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The seminar module offers a more extensive and more thorough analysis of a topic from within political science. To this end, the seminar module provides an overview and a critical discussion of the literature and the issues relevant for the topic of the seminar.
The objectives for this module are:
By the end of the course, the participants are expected to be able to:
International development is big business. Total global financial aid flows from North to South are more than $150 billion annually, of which one-third goes to Africa. Still, Africa is lacking behind and is unlikely to achieve the first Millennium Development Goal of eradicating poverty by 2015: almost 40 percent of the population, or 366 million people, are estimated to be living on less than $1.25 a day in 2015. It is therefore tempting to ask whether more than half a century of aid to Africa has actually worked. Some say yes, others a definite no.
This seminar takes a deeper look at aid to Africa, the continents' developments, and the scholarly debate on aid, its effects and alternatives. The course will start with a general overview of developments on the African continents, but will otherwise concentrate on the role of aid in promoting development. Specifically, we shall examine the principles of aid and the evolution in thinking about aid. We shall look at different aid agencies and critically discuss their rational for giving aid and potential impacts on the ground. Old and new strategies of aid will also be analyzed with the purpose of discussing advantages and disadvantages of different approaches to aid. Finally, a relatively large part of the seminar will be devoted to the debate on whether aid ‘works or not'; we will assess scholarly contributions and contemplate what we can say about the impact of aid as well as the potential limitations in the research. Furthermore, we will take up potential alternatives to aid as put forward by its critics and discuss how such alternatives might meet the challenges of development on the African continent.
The course will centre on class discussions where we will focus on critically reviewing the theoretical perspectives / scholarly arguments, chosen research methods, and empirical analyses. As part of the discussion empirical cases and evidence will be included as much as possible and we will reflect on alternative ways to question and analyze the various topics as regards development aid to Africa.
Applicants must be at Master level
Marianne S. Ulriksen
The assessment method is oral exam based on synopsis.
External examiner/Graded marking.
The seminar module requires active participation of students. At the beginning of the seminar module the lecturer and the students agree on specific "activity requirements" that the students have to fulfill.
Given the assessment method (oral exam) the course will centre on class discussions and benefit from active student participation. There will be presentations by the lecturer, but students are required to become familiar with the literature and in groups discuss central themes prior to each lesson (questions for each lessons will be ready at the start of the course).
The module compendium consists of about 1,200 pages.
A final list will be available prior to the course, but expected literature includes:
Haan, Arjan de (2009). How the Aid Industry Works: An Introduction to International Development , Sterling: Kumarian Press - main book
Bräutigam, Deborah (2008). "Introduction: taxation and state-building in developing countries", Ch.1 in Bräutigam, Fjeldstad & Moore (eds), Taxation and State-Building in Developing Countries , Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Easterly, William (ed) (2008). Reinventing Foreign Aid , Cambridge: The MIT Press
Hujo, K. & S. McClanahan (2009). Financing social policy: mobilizing resources for social development , Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
Lancaster, Carol (2007). Foreign Aid: Diplomacy, Development, Domestic Politics , Chicago: University of Chicago Press
Ratha, D. et al. (2009). "Beyond aid: New sources and innovative mechanisms for financing development in sub-Saharan Africa", Ch.6 in Ketkar & Retha (eds), Innovative Financing for Development , Washington DC: The World Bank
Whitfield, Lindsay (ed) (2009). The Politics of Aid: African Strategies for Dealing with Donors , Oxford: Oxford University Press
