IR480 Half Unit
The Politics of Inequality and Development
This information is for the 2025/26 session.
Course Convenor
Rehan Jamil
Availability
This course is available on the MSc in International Affairs (LSE and Peking University), MSc in International Political Economy, MSc in International Political Economy (LSE and Sciences Po), MSc in International Political Economy (Research), MSc in Political Science (Global Politics) and MSc in Theory and History of International Relations. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process.
All International Relations (IR4) optional courses at LSE are Controlled Access and require an application via LfY. Students must include a statement in their LfY application of no more than 200 words explaining their interest in the course and its relevance to their academic and career goals.
Application deadline: 12:00 noon, Friday 26 September 2025.
Notification of outcome: by 12:00 noon, Monday 29 September 2025.
After this date, students should consult the MSc Course Availability Spreadsheet for remaining spaces on IR4-level courses.
For further details, see the LSE Selecting Courses webpage in the first instance or contact IR.Programmes@lse.ac.uk only if necessary.
All students are required to obtain permission from the Teacher Responsible by completing the online application form linked to course selection on LSE for You. Admission is not guaranteed.
This course has a limited number of places (it is controlled access) and demand is typically high.
Course content
This course examines the interaction between markets and states to understand the causes and consequences of development and economic inequality in the developing world and beyond. We will explore these topics in light of contemporary theoretical, substantive, and methodological debates within the fields of international and comparative political economy.
The course will examine the various forces that affect development, as well as exploring economic inequality as a consequence of economic development (or lack thereof). Forces we consider include the state, political institutions, socio-economic actors’ preferences and power, and social structure. We will further interrogate the political and economic foundations of inequality, its political implications, and, finally, the main policy tools available to curb economic inequality in the developing world and beyond.
Teaching
15 hours of seminars and 10 hours of lectures in the Autumn Term.
This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn Term.
Formative assessment
Students will be expected to produce 2 pieces of coursework in the WT.
The 2 pieces of coursework will be reading response memos.
Indicative reading
Piketty, T. (2020). Capital and ideology .Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Rostow, W. W. (1971). The five stages of growth—A summary. In The stages of economic growth: A non-communist manifesto (pp. 4–16). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press
Milanovic, Branko (2016). Global Inequality: A New Approach for the Age of Globalization. Harvard University Press.
Atkinson, Anthony (2015). Inequality: What Can be Done? Harvard University Press.
Gerschenkron, Alexander (1962). Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective. Harvard University Press.
Evans, Peter (1995). Embedded Autonomy: States and Industrial Transformation. Princeton University Press.
Assessment
Presentation (10%)
Essay (90%)
The essay is a take-home assessment.
Key facts
Department: International Relations
Course Study Period: Autumn Term
Unit value: Half unit
FHEQ Level: Level 7
CEFR Level: Null
Total students 2024/25: 58
Average class size 2024/25: 15
Controlled access 2024/25: YesCourse 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
- Leadership
- Self-management
- Team working
- Problem solving
- Application of information skills
- Communication
- Application of numeracy skills
- Specialist skills