Development Studies refers to a broad range of courses that address the planning, implementation and consequences of social, political and economic change. Development as an aspect of state policy, and specifically as an integral part of relations between states of the industrialised 'West' and 'developing countries', gained prominence after the Second World War with the establishment of the IMF/World Bank and other development banks and aid agencies, such as USAID and the Australian Development Assistance Bureau. Since then agencies and government officials, practitioners and intellectuals have debated the rights and wrongs of development and the merits of particular approaches to development. These have crystallised in various 'theories' or approaches to development, ranging from modernisation, dependency and world system theories (from the 60s and 70s), approaches that emphasize empowerment and popular participation through the 90s and 2000s, as well as critical analysis that either questions the very premise of development, or research that insists on the importance of examining the constellations of social and institutional actors who (re)produce, moblise, and contest development aid. Development Studies examines the impact of globalisation on peoples in a range of geographical contexts, and reviews notions of economic viability, democracy, governance, human rights or environmental sustainability as they apply to such culturally divergent entities. Development studies is suitable for students who either wishes to pursue careers in development aid or who are intellectually curious in processes of social, political, cultural and economic change.
Learning Outcomes
understand the different perspectives and theories of development and change in the modern era;
apply these perspectives and theories to the practical issues of delivering development programs;
analyse the competing interests, motivations and discourse of key stakeholders and interest groups; and
devise and conduct research and write critically about these issues.
Relevant Degrees
Requirements
This major requires the completion of 48 units, which must include:
12 units from the completion of the following courses:
ANTH1002 Culture and Human Diversity: Introducing Anthropology (6 units)
ANTH1003 Global Citizen: Culture, Development and Inequality (6 units)
POLS1005 Introduction to International Relations: Foundations and Concepts (6 units)
POLS1006 Introduction to International Relations: Contemporary Global Issues (6 units)
SOCY1002 Self and Society (6 units)
SOCY1004 Analysing the Social World: Work, Care and Identity (6 units)
ENVS1008 Sustainable Development (6 units)
HIST1210 Environment and History from 1945 (6 units)
18 units from the completion of the following courses:
ANTH2009 Culture and Development (6 units)
POLS2011 Development and Change (6 units)
SOCY2030 Social Inequalities and Development (6 units)
A maximum of 12 units from the completion of the following list:
ANTH2017 Culture, Social Justice and Aboriginal Society Today (6 units)
ANTH2026 Medicine, Healing and the Body (6 units)
ANTH2129 Crossing Borders: Migration, Identity and Livelihood (6 units)
ANTH2134 States and Citizens: Anthropological Perspectives (6 units)
ASIA2067 Asian Economies (6 units)
ASIA2516 Indonesia: Politics, Society and Development (6 units)
ECON2900 Development Poverty and Famine (6 units)
ENVS2005 Island Sustainable Development: Fiji Field School (6-12 units)
ENVS2023 Sustainable Agricultural Systems (6 units)
ENVS2025 Indigenous Cultural and Natural Resource Management (6 units)
INTR2047 Human Security: Conflict, Displacement and Peace Building (6 units)
MEAS2105 The Political Economy of the Middle East (6 units)
PASI3013 Environment and Development in the Pacific (6 units)
POLS2055 Pacific Politics (6 units)
POLS2094 Issues in International Political Economy (6 units)
POLS2095 Politics in Latin America (6 units)
POLS2101 Refugee Politics: Displacement and Exclusion in the 20th and 21st Centuries (6 units)
POLS2113 Human Rights (6 units)
SOCY2022 Environmental Sociology (6 units)
SOCY2162 Sociology of Health and Illness (6 units)
ENVS2005 Island Sustainable Development: Fiji Field School (6 units)
A minimum of 6 units must come from completion of courses from the following list:
ANIP3003 Australian National Internships Program A (6 units)
ANIP3005 Australian National Internships Program B (12 units)
ANTH3017 Indigenous Worlds: Challenges of Emergence, Recognition, and Change (6 units)
ENVS3007 Participatory Resource Management: Working with Communities and Stakeholders (6 units)
ENVS3033 International Environmental Policy (6 units)
INDG3001 First Nations Peoples, the State and Public Policy in Australia (6 units)
PASI3001 Politics and Development in the Contemporary Pacific (6 units)
PASI3005 Pacific Islands Field School (6 units)
PASI3013 Environment and Development in the Pacific (6 units)
POLS3070 Politics in Central Asia (6 units)
ENGN3013 Engineering for a Humanitarian Context (6 units)
Back to the top
