will also be graded as pass-fail.
The third short assignment (10%) consists of a one-page memo examining one effort to improve the quality of the public service in a country of your choice. Your memo will draw from one recent academic article. It should include some details about the effort, its logic of action, and whether it delivered results. Again, more details will be discussed in class. Like the preceding ones, this assignment will be graded as pass-fail.
The final assignment (40%) consists of a personal reflection or a research paper on a topic of your choice and that connects directly to themes discussed in class. The reflection is individual. The research paper can be written individually, in pairs or trios. Students form their own groups, but everyone in a group receives the same grade. The assignment should have around ten (double-spaced) pages, including title, bibliography and footnotes in the format indicated below.
Voluntary additional assignments
In the spirit of crowdsourcing, I invite students to contribute to future iterations of the course, in two ways. First, students may submit newspaper and magazine articles, podcasts, short videos, short clips of documentaries, maps, charts, and other resources that illustrate, challenge, or establish a dialogue with the theories, problems and interventions discussed in class, to be added to the course. I am particularly interested in submissions that enrich the classroom experience (i.e. that I can use during the class).
Each submission must be accompanied by a brief memo (from one paragraph to one page) introducing the piece, explaining its main point, and arguing why it should be added to the course / syllabus (and where). Please refrain from suggesting academic articles, especially if they have been assigned in other classes, as I want to avoid unnecessary overlap.
Second, students may also submit insightful comments on any of the readings listed on the syllabus. Comments should range from one paragraph to one page, and should explain why the reading should be promoted (from recommended to required), demoted (from required to recommended), removed from the syllabus, or transferred to a different section. I am not asking for summaries or a list of reasons why the author is “wrong”. A good memo analyzes the pedagogical merit of the piece. Students may also suggest novel questions for discussion or reflection associated with any of the assigned readings.
Submissions are individual and voluntary. The short memo that accompanies each submission will be graded and each one carries the weight of 5%, up to a maximum of 10%. This means that a student who submits two pieces and gets a perfect score on both sees his/her final grade for the course increase by 1.0 point. A student who does not submit anything, or gets a zero, does not suffer any penalty.
Format and submission:
All assignments should be written on Times New Roman size 12, doubled-spaced lines (not 1.5), one inch margins all around. I read a lot of papers and can tell whether a student has respected these guidelines or not. Failure to follow these simple directions may negatively affect your grade.
The assignments must include in-line citations (not footnotes or endnotes) and a bibliography at the end of the document. For instance:
“…this type of engagement has been called responsive (Ayres and Braithwaite 1992, Braithwaite 2005), flexible (Bardach and Kagan 1982), tit-for-tat (Scholz 1984), creative (May and Burby 1998), and adaptive (Hawkins 1984).”
The complete citation goes in the bibliography. Use footnotes for commentary or to make a side point.
Please remember to include your name and mailbox number in the paper and use the following format to name your files: IGID [semester year] [your last name] [assignment]
For instance: IGID F2017 Alvarez assignment1.doc
To submit your assignments, please email them as an attachment to
If you follow the instructions, your assignment will be automatically downloaded into my dropbox, saving everyone (specially me) a lot of unnecessary trouble. Please refrain from emailing another copy of your assignment to my regular address “just in case”.
Many students ask me when exactly the assignments are due. As a general rule, I collect all submissions very early the next day and check them against the class roster. I don’t care if you submitted it a few days early, at 11:59PM the day the assignment is due, or a few minutes before I check the folder the next day. Also, please refrain from asking me whether I got your submission. If for any reason I cannot find your assignment, I will contact you.
Grading Policy:
There is no curve in this course. Everyone may receive an A or everyone may receive an F. Students who fail to submit the required assignments will automatically receive an F for the course, unless you ask for an incomplete and meet the school’s criteria. At the end of the semester, I use the weights listed below to calculate your final score, and convert it back to a letter grade according to the following table:
Numeric Grade / Letter GradeIncomplete / Incomplete
<4.00 / F
4.00 – 5.00 / C
5.00 – 6.00 / B-
6.00 – 7.00 / B
7.00 – 8.00 / B+
8.00 – 9.00 / A-
>9.00 / A
(Borderline cases will be decided based on contribution to the class)
I do not look forward to failing any student. If you are having difficulty keeping up, talk to me so we can devise a remedial plan for you to catch up and, hopefully, excel in the course.
Late Policy and Incompletes
Extensions will be granted only in case of emergency. This policy is adopted out of respect to those who have abided by deadlines, despite equally hectic schedules. Papers handed in late without extensions will be penalized 0.25 points per day. For more information on the official school policy, see Wagner’s website: http://wagner.nyu.edu/students/policies/incompletes.php .
A note on Academic Integrity and Plagiarism
I take matters of academic integrity very seriously. It is your responsibility to identify quotes and to cite facts and borrowed ideas. If you need guidance, please consult the NYU-Wagner Academic Code (http://wagner.nyu.edu/students/policies/) and additional references listed there. You may also consult the teaching assistants, tutors, or the designated librarian at Bobst. Naturally, you may consult me at any time. Please note that NYU-Wagner subscribes to a commercial service that compares papers to a gigantic database to flag plagiarism. I will refer all cases of plagiarism to the appropriate disciplinary committee, either at Wagner or at the student’s home school.
Classroom Etiquette
Come prepared to engage with your fellow students, professor, and the material to be discussed. I assume everyone has read the articles and chapters indicated in this syllabus. I may start the class by asking a student to summarize the main points to initiate the discussion so come prepared. If you have professional (or personal) experience relevant to the discussion, share it with the class. In the past, students have said that learning from colleagues with relevant experiences was a highlight.
Many people bring their laptops or tablets / iPads to class. That is fine if you are taking notes or sporadically consulting relevant materials online. Access to internet can be handy to find data or settle a factual dispute. However, do not navigate the web, check your facebook page, post on twitter, read the news, respond to email or conduct any activity not directly related to the class. I will not be seeing your screen, but those sitting next to you will, and aimless navigation can be distracting. Please respect your colleagues and keep your focus.
Finally, occasional absences are tolerated and do not need justification. Systematic non-attendance will affect your grade and may lead to an F or Incomplete
Readings
In the past, students have asked for a textbook. There are some textbooks devoted to international development out there, but none covers the materials we cover in this course. This is not necessarily a coincidence or a market opportunity. Rather, it is an indication that international development remains a contested field, without a main corpus of agreed upon theories, and is therefore filled with hopes and possibilities.
All required readings are available on NYU Classes. In the past, we tried assembling a Course Packet, but students complained about the high price and low quality of the copies.
Assigned readings cover a wide range of topics. Authors come from different countries and represent different political positions, academic disciplines and research traditions. Some articles refer to high-income countries such as the US, and are assigned to call attention to an important theoretical point. Other texts may seem old, but to dismiss them is a mistake. They are assigned because they make important points that remain valid, or are the original articulation of a powerful idea.
Students come to this course with diverse interests and heterogeneous backgrounds. The syllabus includes a range of optional readings to help students advance even further. Feel free to read any selection of the optional readings. Bringing them up in class knowledgeably will boost your participation grade. Some of the optional readings are on NYU Classes, others are online, and some may require a visit to the library.
If you face difficulty understanding technical terms, you can ask for clarification during class, or you can look the term up. The library has different dictionaries of economics, political science, and sociology. Some providers have put glossaries and encyclopedias online. For instance, you can try “The Concise Cyclopedia of Economics” maintained by Liberty Inc. and “Economics A-Z”, published by The Economist. Despite its checkered reputation among academics, Wikipedia can provide good pointers as well.