GY211 Half Unit
Introduction to Global Development
This information is for the 2025/26 session.
Course Convenor
Prof Claire Mercer
Availability
This course is compulsory on the BSc in Environment and Sustainable Development. This course is available on the BA in Geography, BSc in Accounting and Finance, BSc in Economic History and Geography, BSc in Environment and Sustainable Development with Economics, BSc in Environmental Policy with Economics, BSc in Geography with Economics, BSc in International Relations, Erasmus Reciprocal Programme of Study and Exchange Programme for Students from University of California, Berkeley. This course is freely available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. It does not require permission. This course is freely available to General Course students. It does not require permission.
This course is capped. Places will be assigned on a first come first served basis
Course content
An introduction to the key ideas, issues and actors in global development. Course content includes theories, histories and geographies of development, debt and structural adjustment, poverty, aid, civil society, diasporas.
Teaching
This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Winter Term.
In the Department of Geography and Environment, teaching will be delivered through a combination of classes/seminars, pre-recorded lectures, live online lectures and other supplementary interactive live activities.
Formative assessment
Students will produce one formative assignment.
Indicative reading
- Kothari, U (ed) (2005), A Radical History of Development Studies: Individuals, Institutions and Ideologies, Zed, London.
- Murrey, A. and P. Daley (2023) Learning disobedience: decolonizing development studies, Pluto Press,
- Power, M (2003), Rethinking Development Geographies, Routledge.
- Williams, G, P Meth, and K Willis (2009), Geographies of Developing Areas: The Global South in a Changing World, Routledge.
- Willis, K (2011), Theories and Practices of Development, Routledge, 2nd edition.
Assessment
Exam (100%), duration: 120 Minutes in the Spring exam period
Students will sit an exam (answer 2 questions from 5).
Key facts
Department: Geography and Environment
Course Study Period: Winter Term
Unit value: Half unit
FHEQ Level: Level 5
CEFR Level: Null
Keywords: global development, colonial history, aid, debt, civil society
Total students 2024/25: Unavailable
Average class size 2024/25: Unavailable
Capped 2024/25: NoCourse selection videos
Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.
Personal development skills
- Self-management
- Application of information skills
- Communication