Politics & Contested Development: Africa (DEVT90049)

This subject introduces students to important debates on the role of formal and informal politics in development in Africa. The subject explores the contested processes of socio-economic and political-institutional change across a variety of contexts in sub-Saharan Africa, together with the underlying dynamics of identity formation and allegiance, state formation, power divides and conflict. The subject encourages students to think critically about the normative implications of different approaches to the politics of development, and the empirical challenges of working in what are, in development, highly politically charged environments. This subject examines key themes in the study of sub-Saharan African development, focusing on the political aspects of development, and applying theoretical and conceptual work in the field to the study of a range of particular development challenges facing the region. The course aims to provide students who have no prior study of Africa or African development with a foundation that can be used in further study. As such, the subject is selective in its choice of both general scholarly themes and empirical material.