This module critically examines modernisation theory, with a focus on Walt Rostow’s influential “Stages of Economic Growth” model. It unpacks the theory’s core assumptions about linear progress, industrialisation, and Western-style development as the universal path to modernity. Emphasis will be placed on the theory’s Eurocentric underpinnings and its implications for how development has been imagined and pursued globally. The module also interrogates the limitations of a singular, homogenising narrative of development and brings attention to diverse, context-specific, and non-Western pathways to modernity that challenge the dominant discourse.

This Module critically engages with Dependency Theory as one of the foundational critiques of development models. It asks if all nations follow similar developmental pathways, and if underdevelopment is intrinsic to these pathways. It explores questions of world system analyses, imperialism, core-periphery relations, unequal exchange, and concludes by asking how are these frameworks relevant today.

This Module focuses on the specific context of development in the Global South. It unpacks the political and economic history and present of the sites and position of Global North and South, and practices and lived realities of development in the latter. It investigates if, how and why these trajectories of and in the Global South might be distinct from dominant models.

Development is often framed as progress, but the hows and whys of who gets excluded in the process are often unasked. This Module explores how marginalities and vulnerabilities were historically produced, and structural issues to deal with in the contemporary.

The Module will focus on accumulation processes, the modes of control, formality and informality, and the issue of surplus populations.

This Module lays the ground for situating ‘globalization’ and ‘neoliberalism’ as dominant frameworks and forces shaping development since the late twentieth century. We explore how the LPG policies of liberalization, privatization associated with globalization were instituted, their promises of prosperity and the winners and losers in this framework.

This module explores Amartya Sen’s Capabilities Approach, which redefines development not merely as economic growth but as the expansion of individual freedoms and substantive opportunities. By positioning freedom both as a means and an end as central to development, Sen challenges conventional, income-based measures of progress. The module also engages with Martha Nussbaum’s contributions, which complement and deepen the Capabilities Approach by proposing a concrete list of universal human capabilities as a basis for assessing well-being and justice. Through this lens, students will critically evaluate the limitations of traditional development metrics and consider more inclusive approaches to assessing human progress.

This module focuses on the critical concepts of degrowth and green growth as responses to the limits of conventional economic development. It challenges the traditional emphasis on perpetual growth, exploring how sustainable well-being can be achieved through reduced consumption, environmental stewardship, and the promotion of social equity. It encourages students to critically examine how these paradigms reimagine the relationship between economy, environment, and society, particularly in the context of climate change and global inequality.

This module explores the depoliticization of development, drawing on James Ferguson’s critique of development interventions in Africa and John Harriss' work on the World Bank. It critically examines how development discourse often sidelines political factors, transforming complex socio-economic issues into technical problems that obscure underlying power relations and structural inequalities.

This module analyses the policies and practices of foreign aid, with a focus on the ethnography of aid and its real-world impacts. It deconstructs the dominant discourses, examining power dynamics, donor-recipient relationships, and the unintended consequences of aid in shaping global inequalities. By situating aid within broader political, historical, and institutional contexts, the module invites students to critically assess how aid functions not only as a tool for development but also as a mechanism of influence, control, and geopolitical strategy.

This module examines people's participation in development projects, focusing on the role of local knowledge, community involvement, and representation in shaping outcomes. It assesses how participatory practices are implemented in development projects, highlighting the power imbalances in incorporating people's voices and knowledge into decision-making processes. The module also interrogates the politics of participation, questioning who participates, on what terms, and to what effect, while exploring whether participatory approaches genuinely empower communities or risk reinforcing existing hierarchies under the guise of inclusion.