Development Studies Special Topics B

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2015:

A total of 170 hours

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry.The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

Special Topic: Development Policy

This subject will review policy debates evolving around some of the key international – bilateral and multilateral – development actors. It will consider some of the interconnections and tensions around integrated policy: attempts to connect development efforts to other (inter)national interests. Drawing from literature on the anthropology of development, it will also require students to step back and treat development policy as an empirical phenomenon and ask how policy really works: does it actually do what it claims to do?

Upon completion of this subject, students should:

• be familiar with the policy trends and debates of key development actors;
• be familiar with contemporary critiques of mainstream development policy and take positions in these debates;
• be able to critically reflect on policy as an empirical phenomenon.

A written assignment (2000 words) due during the semester, and a final essay (3000 words) due in the exam period.

Hurdle Requirement: Students are required to attend a minimum of 75% of classes in order to qualify to have their written work assessed. Regular participation in class is required.

Assessment submitted late without an approved extension will be penalised at 10% per working day. In-class tasks missed without approval will not be marked. All pieces of written work must be submitted to pass this subject.

To be advised by the subject coordinator.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

The subject is intended to strengthen the following skills:

• unravelling development policies, place them in historical context and critically reflect on them;
• construct coherent arguments about development policy;
• straddle the divide between academic and policy, treat the knowledge, language and workings of both realms at their own merit, and identify tensions and connections between them.