International Development Masters - Introduction & Pre-course Reading & Activities Guide

Throughout this guide, you will find a series of activities designed to help you engage critically with various concepts and literatures, and we hope you find them interesting and informative - it is not designed as a comprehensive guide to all the issues you will cover throughout the course, but rather as something to get you thinking before you arrive. The more you engage with the activities, the more you will be ready for the start of the term.

Each section gives a short overview of the topic and proposes an activity. When various readings are proposed, pick at least one reading and respond to the given questions before moving on to the next section. We will discuss your answers to the questions during Welcome Week, please ensure you attend. Do not be scared of the size of the guide, it is interesting and valuable, and we have developed the content so that each section 'bite-sized'. 

This is a reference document, not to be cited/referenced in any assessment. 

If you have any questions you can contact the International Development Course Director, Dr Sammia Poveda at s.c.poveda@sheffield.ac.uk

1: The emergence of 'international development' - Reading & Activity

Reading

The term ‘development’ first came to prominence in the second half of the 20th century to describe the process by which so-called ‘third world’ countries would catch up with the Western industrialised world – courtesy of financial and other assistance from the West.  

The post-Second World War geopolitical context, including the Cold War and the withdrawal of imperial powers from their colonies, fostered the emergence of the crude categorisation of ‘developed’, ‘undeveloped’ and ‘developing’ nations. (Alternative referred to as the First (the West), Second (Soviet Bloc) and Third (the rest) worlds). This same period gave rise to development studies as a distinct academic discipline attempting to integrate politics and economics. In doing so it provided a home to growing concerns surrounding the lack of industrialisation and economic growth of some nations, or their ‘poverty’.  

The failure of economic models of development, a growing critique of Western development orthodoxies and the emerging impacts of globalisation contributed to a major impasse in development thinking in the 1980s.  

Led by seminal thinkers such as Amartya Sen, Arturo Escobar, and Robert Chambers, more recent approaches to development thinking have been more progressive and holistic. There is a growing consensus that economic growth is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for development. From this starting point, contemporary development studies is now concerned with finding out about the causes, consequences and ways of tackling poverty (broadly defined) and understanding local, national and international contexts, experiences, priorities, challenges, and opportunities is vital to reach development goals. Concepts of universal values, morality and freedom are common driving forces behind these more contemporary development ideas, allied to a critique of the social construction of the ‘third world’, ‘underdeveloped’ and ‘global South’.  

Most important to note is that the meaning of development constantly changes over time in response to changing circumstances within the economy, ideology and politics. Today, 3 development is a highly multidisciplinary and contested domain, with various mainstream and critical theories operating within and across the development sphere. These changes are reflected in the changing terminology used by major development donors and international development institutions: not least in the evolution of discourses and language used by bodies including the World Bank, World Health Organisation, and World Trade Organisation when discussing development.

Activity 1: Is development the same everywhere? 

Activity 1: Is development the same everywhere? As indicated above, the meaning of development has changed multiple times. For this exercise, read ‘Chapter 1: What do we mean by development’, from the book “Theories and practices of development” by Katie Willis. Then answer the following (maximum 200 words): 

● Are all countries experiencing the same type of development?  

● Can you give examples of similarities or differences in how countries are experiencing development? 

Please write your responses on a separate document. 

2: Theories of Development - Reading & Activity

Reading

Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, different theories have been proposed as being the most effective approaches to reducing poverty and improving the quality of life. Many of these theories are connected to particular political ideology, have been critiqued for promoting a single vision of development and are entangled in particular power relations. This leads us to ask questions such as: “Can one theory fit all?” and “Where do these ideas come from and who is promoting them?”  

The desire to encourage more widespread economic growth at the end of World War II led Walt Rostow to develop his aeronautically inspired modernisation theory. This envisioned development as follows Western developmental experiences, namely a shift from a subsistence-based economy to the development of industry, exports and commercial agriculture to build enough capital to allow countries to reach ‘economic take-off’. This model has been extensively critiqued for unproblematically replicating the experience of Western countries in different contexts, and also reinscribing Cold War tensions by advocating capitalism over communism. 

Dependency theory sought to invalidate this Western-based theory of modernisation, based upon experiences in Latin America. The key thinker behind this approach, Andre Gunnar Frank, placed the violence of colonialism, slavery, natural resource extraction and unfair trade practices at the heart of his theory. This approach highlighted the interconnected nature of global processes. Frank contended that the exploitative actions of rich nations in the pursuit of capitalism have actively and intentionally underdeveloped poorer countries, with socialism positioned as the answer to this. However, dependency theory has been critiqued for being unable to account for the experiences of different countries. Connected to dependency theory, world systems theory, developed by Immanuel Wallerstein, sees the world as divided into core (industrial) and periphery (underdeveloped) countries, with the core exploiting the natural resources of the periphery.  

The 1980s saw the rise of neoliberalism as the dominant model for development, ideologically promoted by the United States and Great Britain, as well as key international institutions linked to the Washington Consensus. Based upon a belief in a free global market (with the primary function of the state simply to promote conditions for this ‘free’ market), this approach saw the rolling back of the state (and associated welfare provision) and an emphasis upon ‘free trade’ rather than development aid as the basis for development. Neoliberal ideology also brought with it often highly damaging structural adjustment programmes (loans to indebted nations from the IMF and World Bank), which were reliant on the privatisation of state enterprises and greater market orientation in the country’s economy. Despite the globalising nature of 5 neoliberal discourse, research suggests that neoliberalism is differentially and unevenly experienced.  

During the 1980s, greater attention was paid to global environmental concerns and the symbiosis between environmental and human development. This was highlighted in the report ‘Our Common Future’, also known as the Brundtland Report, commissioned by the chairman of the World Commission on Environment and Development Gro Harlem Brundtland. The report emphasised the interconnections between economic, social and environmental development and conceptualised sustainability as a broad principle for considering the need to balance economic growth with environmental and societal considerations.  

This shift to acknowledging that development means more than just economic growth underpins much of the more recent development theorising. Human development, pioneered by Amartya Sen, conceptualises development in terms of human wellbeing, taking social, political, cultural and environmental as well as economic concerns into account. Sen’s work places freedom at the centre of development, and advocates reducing the ‘unfreedoms’ – inequality, oppression, discrimination- that impede human wellbeing.  

Placing people at the forefront of development can also be seen more recently in human-rights-based approaches (HRBAs) to development. As the name suggests, HRBAs aim to advance the equal and inalienable rights of all humans within development processes. The HRBA aims to develop the capacity of people to enact their rights, but has also been criticised for the universalising nature of human rights.  

Alongside this emphasis on the humanity of development, approaches to development have also evolved to incorporate local communities into development projects. Advanced by Robert Chambers in particular, these approaches have been termed ‘participatory development’. The founding principles of participatory development are that local communities are involved in the transformative process of designing development initiatives based on their own experiences, thereby shifting power away from big institutions and ensuring greater local ‘ownership’ of development policies and practice. However, this approach has been significantly critiqued for 6 reproducing gendered power inequalities and hiding continuing injustices. Inclusivity has become a more recent buzzword in development literature and discourse, an approach to development that actively aims to involve the most vulnerable in development processes.  

The majority of the theories described so far have advocated for some role for the ‘rich’ in development processes. Post-development approaches critique this whole notion, advocating for development that is led and governed locally. A significant theorist in this field is Arturo Escobar, who saw development as a power-laden, neo-imperial process. Drawing on post-colonial scholars, Escobar saw development as a way for the West to impose its own cultural norms on the rest of the world, thus reducing local agency. He emphasised development that is built on local identities and the critique of existing structures of inequality.

Activity 2: Theories and their applications 

Please pick one of the theories mentioned above, find an academic paper that uses this theory (for example, use Google Scholar) to analyse a development issue (such as poverty, education, gender, etc) and complete: 

● Write the academic reference to the paper using Harvard referencing style.  

● How do(es) the author(s) summarise the theory in their paper? (100 words) 

● How is this theory helping the author(s) analyse the development issue? (100 words) 

Please write your responses on a separate document. 

3: What is Critical Development Studies? - Reading & Activity

Reading

Critical development studies ask if and how the idea of Development has manifested in its various forms, like microfinance, infrastructure, and empowerment, failed to address, collaborated with, and exacerbated, rather than challenged, the crisis of capitalism, extraction, and social injustices.

We can see its various manifestations in stark evidence of poverty, not just in the global South but also in the global North (especially in the cities). These instances of poverty are not an exception to neoliberal development, but rather are outcomes of it. Here, we can think of the results of structural readjustment policies promoted by the World Bank in the global South and calls for ‘smaller state’ and austerity in the global North. 

This is not to say that all development work, agencies and professionals are bad or wrong. Far from it. Rather, the point is that “the potentially transformative impulses behind a lot of justice-oriented Development intervention are delimited, co-opted, and redirected in their encounters with hegemonic developmentalism, state institutions, and professional agendas, all of which are forged within the global capitalist political economy” (Silvey and Rankin, 2011: 701). 

Critical development work also challenges the idea that development interventions lead to direct positive outcomes. It demonstrates and reminds us that issues of gender, race, sexual orientation and other pre-existing social, cultural and economic conditions mediate who benefits from these interventions and when.  

In addition, critical development studies are not all about finger-pointing and problem identification. While this work is good at showing us gloomy pictures of development work, one of its main thrusts is to reveal and create political possibilities, whether as an outcome of development interventions being remoulded by people at the grassroots or by people organising within themselves as agents of change. Arjun Appadurai’s (2001) work with slum dwellers in Mumbai, which he frames as an instance of “deep democracy”, is a useful example. 

Political spaces also emerge as resistance to neoliberal extractive interventions that may come in the garb of Development. Therefore, it is imperative that we understand and engage with this work to not just challenge how Development is thought and ‘done’ right now, but also to think about how we might reshape it for more just, impactful and political outcomes in the future.

Activity 3: Mapping development

Please follow this survey link and answer the question in the form. This will help us collaboratively and critically think about development. We will share the map with all your contributions during Welcome Week.

4: Institutions and Frameworks 

Reading

There are multiple institutions, people and frameworks involved in and influencing development processes. This section aims to familiarise you with some of these. Remember: these institutions may work in co-coordinated, collaborative or contradictory ways. 

There are numerous development banks, but perhaps the best known and far-reaching is the World Bank. Established in 1945 to stabilise the global economy after World War II, the Bank aims to foster development by providing loans and grants. The World Bank has been the subject of sustained criticism for its propensity for structural adjustment, its focus on austerity and for policies that favour the wealthy.  

The United Nations Development Programme is the United Nations development network. It operates to eradicate poverty, reduce inequality and exclusion and is crucial for setting global development agendas. In 2015, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were superseded 9 by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The MDGs have been praised for the support they mobilised for development initiatives, but have also been criticised for being donor-led, promoting a ‘narrow’ view of development and excluding the most vulnerable. The purpose of the SDGs is to provide a framework for development funding and policy through the detailing of 17 universal goals to be achieved by 2030. The SDGs include countries of the Global North and South and also focus on the multi-dimensional nature of many aspects of development. The SDGs place great emphasis on managing climate change, dovetailing with the COP21 Paris Agreement. Running alongside the SDGs, the Post-2015 Development Agenda refers to a process led by the United Nations that aims to help define the future global development framework after the Millennium Development Goals. As we approach 2030, it seems unlikely there will be a replacement of the SDGs, so many questions arise, for instance, how will countries coordinate efforts post-SDGs? 

As well as contributing financially to global institutions such as the UNDP, wealthy countries also provide development assistance through government aid agencies. This may include providing grants for certain programmes, humanitarian support and capacity building. With the growing scrutiny over the way that aid is spent, some of these agencies view aid not only as helping a country worse off than themselves but also as a way of shoring up their national interests. Aid has long been the subject of much debate – is it a form of colonialism? What should the aid fund? How should it be administered? How much should be given? Is aid effective? The private sector and global and local philanthropists are both being seen as relatively new and potentially controversial development actors. The recent withdrawal of funds from multiple donor nations has also shaken the funding paradigms of development. Yet, if it was problematic from the start, can we learn and create better funding arrangements?

In contrast to governmental aid agencies, non-governmental agencies (NGOs) are organisations that are not linked to the state. The term NGO covers a huge range of organisations, from international institutions like Oxfam and Save the Children to ‘grassroots’ organisations. NGOs operate in a complex environment, sometimes cooperating with and at other times in opposition to other development institutions. NGOs have come under sustained criticism for contributing to a depoliticised development environment, becoming divorced from the beneficiaries of their work and unable to tackle the structural conditions which shape poverty and inequality. The stories of aid workers provide an interesting opportunity to understand more about the complex environments in which NGOs have to work; some are shared on the Guardian Development Professionals Network.

NGOs come under the broad umbrella of civil society. Although this is a contested term within development circles, it has generally been used to mean organisations, associations or community groups that aim to enhance the quality of life. As with NGOs, civil society organisations are coming under increasing pressure to sustain their work in more complex environments. This notion of civil society also makes space for considering other development actors such as religious bodies, diaspora groups and social movements. 

With migration becoming an increasingly important global trend, diaspora groups in particular have come to the attention of development theorists as important for development. Diaspora contributions have traditionally been associated with remittances, but diaspora groups are now widely recognised as having an important and more complex role to play in political, social and economic development, with many governments now promoting formal diaspora engagement policies. The suggested connections between democracy and development also highlight the role of civil society in development processes. If civil society is understood in a slightly different sense, as a space for discussion and debate that is fundamental to democracy, then the presence of an open civil society should enhance the democratic process and development outcomes.

Activity 4: Institutions and their work  

There are multiple blogs which refer to International Development practice, such as Global Development by The Guardian, or From Poverty to Power (FP2P) by Oxfam. For this activity, please find a blog post on a topic you are passionate about and respond to the following questions: 

● What institutions are being mentioned in the blog? 

● Are their actions guided by local, national or international interests? Political agreements? International conventions? 

Please write your responses on a separate document. 

5: What's Hot in the post-2025 Development Agenda

Reading

The post-2015 Development Agenda is leading the global conversation on development thinking going forward. The following graphic shows the major themes emanating from key post-2015 Development Agenda documentation, and thus gives a clue to themes which are likely to feature prominently in development thinking and practice in the coming years.

Source: UN Dispatch  

The SDGs provide a key overarching frame to current international development practices and policies. Across the 17 goals, there is a vast array of concerns and priorities. These targets provide an important vehicle to discuss development issues in popular discourse and the mainstream press. There remains, however, a need for further academic research to underpin the design, implementation and realisation of the SDGs, as well as what will come next.

Activity 5: Are the SDGs enough? 

We will be discussing more in-depth about the SDGs during our course. However, as these are being constantly mentioned by different International Development Actors, we wanted to start to reflect on these. 

● Watch this short video about “Multidimensional poverty”. 

● Explore the SDGs website. What is the goal related to Poverty? What are the targets? 

● Compare the definition of poverty (from the video) with the goals and targets. Are these ‘enough’ to end poverty? (200 words)

Please write your responses on a separate document. 

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YOU DID IT! - Well done, looking forward to discussing these ideas and more soon! - ID Teaching Team

Glossary of Key Terms

Some key terms to get familiar with.  Buzzword: a word or phrase, often sounding authoritative or technical, that is a vogue term in a particular profession or a field of study.  

Citizenship: the processes involved in being a member of a state or a nation.  

Community development: is a way of strengthening civil society by prioritising the actions of communities, and their perspectives in the development of social, economic and environmental policy.  

Community: a social group of any size whose members reside in a particular geographical area. This has been critiqued as a problematic term in development studies.  

Demography and population studies: are concerned with knowing the size, sex, location and age structure of present and future populations, so that development investments can be tailored for inclusive growth, and leave no one behind.  

Diaspora studies: is concerned with the dispersal of people beyond their original homeland. In development studies, the diaspora is closely linked to notions of migration, resettlement and remittances.  

Discourse: the way in which knowledge is produced; the language, practices and relations that make certain ideas dominant and the way authority is established through this process.  

Economic development: targets economic aspects of the development process in low-income countries.  

Environmental studies and climate change: are now central pillars in development, as it is recognised that changes in the climate and natural environments have a disproportionate effect on poor and vulnerable people.  

Gender studies: focuses on gender identity and gendered representation as central categories of development analysis.  

Governance: the processes and forms of control through which decisions are made and plans enacted, extending beyond government to include other actors and informal processes. Agency, the ability to take control of one’s life.  

Human rights: is a conceptual framework for the process of human development that is normatively based on international human rights standards and operationally directed to promoting and protecting human rights.  

Inequality: in economic terms, the difference between the richest and the poorest in society.  

Migration studies: concerns studying the permanent or semi-permanent movement of people from one place to another. Climate change and political instability mean that migration is now at an unprecedented scale, with wide-reaching effects.  

Peace and conflict studies: is dedicated to the analysis of violent conflict and its management or resolution. Development work on peace and conflict often focuses on so-called fragile and conflict-affected states (FCAS).  

Post-colonial approaches: considers and responds to the exploitation, oppression and cultural legacy of colonialism, questions the way that knowledge about a particular place is produced and explores how this knowledge is connected to power.  

Power: within development studies, power can be understood as held by certain people, but it can also be embodied through social and cultural norms and relationships.  

Public health: in development involves appreciating and analysing the state of public health in low- and middle-income countries and designing and evaluating actions to address public health concerns.  

Rural development: recognises that the big development issues of the coming decades, including inequality, sustainability, food production, exclusion and security, all have specific and critically important rural dimensions.  

Social development: promotes social inclusion of the poor and vulnerable by empowering people, building cohesive and resilient societies, and making institutions accessible and accountable to citizens.  

Sustainable development: is commonly defined as development that meets the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.  

Urban and peri-urban areas: are increasingly a focus for development research, policy-making and debate as more than half of the global population now lives in urban areas. 

Further Reading

These are some core texts you can start exploring. 

Appadurai, A. (2001) ‘Deep democracy: urban governmentality and the horizon of politics’, Environment and Urbanization, 13(2), pp. 23–43. doi: 10.1177/095624780101300203. 

Banks, N. and Hulme, D., 2014. New development alternatives or business as usual with a new face? The transformative potential of new actors and alliances in development. Third World Quarterly, 35(1), pp.181-195.

Cooke, B. and Kothari, U. eds., 2001. Participation: The new tyranny?. Zed books. 

Crush, J.S. ed., 1995. Power of development. Psychology Press. 

Escobar, A., 2011. Encountering development: The making and unmaking of the Third World (Vol. 1). Princeton University Press. 

Hammett, D., Twyman, C. and Graham, M., 2014. Research and fieldwork in development. Routledge. 

Hayman, R., 2016. Unpacking civil society sustainability: looking back, broader, deeper, forward. Development in Practice, 26(5), pp.670-680. 

Kumar, A., Butcher, S., Hammett, D., Barragan-Contreras, S., Burns, V., Chesworth, O., Cooper, G., Kanai, J.M., Mottram, H., Poveda, S. and Richardson, P., 2024. Development beyond 2030: more collaboration, less competition?. International Development Planning Review, 46(2), pp.227-242. 

Silvey, R. and Rankin, K. (2011) ‘Development geography: Critical development studies and political geographic imaginaries’, Progress in Human Geography, 35(5), pp. 696–704. doi: 10.1177/0309132510385523. 

Sumner, A. and Tribe, M.A., 2008. International development studies: Theories and methods in research and practice. Sage. 

Williams, G., Meth, P. and Willis, K., 2014. Geographies of developing areas: The Global South in a changing world. Routledge. 

Willis, K., 2011. Theories and practices of development. Taylor & Francis.