Democracy and Development

Semester 1 will address the question of how political institutions affect economic development. We will examine three core sets of institutions - state, nation, and regime ? examining their character and development in both historical and contemporary perspective. We will look at how democratic nation states emerged in the West, comparing this to the experiences of contemporary developing countries. We will consider the major theories on how these institutions impact on development and what empirical evidence we have about this relationship. The course will also consider how a new set of actors ? international donors and financial institutions like the World Bank ? are impacting on politics in the developing world.

Semester 2 will explore the issues raised in the first semester in the specific context of contemporary African politics. We will examine the challenges of state-formation in an African context and the consequences of state weakness for development; the role that ethnic politics and conflict have played in undermining these nations; the authoritarian experiences of post-colonial African states and the recent moves towards democracy. Overall, this part of the course will anchor the broader theories about the relationship between institutions and development in the particular context of Africa and illuminate the development challenges many countries are facing today.