COURSE INFORMATION
Course Title: POLITICS OF DEVELOPMENT: MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
Code Course Type Regular Semester Theory Practice Lab Credits ECTS
PIR 434 B 2 3 0 0 3 7.5
Academic staff member responsible for the design of the course syllabus (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature) NA
Lecturer (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature) and Office Hours: Islam Jusufi , Tuesday 14:00-17:30 hours
Second Lecturer(s) (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature) and Office Hours: NA
Teaching Assistant(s) and Office Hours: NA
Language: English
Compulsory/Elective: Elective
Classroom and Meeting Time: E 312
Course Description: This course aims to offer to students an overall perspective of the historical, political and economic conditions upon which the governing structures of the developing world are framed. It presents a linkage between the developed and the developing world and explains how they interact with each other. It particularly focuses on major world crisis and looks at how the developing world manages to deal with them. Lastly, it encourages students to have a critical analysis on each issue and be able to bring suggestions for improvements.
Course Objectives: In today’s world, nearly 1 billion people are malnourished and live on less than a dollar per day and poverty and inequality have proven to be stubbornly resilient against attempts to decrease them over the past years. This class provides an introduction to contemporary research on development issues. It covers a large set of topics, including historical legacies, specific challenges relating to particular sectors such as health, education, and gender. The goal is to get students to think critically about development theory and practice. The course also explores the politics of development - the role of leaders, political systems, and institutions in promoting or retarding growth and development. It also interrogates the issues such as slavery, colonialism, foreign aid, aid effectiveness, democratization, poverty, governance, civil society, Sustainable Development Goals, Millennium Development Goals, Washington Consensus, revolutions, globalization, migration, failed and weak statehood, microcredit, social business, corruption, dependency theory. The objectives includes to introduce students to information about the political, historical and economic contexts of the Middle East and Africa; to understand how major political and economic systems are established in the Middle East and Africa; and to learn how the developing countries manage the world crisis and what are the results achieved until now. A slight majority of focus and examples on this course will be drawn from Middle East and Africa, with the aim to give the course a focus.
COURSE OUTLINE
Week Topics
1 a. Course introduction, overview of texts, and expectations; b. Historical Context of the development and of Middle East and Africa
2 Slavery, Colonialism and their Outcomes
3 Globalization, Dependency, and Resource Curse
4 Nation Building, Failed States, Corruption
5 Governance and Political Context of Middle East and Africa
6 Democratization, Revolutions and Military Regimes
7 Development of Civil Society and Gender Equality
8 Midterm exam
9 Foreign aid
10 Aid effectiveness agenda
11 Theories of Development
12 Poverty, Millennium Development Goals and Sustainable Development Goals
13 Microfinance, cash transfers, and social business
14 Third World or Global South
Prerequisite(s): Class attendance and participation; Essay; and seminars.
Textbook: Must readings: Acemoglu, D. and J. Robinson. 2012. Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty, Crown Publishing Group (NY). Bache, I. 2010. Europeanization and multi-level governance: EU cohesion policy and pre-accession aid in Southeast Europe, Southeast European and Black Sea Studies (1): 1–12. Bandiera, Oriana, and Ashwini Natraj. 2013. "Does Gender Inequality Hinder Development and Economic Growth? Evidence and Policy Implications." The World Bank Research Observer. Carothers, Thomas, Jean Bethke Elshtain, Larry Jay Diamond, Anwar Ibrahim, and Zainab Hawa Bangura. 2007. "A quarter-century of promoting democracy." Journal of Democracy 18, no. 4: 112-126. Easterly, William and Tobias Pfutze, 2008, Where Does the Money Go? Best and Worst Practices in Foreign Aid, Journal of Economic Perspectives 22, 2. Hattori, T. 2001. “Reconceptualizing Foreign Aid,” Review of International Political Economy (4). Leys, Colin. 2009. The Rise and Fall of Development Theory. Indiana University Press. Morgenthau, H. 1962. A Political Theory of Foreign Aid. The American Political Science Review (2): 301-309. Radelet, S. 2006. “A Primer on Foreign Aid,” Center for Global Development Working Paper 92. Ross, Michael L. 1999. “The Political Economy of the Resource Curse,” World Politics, 51: 297-322. Sachs, Jeffrey D. 2005. UN Millennium Project: Investing in Development: A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Thiele, Rainer, Peter Nunnenkamp and Axel Dreher, 2007, Do Donors Target Aid in Line with the Millennium Development Goals? A Sector Perspective of Aid Allocation, Review of World Economics 143, 4: 596-630. Welzel, Christian, Ronald Inglehart, and Hans-Dieter Klingemann. 2003. "The theory of human development: a cross‐cultural analysis." European Journal of Political Research 42, no. 3: 341-379.
Other References: Acemoglu, Daron, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson. 2003. “An African Success Story: Botswana.” Bertocchi, Graziella, and Fabio Canova. 2002. "Did colonization matter for growth?: An empirical exploration into the historical causes of Africa's underdevelopment." European economic review 46, no. 10: 1851-1871. Buckley, Graeme. 1997. "Microfinance in Africa: Is it either the problem or the solution?." World development 25, no. 7: 1081-1093. Herbst, Jeffrey. 2000. States and Power in Africa: Comparative Lessons in Authority and Control. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Herbst, Jeffrey. 1996. "Responding to State Failure in Africa." International Security 21(3). Mamdani, Mahmood. 1996. “Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism,” Princeton: Princeton University Press. Mkandawire, Thandika. 2013. "Neopatrimonialism and the political economy of economic performance in Africa: Critical reflections." World Politics: 1-50. Moyo, Dambisa. 2009. Dead Aid: Why Aid is not Working and Why there is another way for Africa. London: Allen Lane. Nunn, Nathan, and Leonard Wantchekon. 2011. "The Slave Trade and the Origins of Mistrust in Africa." The American Economic Review 101: 3221-3252. Nunn, Nathan, and Diego Puga. 2010. “Ruggedness: The Blessing of Bad Geography in Africa.” Review of Economics and Statistics 94 (1): 20–36. Sachs, Jeffrey. 2006. The end of poverty: economic possibilities for our time. Penguin.
Laboratory Work: N/A
Computer Usage: N/A
Others: No
COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES
1 At the end of this course, students should be able to demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the interaction between developing world and their political norms.
2 Students should be able to critically assess the legal, moral and political arguments of Middle East and Africa.
3 Students should be able to provide an overview of the history, issues, dilemmas and actors in Middle East and Africa
4 This lecture helps student to understand the importance of a long-term development perspective and local participation in developing countries.
COURSE CONTRIBUTION TO... PROGRAM COMPETENCIES
(Blank : no contribution, 1: least contribution ... 5: highest contribution)
No Program Competencies Cont.
Master of Science in Economics Program
COURSE EVALUATION METHOD
Method Quantity Percentage
Homework
1
15
Midterm Exam(s)
1
30
Presentation
1
10
Final Exam
1
35
Other
1
10
Total Percent: 100%
ECTS (ALLOCATED BASED ON STUDENT WORKLOAD)
Activities Quantity Duration(Hours) Total Workload(Hours)
Course Duration (Including the exam week: 16x Total course hours) 16 3 48
Hours for off-the-classroom study (Pre-study, practice) 16 3 48
Mid-terms 1 25 25
Assignments 1 15 15
Final examination 1 40 40
Other 1 11.5 11.5
Total Work Load:
187.5
Total Work Load/25(h):
7.5
ECTS Credit of the Course:
7.5