Law and Development

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2009:

Objectives:

A student who has successfully completed this subject should:

• Have a thorough knowledge of the range of processes and actors involved in the institutionalisation of development
• Have a general understanding of the role of international institutions, particularly the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization with respect to development
• Be aware of the historical context and range of theories of law and development propounded by international institutions
• Have the capacity to assess the effects, both intended and unintended, of particular development initiatives
• Be familiar with the range of theoretical approaches to understanding and critiquing law and development initiatives
• Have the capacity to articulate their knowledge and understanding in oral and written presentations.

If you are undertaking the Master of Law and Development, this subject will serve as a conceptual, historical and theoretical frame in which to situate and critically assess what you learn in your other subjects. If you are taking this subject as part of another course, it will help you to understand the centrality of the concept of development to our understandings of international law and to appreciate development’s central role in the construction and maintenance of contemporary global orderings.

Syllabus:

Principal topics will include:

• Law and development as a field
• The ‘development’ concept and its precursors
• The relationship between the concepts of ‘law’ and ‘development’
• The institutionalisation of development
• Development, imperialism, decolonisation and the nation state
• Permanent sovereignty over natural resources and the New International Economic Order
• Debt crises and development(s) at the Bretton Wood institutions
• Trade and development
• Globalisation, governance and the rule of law
• Sustainability, democracy and human rights
• Resistance, alternatives and post-development
• The future: Development and security.

• Class participation (5%)
• Group assignment: Class presentation (10%) and book review 1,500 words (15%) (9 July)
• Research paper 8,000 words (70%) (1 October) (topic approved by the subject coordinator)

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

Objectives:

A student who has successfully completed this subject should:

• Have a thorough knowledge of the range of processes and actors involved in the institutionalisation of development
• Have a general understanding of the role of international institutions, particularly the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization with respect to development
• Be aware of the historical context and range of theories of law and development propounded by international institutions
• Have the capacity to assess the effects, both intended and unintended, of particular development initiatives
• Be familiar with the range of theoretical approaches to understanding and critiquing law and development initiatives
• Have the capacity to articulate their knowledge and understanding in oral and written presentations.

If you are undertaking the Master of Law and Development, this subject will serve as a conceptual, historical and theoretical frame in which to situate and critically assess what you learn in your other subjects. If you are taking this subject as part of another course, it will help you to understand the centrality of the concept of development to our understandings of international law and to appreciate development’s central role in the construction and maintenance of contemporary global orderings.

Syllabus:

Principal topics will include:

• Law and development as a field
• The ‘development’ concept and its precursors
• The relationship between the concepts of ‘law’ and ‘development’
• The institutionalisation of development
• Development, imperialism, decolonisation and the nation state
• Permanent sovereignty over natural resources and the New International Economic Order
• Debt crises and development(s) at the Bretton Wood institutions
• Trade and development
• Globalisation, governance and the rule of law
• Sustainability, democracy and human rights
• Resistance, alternatives and post-development
• The future: Development and security.

• Class participation (5%)
• Group assignment: Class presentation (10%) and book review 1,500 words (15%) (9 July)
• Research paper 8,000 words (70%) (1 October) (topic approved by the subject coordinator)