• Identify, analyze and evaluate core concepts, theories, and issues in the political economy of development
• Use the concepts and theories of the political economy of development to identify, analyse, and evaluate key issues of economic and political development in developing countries and emerging economies.
• Identify, analyze and evaluate economic, political, institutional, and structural causes and consequences of development in a comparative perspective.
• Analyse empirical data and evidence concerning economic and political development using the concepts and theories introduced in the course.
• Make a clear, coherent, and well-reasoned analysis of issues in political and economic development based upon methods in the social sciences and a comprehensive understanding of the theories and approaches introduced in the course.

The course introduces students to theories and issues in the political economy of development. The course will interrogate the interplay between states and markets in driving economic (under)development, the politics of economic development, and the roles of various domestic and international actors, institutions, and structures in this process. The causes and consequences of poverty, inequality, and development will be approached from a comparative perspective using data and case illustrations from, e.g., Africa, Asia, and Latin America. In doing so, the course will address a number of salient issues in contemporary debates on economic and political development, such as the roles of international trade, foreign aid, corruption, and democratization in the developing world. 

In relation to Nordic Nine

Political Economy of Development (PED) introduces students to theories and issues allowing them to understand how the interplay between states, markets, and firms drive economic development, the politics of economic development, and causes and consequences of poverty and inequality on a domestic and global scale. PED directly provides student with a range of transformative values and capabilities relating to the Nordic Nine. PED works with student capabilities relating NN1 by interrogating how students can use and apply knowledge of businesses and understandings of how businesses use global connections to operate and create value in the context of local and global economic and political institutions (NN9). PED also directly relate to NN7 by considering how policy choices that affect current levels of prosperity may impact on the prosperity and life choices of next generations. For instance, how policies or decisions that have immediate benefits for some groups may negatively impact on the prosperity of next generations; or how the use of resources to generate prosperity in the present may affect issues of economic and environmental sustainability affecting future generations of citizens around the globe.

NN1: You have deep knowledge placed in a broad context.

NN7: You produce prosperity and protect the prosperity of next generations.

NN9: You create value from global connections for local communities.

The course relates closely to Nordic Nine #1 (business knowledge in context) and Nordic Nine #7 (producing prosperity and protecting the prosperity of next generations).