MRS/XDVT Development Theories

Lecturers: Marián Halás, Radovan Dluhý-Smith
Lecture: 2 hours/week + exercise 1 hour/week
Credits: 6
Winter semester
Form of course completion: course credit, exam

Development theories course offers social scientific insight into problems of ´development'. The emphasis is laid on the critical understanding and reading of development as economic, political and cultural practices of late modernity. The course offers overview of the basic approaches to development that have evolved during the last half a century but tackles also ' sector' problems such as health care access, education or poverty alleviation and inequality reduction. It traces basic economic concepts influential within the field of Development studies against the backdrop of development paradigms. Cultural critique of development is presented via post-structural discourse analysis that gave rise to post-development, post-colonial studies and sub-altern studies among others. The basic practice of development – development assistance and cooperation as implemented via the project cycle management is critically looked into within the broader framework of anti-managerism and new professionalism of the global civil society actors.