International Development: Critical Perspectives on Theory and Practice Common Topics COURSE DESIGNATOR MSID 4001 NUMBER OF CREDITS 4 credits LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION English CONTACT HOURS 60 hours (20 Common Topics, 40 Track- Specific) COURSE DESCRIPTION This course encourages students to think critically about development theories and practices. A majority of examples and reading will be drawn on case studies from Thailand and their links to global economic and environmental development issues. Critiques of development theories in the 20th century will be discussed together with the situation in Thailand during and after the Cold War as well as in the neo-liberal development era. Development as a contested value and process will be explored in multiple scales -- local, national, and global. The broad development approaches such as sustainable development, natural resource governance, sufficiency economy, local knowledge, social justice, etc. that have been applied in the Thai context will be analyzed. Parallel with this, students will break into their selected tracks to explore particular development challenges. Refer to the separate track syllabus for more details about the content covered in each track. INSTRUCTOR Mr. Adisorn Sunthararuk [M.Sc. Regional and Rural Development Planing, Asian Institute of Technology:AIT] COURSE OBJECTIVES 1. To provide an overview of the critiques of development theories and its practices in the 20th century and current trends. 2. To enhance students understanding of the interaction and connections between global, national, and grassroots development and how they have varied during different historical periods. 3. To give students the theoretical and conceptual tools to critically analyze specific development problems, policy programs, and projects as they experience them in their host communities and internship agencies. METHODOLOGY The course uses a combination of lectures, class discussion, and field visits to development agencies. Guest lecturers will also be invited to share their experiences with students. Prior reading and short homework assignment will be important to the success of the course. COURSE PREREQUISITES None. PAGE 1
REQUIRED READING/MATERIALS Asian Development Bank. 2011. Poverty, Income Inequality, and Microfinance in Thailand, vol 6, Escobar, Arturo. 1995. Encountering Development: the Making and Unmaking of the Third World, New Jersey and West Sussex: Princeton University Press. Hoff, Karla, and Joseph Stiglitz. "Modern economic theory and development." Frontiers of development Economics. 2001: 389-459. Jan Nederveen Pieters. http://www.tubar.com.tr/tubar%20dosya/development%20theory%20- %20jan%20nederveen%20pieterse.pdf Munck, Ronaldo and David O Hearn. 1999. Critical Development Theories: Contribution to a New Paradigm, London and New York: Zed Books Ltd. Phongpaichit, Pasuk, Et al. 2000. Corruption in the Public Sector in Thailand Perceptions and Experience of Households Political Economy Centre Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok Rodrik, Dani. The Past, Present, and Future of Economic Growth. Global Citizen Foundation Working Paper 1 (2013). Sen, Amartya. 1998. The Concept of Development, Handbook of Development Economics, Volume 1, Edited by H. Chenery and T.N. Srinivasan, Elsevier Science Publishers. Smith, Neil. 1990. Uneven Development: Nature, Capital, and the Production of Space, Oxford, UK ; Cambridge, Mass., USA : B. Blackwell. UNDP.2014. Human Development Report, http://www.th.undp.org/content/dam/thailand/docs/publications/hdr14-reporten-1.pdf GRADING CRITERIA FOR GRADING AND GRADING STANDARDS A 93-100 Grading Rubric Achievement that is outstanding relative to the level necessary to meet course requirements. A- 90-92 B+ 87-89 Achievement that is significantly above the level necessary to meet course requirements. B 83-86 B- 80-82 C+ 77-79 Achievement that meets the course requirements in every respect. C 73-76 C- 70-72 D+ 67-69 Achievement that is worthy of credit even though it fails to meet fully the course requirements. D 60-66 F 0-59 Represents failure (or no credit) and signifies that the work was either (1) completed but at a level of achievement that is not worthy of credit or (2) was not completed and there was no agreement between the instructor and the student that the student would be awarded an I. PAGE 2
Summary of how grades are weighted: Class attendance and participation 5% Focus paper (1) 15% Mid-term exam 25% Overall grade 35% 65% of the grade will be determined by assessments done in the Track section of this course. Assessment Descriptions: 1. Class attendance and participation: Students actively participate in class by doing the readings before class, asking questions, and contributing to discussions. Moreover, due to objectives of the course, critiques discussion in the classroom will be focused as significant learning. Frequency of student participation will be given a score. 2. Focus paper: Students will learn collectively through assignments such as field trip report, classroom presentation. In order to evaluate students understanding from the classroom, weekly presentation or report should be finished and submitted. Scoring in this section will concern with frequency, quantity and quality of submitted assignments. 3. Mid-term examination: the common topic classroom grading will be 35% totally for giving theoretical foundation knowledge for students. The mid-term exam will evaluate the overall understand of the elements of the Common Topics and Tracks section of the course. The mid-term exam will evaluate the student s, overall understanding of development theories and their criticisms, different levels of development and the interconnections between them, and development issues in Thailand. The exam will contain some Common Topics questions combined with Tracks examination. Students must use theories from Common Topics to analyze development in Thailand. CLASS SCHEDULE WEEK 1 PAGE 3
Course orientation Introduction of course syllabus and schedule (Sep 2 nd ) course structure participatory agreement of grade, times and assignments pre-test what is development? reading instruments and assignment article in topic Poverty Alleviation in Thailand Development definition (Sep 3 rd ) overview of development theories the timeline of development and S/E Asia Development the Era of Siam Colony, Colonization and Westernization North and South: developed and developing countries Reading: Acharya. A. Will Asia s Past Be Its Future? International Security, Vol. 28, No. 3 (Winter 2003/04), pp. 149 164, http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/files/acharya.pdf Asian Development Bank. (2011) Poverty, Income Inequality, and Microfinance in Thailand, vol 6, Kang, C David. Asia Wrong: The Need for New Analytical Frameworks International Security, Vol. 27, No. 4 (Spring, 2003), pp. 57-85, http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic787492.files/kang%20getting%20asia%20wrong.pdf Hoff, Karla, and Joseph Stiglitz. "Modern economic theory and development." Frontiers of development economics (2001): 389-459. Sen, Amartya. (1998). The Concept of Development, Handbook of Development Economics, Volume 1, Edited by H. Chenery and T.N. Srinivasan, Elsevier Science Publishers. WEEK 2 PAGE 4
Modernization, Dependency, Marxism and poverty alleviation (Sep 7 th ) Poverty Modernization Structuralism Dependency theory Marxism,neo-Marxism Post-development theory (Sep 8 th ) Development critique in the Cold War period and fallacy of communism in S/E Asia Post-Cold War development Globalization vs Localization Development of under development Analyzing Thailand National Development Plans. (Sep 9 th ) Middle income trap Democracy, corruption, military coup and the growth Pro-poor and popularism democracy in north and northeast of Thailand Critical thinking analysis of poverty alleviation in north and northeast of Thailand Focus paper outline submitted Roles of NGOs, GOs, and civil society (Sep 10 th ) Centralization VS Decentralization, NGOs' Innovation definition of Non Government Organizations (NGOs), Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and Community Based Organization (CBOs) third party roles and it's development in Thailand AID and development from North Reading Materials: Gore. C, Globalization, (2002) the International Poverty Trap and Chronic Povertyin the Least Developed Countries, UNCTAD, ST/ESA/324 Department of Economic and Social Affairs,United Nation,(2009) Rethinking Poverty:Report on the World Social Situation 2010, New York West, J. (2014) Thailand's failed experiment in inclusive growth Asian Century Institute, http://asiancenturyinstitute.com/politics/655-thailand-s-failed-experiment-in-inclusive-growth Pongsudhirak T.(2008) Thailand since the coup Journal of Democracy Volume 19,Number 4 October National Endowment for Democracy and The Johns Hopkins University Pres Forsyth, T. (2010) Thailand's Red Shirt protests: popular movement or dangerous street theatre? Social Movement Studies,, 9 (4). pp. 461-467. ISSN 1474-28 Gatti, R, World Bank, (2000) Decentralization and corruption: evidence across countries Journal of Public Economics 83 (2002) 325 34 Blas, E, Et al, (2008) Addressing social determinants of health inequities: what can the state and civil society do? The Lancet, vol 373 (9650), 1684-1689 Dechalert, P NGOs, advocacy and popular protest:a case study of Thailand CVO International Working Number 6, http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/29094/1/iwp6preecha.pdf PAGE 5
WEEK 3 Social movements (Sep 14 th ) definition of social movement social movement and changes of Thailand red vs yellow shirts and movement of development Gender and cross border migration in Southeast Asia International Development (Sep 15 th ) Regionalization and ASEAN Greater Mekong Sub-region Development United Nation Millennium Development Goal and Human Development Index World Bank and ADB Sustainable Development Theory (Sep 16 th ) Green Revolution Tragedy in Common Sustainable Development Rio+20 and games of development Thailand development and National Economic and Social Development Plan Problems of development in Thailand Class review, suggestions, and evaluation Midterm Evaluation (Sep 17 th ) Mid-term examination Focus paper submitted Reading: Haque M. Shamsul.(1999) The Fate of Sustainable Development Under Neo-liberal Regimes in Developing Countries International Political Science Review (1999), Vol. 20, No. 2, 197 218 Phongpaichit, Pasuk, Et al. (2000) Corruption in the Public Sector in Thailand Perceptions and Experience of Households Political Economy Center, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok Rodrik, Dani. The Past, Present, and Future of Economic Growth. Global Citizen Foundation Working Paper 1 (2013). PAGE 6
Track course WEEK 4 Track course WEEK 5 Track course WEEK 6 Track course WEEK 7 Wrap up Submit term paper WEEK 15 ATTENDANCE POLICY Regular attendance and punctuality are mandatory in order to earn full marks. The final grade will take into consideration preparation required for class (i.e. readings) and participation in class discussions. If you miss any meetings without an excused absence from the on-site director, your final grade will be dropped accordingly. In the case of absences, it is the student s responsibility to find out what information was given in class including any announcements made. UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA POLICIES AND PROCEDURES Academic integrity is essential to a positive teaching and learning environment. All students enrolled in University courses are expected to complete coursework responsibilities with fairness and honesty. Failure to do so by seeking unfair advantage over others or misrepresenting someone else s work as your own, can result in disciplinary action. The University Student Conduct Code defines scholastic dishonesty as follows: SCHOLASTIC DISHONESTY: Scholastic dishonesty means plagiarizing; cheating on assignments or examinations; engaging in unauthorized collaboration on academic work; taking, acquiring, or using test materials without faculty permission; submitting false or incomplete records of academic achievement; acting alone or in cooperation with another to falsify records or to obtain dishonestly grades, honors, awards, or professional endorsement; altering forging, or misusing a University academic record; or fabricating or falsifying data, research procedures, or data analysis. Within this course, a student responsible for scholastic dishonesty can be assigned a penalty up to and including an F or N for the course. If you have any questions regarding the expectations for a specific assignment or exam, ask. STUDENT CONDUCT The University of Minnesota has specific policies concerning student conduct and student needs. This information can be found on the Learning Abroad Center website. PAGE 7