FT 15 History of Development Policy – Doctrines and Practices
Instructor: Prof. Dr. Marc Frey
marc.frey@unibw.de
Thursday, 09:45:11:15
Building 33 – Room 1311
Modul: Staaten und Staatenwelt II
MA – 2. Trimester
History provides us with the tools to conceive of
alternatives and to weigh current problems in light
of past experiences. If ‘development’ is defined as
being more of the same, then ‘development’ has
been a characteristic feature of recorded human
history. If we mean by ‘development’ a planned,
coordinated effort to promote higher standards of
living and conditions of economic and social
progress, then development policies have a history
which date back to the early twentieth century. ‘Development’ has multiple meanings and a fractured history, and the
principle aim of this course is to provide students with an in-depth overview into the leading theories of development,
actors and institutions, and practices as they evolved over time.
The course familiarizes students with the evolution of development thinking from Adam Smith and Karl Marx to
contemporary scholars such as Amartya Sen. Changing concepts of development ranging from an emphasis on
industrialization to individual empowerment will be discussed. In a second broad trajectory, the course traces the evolution
of a set of actors and institutions and their role in development policies. National governments, international organizations
and a variety of civil society actors have been active in the field of development. The different political, economic and
ideological situations over the course of the twentieth century – from colonialism to decolonization to the Cold War – need
to be taken into account. Thirdly, the course probes the challenge of devising and implementing strategies of development
in light of the historical experience. Here, the course draws on examples taken from a variety of regions over a longer
period of time.
Course requirements
The course will consist of lecture and seminar elements. Students will be required to read articles and book excerpts for
each class. Attendance and active participation in class are required. Each student has to give an oral presentation (group
presentation). Students write a course paper of 4000 words (plus/minus 10%) or do an oral exam.
Grading information
Active participation
Presentation
Course Paper/Oral Exam
30 %
20 %
50 %
Syllabus
16-04
1
27-04
2
Introduction
Development? It’s History! (Monday meeting: 11:30-13:00 in 33-2111)
Frederick Cooper, “Writing the History of Development”, in: Journal of Modern European History 8
(2010), 5-21; Adam Smith, Of the Advantages which Europe has derived from the Discovery of America,
and from that of a Passage to the East Indies by the Cape of Good Hope [1776], in: Sharad Chari & Stuart
Corbridge, eds., The Development Reader (London: Routledge, 2008), 58-64; Karl Marx, The British Rule
in India [1853], in: Ibid., 64-68; Friedrich List, The National System of Political Economy, Chapter X: The
Teachings of History [1841].
27-04
3
Monday afternoon meeting: (14:00-15:30 in 33-1312) Film Viewing: Süsses Gift. Hilfe als
Geschäft
(Peter Heller 2012)
30-04
4
The Early Years of Development
League of Nations Report of the Special Committee, The Development of International Cooperation in
Economic and Social Affairs (Geneva, 1939)
Presentation: Development as an Objective in the Early United Nations (Hauke Meier, Mark
Härtel)
07-05
5
The Take-Off of Development (1940s-1950s)
Paul N. Rosenstein-Rodan, “Problems of Industrialisation of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe”, in: The
Economic Journal, 53 (1943), 202-211; Michael Latham, The Right Kind of Revolution. Modernization,
Development, and U.S. Foreign Policy from the Cold War to the Present (Ithaca/London: Cornell
University Press, 2011), 10-35.
Presentation: The Marshall Plan – A Model or an Exception? (Oliver Ebert, Andreas Gruber)
07.05
6
Evening Meeting (18:30-20:00): Modernization Theory
Daniel Lerner, The Passing of Traditional Society. Modernizing the Middle East (New York: the Free
Press, 1958), 69-75; W.W. Rostow, The Stages of Economic Growth (New York: Cambridge University
Press, 1960), excerpt; Edward Shils, “Political Development in the New States”, in: Comparative Studies
in Society and History, 2 (1960), 265-292 [Excerpts: 265-268].
Presentation: The World Bank: The History of an Institution (Niklas Hörnicke, Johannes
Farnbauer, Timo Wedemeier
14-05
21-05
Ascension Day/Christi Himmelfahrt
7
Practices of Development in the 1950s and 1960s
Julia Tischler, “Resisting modernisation? Two African responses to the Kariba Dam scheme in the Central
African Federation”, in: Comparativ 21 (2011), 60-75.
Presentation: The Alliance for Progress (Eric Weichsel, Tereza Cechova)
28-05
Study Day
04-06
Corpus Christi/Fronleichnam
11-06
8
Alternative Interpretations and Critics
Economic Commission for Latin America, The Economic Development of Latin America and Its Principle
Problems (New York: United Nations Department of Economic Affairs, 1950), 1-8; Michael Lipton, Why
Poor People Stay Poor: Urban Bias in World Development (London: Temple Smith, 1977), excerpted in:
Sharad Chari & Stuart Corbridge, eds., The Development Reader (London: Routledge, 2008), 241-246;
James C. Scott, Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998), excerpted in Sharad Chari & Stuart Corbridge, eds., The
Development Reader (London: Routledge, 2008), 297-304.
Presentation: Dependency Theory (Frederic Rothenbusch, Gregor Schmidt)
11-06
9
Evening Meeting (18:30-20:00) Film Viewing: Population Boom (Werner Boote, 2014)
18-06
10
Capabilities, Human Rights, Democracy
Amartya Sen, Development as Freedom (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999), 13-34.
Presentations:
The Millennium Development Goals: Ideas and Philosophy (Matthias Brommund, Nicephore
Gaga, Maximilian Schuler)
The Millennium Development Goals: Inquiries into Achievements and Failures (Hendrik Zarfl,
Katharina Frühwald)