Development, Culture and Conflict (DEVT50001)

The end of the Cold War and the announcement of the "New World Order" created a rapidly transforming terrain for the practice of development, humanitarian intervention and aid. Cultural, ethnic and religious conflict is a feature of many of the situations in which development agencies and workers find themselves. Complex emergencies characterized by extensive violence, displacements of people and the need for multi-faceted humanitarian intervention have become increasingly numerous and intractable. This subject examines the new context for development in the light of debates about the "clash of civilizations", the end of history, the failure of secularism, the "coming anarchy" and the rising prominence of fundamentalisms. The relationship between culture and development will also be explored in some depth. Case studies and illustrative material from Africa, the Middle East, South Asia and other regions will be an important component of the subject.