American University
International Development Program
School of International Service
Fall 2006
You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to
live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are
here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget that errand.
President Woodrow Wilson
SIS-637.001 International Development
Prof. Deborah Brautigam
Office Phone: 202-885-1696 (please note: email is much faster)
IDP Program Manager: 202-885-1657
My email: dbrauti@american.edu
TA: Meghan Olivier
Class time: Tuesday 2:10-4:40
Drop In Office hours: Tuesday 5:00-8:00 p.m.
By Prior Appointment: Wednesday 8:00 to 11:00 p.m.
Office: Hurst 201A
Course Description
This is the introductory course to the international development field. Currently there are vigorous debates
regarding the best strategies to produce development, and even over the meaning of development itself.
The purpose of this course is to explore and critically evaluate the basic assumptions underlying the
major competing theories and visions of international development; to examine how these theories and
visions influence development institutions, programs and policies; and to examine ways to evaluate in a
more analytical fashion some of the propositions that emerge from these theories and visions. The course
also examines the likely costs as well as benefits of development strategies and programs, with particular
attention to the impact on the most vulnerable members of society. The ultimate goal of the course is to
enable students to begin to view development problems from a number of viewpoints simultaneously,
in order to create original and more effective strategies for change. The course is outlined somewhat
chronologically. As students, you will move through the decades, learning about development in much the
same way that the world at large experienced and learned it.
Course Requirements and Grading
Midterm Paper
Group Presentation and Policy Brief
Final Paper
Participation and Homework
35
15
40
10
Preparation before class is essential for this course. There is a lot of required reading. Each student will
also join in a team of two to do some extra work to stimulate discussion on topics to be assigned. This will
involve spending no more than 5 minutes presenting some interesting aspects of the debate and then
generating discussion. At other times, I will call on participants to start our discussion, or to “brief” us on
an issue discussed in the readings, or to contribute ideas sparked by the readings. This will not be limited
to people who raise their hands. Written homework will occasionally be assigned. This will not be graded,
but will contribute to your participation grade.
1
There will be a midterm, a group presentation with a 2 page “policy brief” handout, and a final paper for
this class. Instructions for all assignments will be posted on Blackboard well in advance of the assignment
due date. Endnotes and references do not count for the page limit. Please do not go beyond the page limit,
as this may give you an unfair advantage.
Assignments will be evaluated using these criteria:
30%
30%
20%
20%
quality of analysis, thought, originality
ability to use class readings and evidence skillfully in making your argument
quality of writing
organization and professional presentation (including proofreading) of paper
General: organization and presentation:
 Proofread your papers. Check your spelling and grammar
 Think seriously about providing appropriate subheadings for different sections of the paper.
 Provide page numbers.
 If you use endnotes, make sure that they are not in Roman numerals!
 Provide a list of all references at the end of your paper.
 If you are unsure which citation and reference style to use, the journal World Development
provides a good model for development studies. It is available through e-journals in the library.
Please Note:
 Instructions for all assignments are or will be posted on Blackboard. I will sometimes post updates
or clarifications of assignments, so check before you finalize your paper.
 All late assignments will be penalized immediately by a drop of ten points out of 100 if they are
not handed in to me by the end of the class in which they are due. Beginning 24 hours later, they
will lose an additional three points per day or partial day of lateness unless you have contacted me
before class with a serious and appropriate reason. No late papers will be accepted after a week,
for any reason. In order to stop your penalty, email your late paper to me at the same time that you
hand in a paper copy. I will use the day and time of the email as the end of the penalty period.
(Deliver the printed version to my box in the IDP office, Hurst Hall, or to my box in the SIS
building). If you are having printer problems, email the paper to me before class and supply a
printed version later.)
Grading Scale:
98-100
94-97
90-93
87-89
A+
A
AB+
Outstanding
Excellent
Very Good
Good (average)
84-86 B
80-83 B77-79 C+
74-76 C
Below average, but acceptable
Needs significant improvement
Not acceptable -- come see me
and so on
Academic Integrity: Plagiarism is a serious offense at American University, and all students should be
aware of the American University Academic Integrity Code:
"Members of the academic community are expected to conduct themselves with integrity as a
matter of course. Academic violations include (but are not limited to) the following:
Plagiarism: To plagiarize is to use the work, ideas, or words of someone else without attribution.
Plagiarism may involve using someone else's wording without using quotation marks--a distinctive
name, a phrase, a sentence, or an entire passage or essay. It may also involve misrepresenting the
sources that were used."
2
Assignments containing plagiarized material will automatically receive an F. Please be careful!
Books Ordered for the Class
The following books have been ordered for the class and are available from the Campus Bookstore,
although you can probably buy them more cheaply from Amazon.com or a similar online source. (Note:
Readings from books ordered for the course are marked #. Other required readings are marked with * and
are available from the course reader, or they will be posted on our Blackboard site).
Required:
1. Mike Tidwell. 1988. The Ponds of Kalambayi. Guilford, CT: The Lyons Press. ISBN: 1-55821447-x.
2. Jeffrey Sachs. 2005. The End of Poverty New York: Penguin Press. ISBN: 1594200459.
Recommended:
William Strunk and E. B. White. The Elements of Style If you don’t already have a copy of this classic
book on good writing, I recommend you purchase one and consult it often!
Key to Syllabus Readings:
# Reading is from a book ordered for the class.
* Reading is in the course reader
B Reading is on Blackboard [e-reserves: first two weeks, or Course Documents thereafter]
$ Reading is on the internet. You will need to find it yourself.
We have a lot of reading for this class, and some of you may have trouble getting through all of it
each week. Although obviously you should read everything completely, when you just can’t, then
practice good skim-reading skills. Read at least the introduction and conclusion of every article,
and skim the first paragraphs of all the subtopics in the article, so that you know the gist of its
argument and have an idea of the evidence presented.
Readings should generally be done in the order they are presented in the syllabus.
Note: Some weeks we will have handouts or overheads of charts and tables from Bob Sutcliff, 100 Ways
of Seeing an Unequal World. London: Zed Books. Unless otherwise stated, it probably comes from
Sutcliff.
A useful web resource: http://www.eldis.org/ “Gateway to Development Information.”
3
PART I:
WHAT IS DEVELOPMENT?
WHY ARE SOME RICH AND SOME POOR?
(1) August 29: Introduction:
Study Questions:
1. What Is Development? What does lack of development look like?
2. Why are some countries poorer than others?
3. Why are some people poorer than others within countries?
4. Should “we” be “doing” development?
Most of these readings are available on Blackboard [e-reserves] and should be read before class:
#Jeffrey D. Sachs. 2005. The End of Poverty “Foreward, Preface and Introduction”. pp. vii-4.
B Wolfe, Marshall. "Development: Images, Conceptions, Criteria, Agents, Choices," UN Economic
Bulletin for Latin America (now CEPAL Review), v. XVIII, n. 1, pp. 1-3. [3 pp]
B Lawrence E. Harrison. Underdevelopment is a State of Mind: The Latin American Case. (Cambridge,
MA: The Center for International Affairs, Harvard University): 1-9.
B The Economist. 2005. “The Paradox of Plenty; the Curse of Oil,” December 24, v. 377, n. 8458, p. 63.
B Stephen A. Marglin. 2003. “Development as Poison.” Harvard International Review Spring v. 25, n. 1:
70-75.
Plagiarism Article:
“In Other Words: Stealing,” Washington Post May 3, 2006.
Homework: Check Blackboard to be sure you can enter, and to be sure your email address is the one you
want us to use for this course, and that it is visible to everyone and correct. Print out a copy of the Class
Roster and circle your email address. Here are instructions for changing the email address used by the
university:
All electronic correspondence from the university will be sent to your "american.edu"
e-mail address. If you intend to use another e-mail address as your primary e-mail
account, you must forward your AU e-mail to that address so you do not miss
important messages from the university or professors. To forward your e-mail: Login
to the my.american.edu portal and click on TECHNOLOGY. Then click on
"Forward My AU E-Mail" and follow the instructions.
(2) September 5: Poverty, Power, and Visions of Development
Homework: Study Wolfe's three development paradigms from last week. In reading the articles for last
week and this week, mentally place each of the authors into one (or more) paradigms. Think about how
you would defend these choices. Ask yourself: what other causes of poverty are not included in these
readings? Again, these readings are in e-Reserves on Blackboard except for Sachs.
#Jeffrey Sachs. The End of Poverty, chs. 1-3, pp. 5-73.
B Oscar Lewis. 1965. "The Culture of Poverty," Scientific American 215(4):19-25.
B Paolo Friere. 1970. Pedagogy of the Oppressed (New York: Herder & Herder, translated from the
Portuguese) pp. 556-573. [18 pp]
B Robin Broad and John Cavanagh. 2006. World Policy Journal
B Amartya Sen. 1999. “Introduction,” Development as Freedom, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf).
B The Economist. 2004. “Measure First, Then Cut.” September 8.
4
B David Hulme and Andrew Shepherd. 2003. “Conceptualizing Chronic Poverty,” World Development v.
31, n. 3: 403-413 only.
B Dani Rodrik and Arvind Subramanian. 2003. “The Primacy of Institutions (and what this does and does
not mean). Finance & Development (June): 31-34.
(3) September 12: North Meets South
Written Homework: Tidwell’s book identifies multiple causes of poverty. In a single page, list at least 5
important causes of poverty in Kalambayi and briefly make the case as to why they are the most important
causes. In a paragraph on the same page, briefly relate Tidwell’s experiences to some of the academic
readings we have had so far in the course.
We will not have a break in class today (we will end early), so come to class prepared, with sustenance if
necessary, and with your other needs met!
#Tidwell, Mike. 1990. The Ponds of Kalambayi: An African Sojourn. (New York, NY: Lyons &
Burford). Entire book.
Note: If you liked this book, you might also try Sarah Erdman. Nine Hills to Nambonkha (Henry Holt, 2003) also
about her PC experience in Ivory Coast. Mike Tidwell himself recommends the El Salvador classic by Moritz
Thompsen. Living Poor: A Peace Corps Chronicle (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1969).
(4) September 19: Development and Underdevelopment in History
“The world’s two earliest centers of food production, the Fertile Crescent and China, still
dominate the modern world … The hand of history’s course at 8000 B.C. lies heavily on us.”
Jared Diamond
“None of us can change our yesterdays, but all of us can change our tomorrows.”
Colin Powell
Preparation: Mentally compare at least four of these readings with at least four of the readings from
Weeks 1 and 2. What are the strengths and weaknesses of their explanations of poverty and development?
What relevance might these historical views have for development strategies today?
*Jared Diamond. 2005. “The Shape of Africa.” National Geographic (September).
*Douglass North, Structure and Change in Economic History, pp. 158-170. [13 pgs]
*Adam Hochschild. 1999. “Prologue,” King Leopold's Ghost. Houghton Mifflin Co. pp. 11-15; 152-166.
*Walter Rodney. 1982, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, (Howard U. Press: Washington, D.C.).
*Miriam S. Chaiken. 1998. “Primary Health Care Initiatives in Colonial Kenya,” World Development v.
26, n. 9: 1701-1717.
*Daron Acemoglu. 2003. “Root Causes: A Historical Approach to Assessing the Role of Institutions in
Economic Development,” Finance & Development (June): 27-30.
*Atul Kohli. 1999. “Where Do High-Growth Political Economies Come From? The Japanese Lineage of
Korea’s ‘Developmental State’,” in Meredith Woo Cummings, The Developmental State (Ithaca:
Cornell University Press): 93-97.
*BBC. 2004. “Africa Better in Colonial Times, Says Mbeke’s Brother.”
*Dinesh D’Souza. 2002. “Two Cheers For Colonialism.” Chronicle of Higher Education May 10.
5
Recommended for further reading:
Keith Windschuttle. 2000. “Rewriting the History of the British Empire,” The New Criterion on-line
(May). [on Blackboard under Course Documents for this week]
James Mahoney. 2003. “Long Run Development and the Legacy of Colonialism in Spanish America,”
American Journal of Sociology v. 109 (1): 50-106.
Irma Adelman and Cynthia Taft Morris. 1997. “Development history and its implications for development
theory,” World Development 25(6): 831-840.
PART II: THE HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT FIELD: THE FIRST 25 YEARS
(5) September 26: The History of Development as an Issue; the First Development Institutions;
the Rise of Development Theories: Modernization (1940s to 1960s or so); and Dependency
Theory (1960s-1980s or so)
“Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.”
George Santayana, The Life of Reason
“A rising tide lifts all boats.”
President John F. Kennedy, August 7, 1962
(after viewing a new dam project in Colorado)
Written Homework: In a single page (single spaced), summarize your understanding of dependency theory
and modernization theory, and list several strengths and weaknesses of each for furthering our
understanding of development.
*Leftwich, Adrian. 2000. “Progress, Growth and Modernization: Antecedents of the Development Idea,”
States of Development: On the Primacy of Politics in Development. Oxford: Polity Press.
*Nassau Adams. 1993. ch. 2 “Establishing the Post-war World Economic Order,” and ch. 3 “Post-War
Decolonization and the Rise of the Development Issue," in Worlds Apart: the North-South Divide and
the International System, London: Zed Books.
*IMF. 2004. “The IMF Story,” Finance and Development September, 14-15.
B. Modernization Theory
*Walter Whitman Rostow. 1960. The Stages of Economic Growth Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, reprinted in a reader. [an original theorist]
*David C. McClelland. 1961. “The Achievement Motive in Economic Growth.” [an original theorist]
*Seymour Martin Lipset. 1959. “Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and
Political Legitimacy,” American Political Science Review v. 53, n. 1: (pp. 69-85 only). [original
theorist]
*Samuel Huntington. 1965. “Political Development and Political Decay.” World Politics v. 17, n. 3 (April)
(pp. 386-393 only) [original theorist]
C. Dependency Theory and World Systems Theory
*Theotonio dos Santos. 1970. “The Structure of Dependence,” American Economic Review v. 60 (May):
231-236. [an original theorist]
*Andre Gunder Frank. 1966. “The Development of Underdevelopment,” Monthly Review v. 18 (4): 17-31.
6
*Immanuel Wallerstein, “The Rise and Future Demise of the World Capitalist System,” in The
Globalization Reader, pp. 63-69.
*United Nations, 1974. “Declaration on the Establishment of a New International Economic Order.”
On Blackboard [Course Documents], “Competing Conceptions of Globalization” has a somewhat complex
discussion of dependency theory, world systems theory, and modernization theory. You can also find
summaries on some of the commonly used websites. If you use these in your paper, be sure to credit
them properly in your references and citations.
(6) October 3: Changing Development Strategies: (1950s-1970s)
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.
Unidentified author
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 1996
A. Import Substitution Industrialization (1930s-1980s)
*John Waterbury. 1999. "The Long Gestation and Brief Triumph of Import-Substituting Industrialization,"
World Development, February, v. 27, n. 2. (Waterbury is a political scientist)
Still confused? A very short explanation of ISI can be found at: http://www.answers.com/topic/import-substitution.
ID students and those taking Survey of Economic Development will learn more about this topic in that class.
B. Rural Development Strategies (1950s-1980s)
*Adrian Leftwich. 2000. “The Meanings of Development: Post-War Development,” States of
Development, ch. 3.
*Degnbol-Martinussen and Engberg-Pedersen. Ch 4 “Aid Strategies,” 2003. Aid: Understanding
International Development Cooperation. New York: Zed Publishers, 2003, pp. 39-55.
*Lane E. Holdcroft. 1978. "The Rise and Fall of Community Development, 1950-65: A Critical
Assessment." MSU Rural Development Paper No. 2, (revised for Eicher and Staatz, Agricultural
Development in the Third World) pp. 46-49. [12 pp.]
*Michael Lipton. 1976. "Urban Bias and Inequality." in Why Poor People Stay Poor: A Study of Urban
Bias in World Development Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
*Robert Chambers. 1983. "Rural Poverty Unperceived." From Rural Development: Putting the Last First
*Robert Bates. 1988. ch. 10 “Governments and Agricultural Markets in Africa,” From Robert Bates, ed.
Toward a Political Economy of Development: A Rational Choice Perspective, University of
California Press: Berkeley, CA.
Green Revolution Debate:
7
*Richard Critchfield. 1981. “Pilangsari Village, Indonesia.” Villages. New York: Doubleday Anchor
Press. [on the Green Revolution].
*”Crop Yields and the Green Revolution,” World Resources Institute 1998; Food and Agriculture
Organization 1997. (one page).
*Peter Rosett. 2000. “Lessons from the Green Revolution.” Food First. San Francisco. [on my c drive.]
*R. D. Evenson and D. Gollin. “Review: Assessing the Impact of the Green Revolution, 1960-2000,”
Science 2 May 2003: v. 300. no. 5620, pp. 758 – 762.
(7) October 10:
Are People in Developing Countries Doing Better or Worse Today?
Is Development Measureable?
“No Equation can divine the quality of life, no instrument record, no computer conceive it.
Only bit by bit can feeling lovingly retrieve it.”
Jerome Wiesner 1971.
Midterm paper due next week!
*"The Richest Ten," (Table) from The Economist, December 20, 1997.
*World Bank. 2004. "Economic Growth Rates,” [chart only] Beyond Economic Growth
$ Roxanne Khamsi, 2006. ‘Wealthy Nations Hold the Keys to Happiness,” July 28. New Scientist
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn9642.html [download from internet]
*Crafts. 2000. ”Human Development Index 1875-1995.” [Convergence] Crafts 2000. 2 charts.
*Richard Jolly. 1998. “Profiles in Success,” in Sahtosh Mehrotra and Richard Jolly, eds. Development
With A Human Face (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), pp. 3-18.
*Simon Maxwell. 2003. “Heaven or Hubris? Reflections on the ‘New’ New Poverty Agenda.”
Development Policy Review 21 (1): 5-21.
*The Economist, “The Shadow Economy: Black Hole,” August 28, 1999.
*The Economist, “Richer than the Brits?” July 29, 2000. [note: this is on the same page as the Black Hole
article]
*Michael P. Todaro. “Lorenze Curves and Gini Coefficient,” pp. 141-143.
$United Nations Development Program. Human Development Report 2006. "Indicators,"
http://hdr.undp.org/reports/ Browse through these tables and print out some that interest you. Pay
special attention to the tables that give trends over time.
$Clifford Cobb, et al. 1995. “If GDP is Up, Why is America Down?” The Atlantic Monthly October.
http://hackvan.com/pub/stig/tools-of-exchange/if-the-GDP-is-up-then-why-is-America-down.html
Or, you can review their latest report at: http://www.redefinigprogress.org/
*Prakabnsh Loungani. 2003. “Inequality: now you see it, now you don’t,” Finance & Development
September: 22-23.
*Donella Meadows, 1988, "Quality of Life," National Geographic Society, Earth '88: Changing
Geographic Perspectives, pp. 332-349.
8
PART III: CURRENT DEVELOPMENT ISSUES
Midterm Paper due today!
Admin Note: Handout: The Development Set. Students to start thinking about which group they would
prefer to be in for Week 13 presentations. Sign up by Week 9. List will be posted before class on my
office door, Hurst Hall 201A.
(8) October 17: The East Asian ‘Miracle’ in Comparative Perspective
A. East Asian ‘Miracle’
*Fareed Zakaria. 1994. "Culture is Destiny: A Conversation with Lee Kuan Yew," Foreign Affairs, vol 73.
*Cal Clark and Changhoon Jung. 2004. “The Resurrection of East Asian Dynamism,” Asian Affairs vol.
31 (3): 131-151.
*Stephan Haggard. 2004. “Institutions and Growth in East Asia.” Studies in Comparative International
Development (Winter) 38 (4): 53-81.
*The Economist. 2004. “Democracy in Asia: That Other Miracle,” The Economist April 24.
[optional: read if you want to know the policies followed in Asia]: John Page. 1993. "The East Asian
Miracle: An Introduction," World Development v. 22, n. 4: 615-625.
B. East Asia versus Other Regions
#Jeffrey Sachs. 2005. The End of Poverty ch. 8 on China and India.
*Nicholas Kristof. "Why Africa Can Thrive Like Asia," The New York Times, May 25, 1997.
*The Economist. 2002. "Special Report: Arab Development: Self-Doomed to Failure," The Economist
July 6, 2002. pp 24-26.
*Francisco Swett. 1991. “Comments: The Differences in Development Patterns Over Time Between Asia
and Latin America.” In Gerald Meier, ed. Politics and Policy Making in Developing Countries San
Francisco: ICS Press: 254-257.
B Deborah Brautigam. 1994. “What Can Africa Learn from Taiwan? Political Economy, Industrial Policy,
and Adjustment," Journal of Modern African Studies, v. 32, n. 1 (Cambridge University Press) (March
1994), pp. 111-138. [on Blackboard]
Recommended:
Cal Clark and Steve Chan. 1998. “Market, State, and Society in Asian Development,” in Steve Chan, Cal
Clark, and Danny Lam, eds. 1998. Beyond the Developmental State: East Asia’s Political Economies
Reconsidered London: Macmillan: 25-37.
(9) October 24: Debt Crisis and Structural Adjustment I (1970-1990)
Administrative Note: Put together groups for the WTO Presentations, Week 13
Q: In what way do the debates over the debt crisis and structural adjustment resemble the modernization
vs. dependency debates of the past?
Preparation: (1) Look up both the IMF and World Bank’s current board of directors. How many come
from ‘rich’ countries, and how many represent ‘developing countries’? What does this suggest about
control?
*Thomas Lairson and David Skidmore. 1993. "The Economics of International Political Economy" in
International Political Economy: the Struggle for Power and Wealth, Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace
9
Jovanovich College Publishers. Read for background on how the international political economy
works.
#Jeffrey Sachs. 2005. The End of Poverty. Ch. 4 & 5 (Ch 6 on Poland and Ch 7 on Russia optional).
*John Clark. 1990. “NGOs and Structural Adjustment,” in Democratizing Development (West Hartford:
Kumarian Press): 165-185.
*John Williamson. 2003. “From Reform Agenda to Damaged Brand Name,” Finance & Development.
*Brutal Banking.” 2000. Multinational Monitor (editor Robert Weissman) April 1990, reprinted.
*John Williamson. 2002. “Did the Washington Consensus Fail?” (November).
$ IMF. “Common Criticisms of the IMF,” http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/ccrit/eng/cri.htm
B Yvonne Tsikata. 2001. “Globalization, Inequality and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Political
Economy Approach,” Paris, OECD Working Paper No. 183. [on Blackboard under Course Docs]
*IMF Survey. 1998. “Low-Income Countries’ External Debt Histories Yield Lessons for Future,” IMF
Survey, June 8, 1998, pp. 180-181.
*Smith, Dustin. 2002. “The Truth about Industrial Country Tariffs.” Finance and Development
September.
*Michael Kremer and Seema Jayachandran. 2002. “Odious Debt,” Finance and Development (June).
*IMF and World Bank Staff. 2001. “100 Percent Debt Cancellation? A Response from the IMF and World
Bank,” (July). http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/ib/2001/071001.htm
Recommended. For more on Debt, check out these sources:
Noreena Hertz. 2004. The Debt Threat: How Debt is Destroying the Developing World. [this is now a bit
dated but still good. Update by reading the IMF Debt Relief fact sheet, below].
IMF, “Debt Relief: What has been achieved?” http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/hipc.htm
(December 2005).
IMF, “Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility,” http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/prgf.htm
September 2005. [on webpapers]
IMF, “Debt Relief Under the HIPC Initiative,” (December 2005).
Nancy Birdsall and John Williamson. 2005. ”Gold for Debt: What’s New and What’s Next” Center for
Global Development Notes.
Recommended [on Blackboard]
“Ricardo’s Difficult Idea.” [an explanation of comparative advantage]
(10) October 31
Ethics, Rights, Aid and Development
Preparation: What are the most compelling ethical dilemmas in the development field today?
*”Epworth, Zimbabwe.”
*Thomas Pogge. 2003. “Severe Poverty as a Human Rights Violation.” Unpublished paper.
B Nancy Birdsall, Dani Rodrik, and Arvind Subramanian, “How to Help Poor Countries,” Foreign Affairs
(July/August 2005): 136-152.
*Michael Marin. 1991. "The Food Aid Racket." Harper's Bazaar.(August) pp. 10-12.
*L. Withers. “Utilitarianism and rights-based ethics: further issues.” Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO). FAO/17259/L.
*Donna F. Murdoch. 2003. “That Stubborn ‘Doing Good’ Question: Ethical/Epistemological Questions
in the Study of NGOs.” Ethnos v. 68, n. 4.
#Jeffrey Sachs. 2005. The End of Poverty Ch. 10 Africa; Ch. 11 Millenium.
$T. Ayodele, F. Cudjoe, T. Nolutshungu, and C. Sunwabe. 2005. “African Perspectives on Aid.” CATO
Institute Bulletin No. 2. http://www.cato.org/pubs/edb/edb2.html [on internet]
*Nancy Birdsall. 2005. “Seven Deadly Sins: Reflections on Donor Failings.” Policy Brief, Center for
10
Global Development.
*Andrea Cornwall and Karen Brock. 2005. ”Beyond Buzzwords: ‘Poverty Reduction,’ ‘Participation,’
and ‘Empowerment in Development Policy.” UNRISD Discussion Paper, Geneva.
Recommended: Philip Alston and Mary Robinson, eds. 2005. Human Rights and Development: Toward
Mutual Reinforcement New York: Oxford University Press. [includes chs on economics of social rights, child
labor, PRS process, etc.].
(11) November 7: Social Development and the Rise of NGOs (Parts A, B, C)
On Blackboard: “Bureaucrats sans Frontiers in Iraq” case for next week.
Note, for this week: Watch the video: "The Women's Bank of Bangladesh," VHS 4542
We will schedule a special showing in the media services classroom, Bender Library (TA or Prof.
required), but you can also watch it on your own time in the library.
A. Social Development
*Scheper-Hughes, Nancy. 1989. "Death Without Weeping." Natural History, vol. 10. pp. 15-18.
*Fornos, Werner. 1998. "No Vacancy," The Humanist (July/August).
*Wilde, Vicki L. 1994. "W=Male plus Female," Ceres, the FAO Review, July/August.
*Moorehead, Caroline. 1998. “A World of Silence.” Index on Censorship, March/April.
B. Microfinance: Discussion of Grameen Bank (VHS 4542)
Optional: These readings are on microfinance and will be in your reader. They will provide useful
background for the Grameen Bank video.
B The Economist. 2005. “The Hidden Wealth of the Poor.” [on Blackboard]
*Thomas Dichter. 2006. “Hype and Hope: The Worrisome State of the Microcredit Movement.” South
African Institute of International Affairs,” January 9.
*Streeten, Paul. 1999. "Review of Mohammed Yunus's Book." Public Affairs, New York.
$Dawkins Scully, Nan. n.d. "Microcredit no panacea for Poor Women," Women's Microcredit
Accountability Network. http://www.developmentgap.org/micro.html
C. NGOs
*Jessica Matthews. 1997. “Power Shift” in Frank Lechner and John Boli, Globalization Reader, pp. 270276.
*The Economist. “Sins of the Secular Missionaries.” January 29, 2000.
*Mechai Viravaidya. 1996. “The Population and Community Development Association in Thailand,” in
Anirudh Krishna, Norman Uphoff and Milton J. Esman, eds. Reasons for Hope: Instructive
Experiences in Rural Development Hartford, CT: Kumarian Press, pp. 203-215.
*Sebastian Mallaby. 2004. “NGOs v. the World Bank: Who is the Real Champion of the Poor? Foreign
Policy.
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(12) November 14: WTO and Development: the Jury is In: Group Presentations
Web Reading: There are numerous good readings on these subjects that you can find on the internet and
you can also find more scholarly treatments in articles in ProQuest and other databases in the library’s
proprietary website (these are not considered internet sources). Check with me for feedback if you Google
a website and are unsure about its credibility. You must present both sides of the issue as clearly and as
fairly as possible. For this, you will need to research these cases at the WTO website and in law journals,
as well as at the websites of NGOs and environmental groups.
Student Analyses of WTO Issues & Presentations [instructions will be posted on Blackboard]: (1) U.S.
Clean Air Act Case; (2) Sea Turtle Excluder Device case; (3) European Union and Beef Hormones Case;
(4) Guatemala and Gerber Baby Food Case (5) Canada and MMT additive (NAFTA case); (6) South
Africa and AIDs Drugs
For best background on the WTO, see:
WTO.org website [WTO view]
Public Citizen website [critical view]
Readings:
*Turning Point Project. “Globalization v. Nature.” (advertisement)
*“Aids in Brazil: Think Globally, Build Networks.”
*Mort Rosenblum. 2005. “The Chocolate Coast.” Chocolate: A Bittersweet Saga of Dark and Light New
York: North Point Press.
*Sebastian Mallaby. “A Slanted Take on Trade.” Washington Post. 18 February 2002 [a discussion of Bill
Moyer’s special ‘Trading Democracy’ February 5, 2002. [the transcript of the show is available,
although it is not required: http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_tdfull.html The library may
have a video of it.
Alissa J. Stern. 2003. “How They Won the Battle and Lost the Rain Forest.” The Washington Post (June
1). [handout]
*Joseph Stiglitz. 2002. “Globalism’s Discontents.” The American Prospect. [in The Globalization Reader]
NOVEMBER 21: THANKSGIVING VACATION: NO CLASS THIS WEEK
(13) November 28: Governance and Development
Administrative note: Videos on Yemen article. *http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/video/2005/12/16/VI2005121601140.html Handout Alissa Stern article for next week.
Preparation: From the readings, identify six of the most important factors that seem to lie behind the
quality of governance (“bad” or “good”) in developing countries. For each, think about how foreign aid
might (or might not) help in building better governance.
Written Homework. Read the Iraq case that is posted on Blackboard, and provide a list of at least 3 topics
for the agenda for the upcoming workshop.
*The Case of Bureaucrats Sans Frontières in Iraq [also on Blackboard]
*Putnam, Robert. 1993, "The Prosperous Community – Social Capital and Public Life" (1993) The
American Prospect Spring: 27-40. http://epn.org/prospect/13/13putn.html
*Portes, Alejandro and Patricia Landolt (1996) "The Downside of Social Capital" The American Prospect
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26 (May-June): 18-21.
*Martin Wolf. 2004. “Why a President’s Greatest Challenge is State-Building.” Financial Times.
*Sarah L. Henderson. 2002. “Selling Civil Society: Western Aid and the Nongovernmental Organization
Sector in Russia,” Comparative Political Studies v. 35, n. 2: 139-167.
*Deborah Brautigam. “Governance, Economy and Foreign Aid,” Studies in Comparative International
Development.
*Merilee Grindle. 2004. “Good Enough Governance: Poverty Reduction and Reform in Developing
Countries,” Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration, and Institutions, v. 17,
n. 4 (October).
For further reading: Political scientists Adam Przeworski and Fernando Limongi present a systematic, eyeopening analysis of the relationship between economic development and democracy in their longer
article "Modernization: Theories and Facts," World Politics 49, no. 2 (January 1997). (available
through JSTOR in the library's website).
Noam Chomsky. “The United States and the Universality of Human Rights,” International journal of
Health Services. 29, no. 3, (1999).
Coleman, James (1988) "Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital" American Journal of Sociology
94: S95-S120.
Woolcock, Michael (1998) "Social Capital and Economic Development: Toward a Theoretical Synthesis
and Policy Framework" Theory and Society 27(2): 151-208.
Fukuyama, Francis (1995) "Social Capital and the Global Economy" Foreign Affairs 74(5): 89-103.
(14) December 5: Reforming Foreign Aid [last class]
Hope cannot be said to exist, nor can it be said not to exist. It is just like the roads across the
earth. For actually there were no roads to begin with, but when many people pass one way, a
road is made.
Guest Speaker?
Lu Hsun, 1921
OECD/DAC. For current data about foreign aid, as well as the standard definition of what constitutes
‘foreign aid’ and a number of resources on aid, see the OECD’s Development Co-operation Coordinate
(DAC) website: www.oecd.org/dac
*Orla Ryan. 2005. “Past Plans Cast Shadow on Africa Report.” BBC News On Blackboard.
*Gregg Easterbrook. 2003. The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse. New
York: Random House, introduction and Ch. 11.
#Jeffrey Sachs. 2005. The End of Poverty, chs. 12–18.
*Shantayanan Devarajan, Andrew Rajkumar and Vinaya Swaroop. 1999. “What Does Aid to Africa
Finance?” World Bank, p. 1 only.
*Tim Harford and Michael Klein. 2005. “Aid and the Resource Curse.” Public Policy for the Private
Sector. Note No. 291 (April). World Bank, Washington, D.C. [an example of a policy brief.]
*Fallows, James. 2002. "Councils of War," Atlantic Monthly, (February) p. 30.
*Sebastian Mallaby. 2005. “Saving the World Bank.” Foreign Affairs (May/June).
*Thomas Palley. 2003. “Lifting the Natural Resource Curse.” Foreign Service Journal (December).
*Steven Radelet. 2004. “Aid Effectiveness and the Millenium Development Goals.” Center for Global
Development. Working Paper No. 39.
Recommended: [some of these are on Blackboard, under Course Documents, “Readings on Foreign Aid”]
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*[on Blackboard] Colin Bradford, “Toward 2015: From Consensus Formation to Implementation of the
Millenium Development Goals: The Historical Background: The Consensus Formation Phase, 19902002.”
*Congressional Budget Office. 1997. “The Role of Foreign Aid in Development.” Good background. [on
Blackboard].
Brookings. 2003. “The Other War: Global Poverty and the Millenium Challenge Account.”
The Globalization Reader, ch. 1-5.
*David Dollar and Craig Burnside. “Aid, Policies, and Growth.” WPS 1777. World Bank.
Every morning I awake torn between the need to save the world
and the desire to savor it. This makes it hard to plan the day.
E. B. White (author of Charlotte’s Web)
All the best to you in your own future day-planning.
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