Course delivery and schedule This Weekend Course includes 7 x 90-minute sessions delivered between Friday evening and Sunday lunchtime with plenty of opportunity for further conversations and networking during breaks and mealtimes.
Course sessions The first course session takes place after dinner on Friday evening. There are four sessions on Saturday: two before lunch, one before dinner and one after dinner. There is a break on Saturday afternoon just after lunch, offering time to rest, read, or explore Madingley Hall’s beautiful grounds. The final two sessions take place on Sunday morning, and the course finishes with lunch.
Summary of content Since the end of the Second World War, the concept and imperative of ‘development’ has been central to our understanding of the world geopolitically, economically and even culturally.
The history of international development is not, however, simply a one-dimensional history of the facts of how development has been ‘rolled out’. It is also a two-dimensional history of the competing understandings of what ‘development’ is and ought to be: should it be state-led, or market-driven? Should success be measured by economic or social indicators? Does it imply an objectively ethical goal, or is it merely imperialism by other means?
But there is also a third dimension: why do we find ourselves interested in the concept, and preoccupied by the imperative, of international development? As individuals, we come to the topic with a set of presumptions about our capacity to know about our capacity to act, and about the nature of our very interest in knowing about and acting towards people in contexts far removed from our own society. This third dimension is, in a sense, the broader ‘story’ of development, in which we ourselves are key actors.
In as much as the one-dimensional facts of how development has been rolled out is subsumed within a two-dimensional history of the competing ideas of what exactly is being implemented, that history itself exists in the context of the three-dimensional story of why we take an interest in it.
The purpose of this course is not to cast a judgment, for example, not to assess the merits of development as either a concept or imperative. Rather, the purpose is to clarify, in three dimensions, the nature of the concept’s relationship to the world, its relationship to itself, and its relationship to us who seek to understand it. That is, to clarify the facts of how it has been implemented, the theories of what it is, and the frames of reference that inform why we care about those theories and facts.
Aims This course aims to
develop a broad factual overview of international development practice
develop a comprehensive understanding of the debates surrounding the theoretical underpinnings of development practices
develop a reflexive awareness of the normalised frames of reference we bring to the study, theory and practice of international development
Friday Please plan to arrive at Madingley Hall between 16:30 and 18:30. You can meet other course participants in the Terrace Bar which opens at 18:15. Tea and coffee making facilities are available in the study bedrooms.
19:00
Dinner
20:30 – 22:00 Session 1: Introduction to thinking about International Development in three dimensions
22:00
Terrace Bar open for informal discussion
Saturday
07:30
Breakfast (for residents only)
09:00 – 10:30 Session 2: The ‘Genesis Story’ of International Development
10:30
Coffee
11:00 – 12:30 Session 3: International Development and the Cold War
12:30
Free time
13:00
Lunch
14:00
Free time
16:00
Tea
16:30 – 18:00 Session 4: International Development and Neoliberalism
18:00 – 18:30
Free time
18:30
Dinner
20:00 – 21:30 Session 5: The Age of Intervention: Iraq, Afghanistan, and the concept of the ‘fragile state’
21:30
Terrace Bar open for informal discussion
Sunday
07:30
Breakfast (for residents only)
09:00 – 10:30 Session 6: Climate Change and international Development
10:30
Coffee
11:00 – 12:30 Session 7: The Future of International Development
12:45
Lunch
Departure after lunch
Presentation of the course It is impossible to project the future of international development without understanding its present , and it is impossible to make sense of its present without understanding its past . This course therefore takes a chronological approach to understanding the development of development. It is a concept that has had a number of evolutions over the decades, each of which emerged as a reaction to the failings, be they internal contradictions or external consequences, of previous iterations.
In taking a chronological approach, this course will establish the full political-economic context of each iteration of the concept of development, before diving into the philosophical content of the theories and worldviews involved, before examining the factual consequences of these theories as they were applied to the ‘real world’.
In order to tell this rich, three-dimensional story, which will not only bring us up to the present, but leave the class better equipped to project the future course of international development, the format will be seven 90-minute sessions, with both a lecturing and an interactive component.
Learning outcomes As a result of the course, you will gain a greater understanding of the subject and you should be able to:
understand the history of international development
understand the key challenges of international development
understand our own relationship to the whole topic and imperative of international development, and to think about it critically
Course materials Course materials include the course syllabus, detailed timetable, reading list and tutor biography. Once these materials are available, you can download them from the Documents section below.
We will also email these to you before your course starts. Please check your spam folder if you have not received them.
Please note that our weekend courses are non-credit bearing and there is no formal assessment.
