Entry requirements

Development Studies second year level or equivalent education.

Learning outcomes

After completion of Development Studies C the students are expected to:

• have strengthened their knowledge of social science methods which they have gained from Development Studies B.
• to get a deepened knowledge within a specialised field in development studies
• independently formulate a researchable problem within development studies based on previous research and with the help of one or several methods answer the question in their own study and critically reflect on the results of the study

Content

The course has three sub-courses:

1. Methods, 7.5 ECTS

2. Elective course.5 ECTS

3. Thesis, 15 ECTS

1. Methods, 7.5 credits

Objectives

After completing the course the students are expected to possess:

• the ability to undertake basic empirical research using quantitative as well as qualitative techniques.
• satisfactory knowledge of both descriptive and causal analysis.
• satisfactory knowledge of the relative advantages and disadvantages of quantitative and qualitative techniques.
• satisfactory knowledge of the problems involved in establishing causal relationships.
• satisfactory skills in interpreting results from both quantitative and qualitative analyses.
• basic skills in computer-based statistical analysis.
• basic knowledge of statistical inference.
• basic knowledge of experimental design.

Content

The focus of this course is on various research methods used in social science. It explains basic methodological concepts and discusses the main steps of the research process. Students are introduced to quantitative as well as qualitative analysis techniques, albeit with a special emphasis on quantitative techniques. An important additional aim is to communicate an understanding of the relative strengths and weaknesses of quantitative versus qualitative techniques. The question of how to provide evidence for the existence of causal relationships in political science constitutes another central component of the course.

Teaching

Teaching takes the form of optional lectures and mandatory seminars. The lectures cover the central topics of the course. The seminars are the most important part of the course. Here the students are given the opportunity in smaller groups to practice their skills related to the different steps of the research process. The seminars are conducted in two different ways. In preparation of the majority of the seminars, a number of assignments with essay-like elements are completed. The students can write individually or in pairs and are required to hand in their solutions in connection to the seminar. These solutions are then extensively discussed during the subsequent seminar under the guidance of a seminar teacher, who also provides written feedback on each assignment. In parallel with the entirety of the course, the students will also conduct their own investigation, from data collection to analysis, which is presented at the last seminar.

Examination

The course ends with a written exam. The exam provides the basis for grading the students, but it also offers the students an opportunity to review the contents of the course and thus sustain and solidify the knowledge they have acquired during the course. In the exam, the students should demonstrate that they have the ability to understand, interpret and critically examine social science studies from a methodological perspective. Grades are awarded on a scale comprising the grades VG (pass with distinction), G (pass), and U (fail).

To reach the grade G (pass), students must:

• participate in all mandatory seminars as well as present serious attempts to solve all seminar assignments.
• obtain the grade G (pass) on the written exam.

2. Gender, Power and Institutions, 7.5 credits

The course is taught during the autumn semester

Content

The course addresses questions, both theoretically and empirically, of how gender inequality arises, is maintained and managed, within both formal institutions (e.g. parliaments, parties and organisations) and informal institutions (e.g. networks, norms and ideas). The course is grounded in the new institutionalist theories which have, in recent years, become very influential in the field of political science. In the theoretical part of the course, the students are introduced to basic concepts and theories about gender, power and institutions. The empirical parts of the course give students concrete examples of how these concepts and theories can be used to analyse politics and policy from a gender perspective. For instance, how different kinds of institution interact resulting in gendered consequences in political representation, public politics and policy will be discussed.

Learning outcomes

The course aims to furnish students with the knowledge of how to analyse political processes and policy from a gendered, new institutionalist perspective.

After completion of the course, the students are expected to:

• On the basis of theories introduced during the course, be able to account for and critically discuss the concepts of gender and power
• Be able to account for the difference between formal and informal institutions
• Be able to give examples of and describe empirical gender research within the field of new institutionalism
• Be able to analyse political phenomena from a gendered, new institutionalist perspective

Teaching

The teaching consists of lectures and seminars. The seminars are compulsory, and there is an assignment that has to be completed in advance of each seminar. The participants are also expected to undertake independent study of the course literature, preferably before the corresponding lectures, and certainly before the seminars. The total time of study should be around 40 hours per week. The course language is English.

Examination

Examination takes place continuously throughout the course, through written and oral assignments, as well as through active participation in the seminars. At the end of the course, the students write a final course paper which will be discussed during a seminar and examined by the teacher. The course paper must deal with issues addressed during the course. The following grades will be applied: pass with distinction (VG), pass (G) and fail (U).

In order to pass the following is required:

• The student has achieved the learning outcomes
• The student has participated in all compulsory elements of the course
• All the assignments have been completed and passed
• The course paper has been handed in before the deadline and passed

3. The Political System of the European Union, 7.5 credits

The course is taught during the autumn semester

Content

A majority of the states in Europe are today members of the European Union. This organisation has gradually acquired more competencies and influence. Basic knowledge of the EU is thus a prerequisite for understanding political life in contemporary Europe. The aim of the course is to provide a basic understanding of how the EU political system works, and how the Union affects its member states. The course covers three main themes: First, the EU is studied as a political system. The key institutions and decision-making processes at the EU level are presented. The students are introduced not only to the formal rules of the game, but also to the political practices developed over time. Second, the course examines the basic constitutional problems of the EU. How democratic and effective is the EU political system? How will the EU evolve as a result of the Lisbon treaty? What new demands are raised by the euro crisis? The third theme covers the processes of Europeanisation: if and how are the political systems at the national level affected by membership in the EU? Are processes of Europeanisation visible in the member states? How has EU-membership affected executives, parliaments and bureaucracies?

Aim

Having completed the course, students are expected to:

• possess basic knowledge of how the EU’s political system works
• possess good knowledge of the basic institutions of the EU
• possess good knowledge of the decision-making processes within the EU
• possess a basic understanding of the most important policy fields within the EU
• possess a basic understanding of the constitutional problems linked to the institutional set-up of the EU
• possess basic knowledge of processes of Europeanisation
• possess good knowledge of how parliaments, governments and administrations at the national level are affected by EU-membership

Teaching

The course is composed of a mixture of lectures and seminars. The lectures address the basic themes and issues. During the seminars students will get the opportunity to discuss questions linked to the basic themes.

The literature includes books, articles and working material.

The course is taught in Swedish

Examination

Examination is based upon participation in compulsory elements of the course and a written exam. The following grades will be applied: passed with distinction (VG), passed (G) and failed (U).

In order to pass the following is required:

(1) active participation during compulsory elements of the course (seminars);

(2) the grade ’passed’ on the written exam.

To pass the course with distinction the student is required to participate in compulsory elements of the course as well as receiving the grade ’passed with distinction’ on the written exam.

4. Organizing Power, 7.5 credits

The course is taught during the autumn semester

5. Development Theory and Colonial Legacies, 7.5 credits

The course is taught during the autumn semester

Objectives

After the course, the students are expected to be able to

• account for main trends in how perceptions of development have changed over time in colonial and post-colonial Africa, Latin America and South Asia since 1800
• account for examples of how colonial policies in Africa, Latin America and South Asia have been formed in relation to perceived insufficiencies obstructing development
• analyse how perceptions of similarity and difference between groups of people influence development policies
• account for examples of how perceptions of nationality, ethnicity, race and gender been integrated parts of development perceptions
• account for how development and underdevelopment theories been worked out in relation to colonial and post-colonial experiences in Africa, Latin America, South Asia and Europe.

Content of the course

The course contains an analysis of perceptions and theories of “development” and “progress” and how these perceptions have influenced the political, economic and social practices in South Asia, Africa and Latin America since about 1800. The course deals with changes in the perceptions of development caused by colonial and post-colonial experiences. Further, the course deals with perceptions of race and ethnicity, of sex/gender and of how social power was organised politically as integrated parts of perceptions of development. The course is given by teachers from different disciplines to illustrate different perspectives on issues of development in history.

Teaching

The instructions consist of lectures and seminars.

Examination

Examination is given through a written exam. One part of the exam might be examined by written assignments and active participation in seminars. In order to pass the course the students need to pass the written exam. Grades are awarded according the scale “failed”, "pass" or "pass with distinction".

Further instructions

Further instructions will be given at the start of the course.

6. International Politics, 7.5 credits

The course is taught during the autumn and spring semester

Course content

This course provides students with a deeper introduction to the conceptual and theoretical tools used in the study of international politics. The course also examines a number of enduring and contemporary topics in international relations, such as international cooperation, security issues, nuclear proliferation, arms control, environmental politics, foreign policy analysis, warning-response problems and humanitarian intervention. The course concludes with a role-playing game where students have the opportunity to apply the concepts they have learned by engaging in simulated international negotiations.

Goals

The overarching goal of this course is to impart how the fundamental concepts, theoretical approaches, and methods from International Relations and social science can be applied to make sense of and study world politics and global affairs. The course also aims to help students develop a set of general skills—the ability to think critically, analyse information, and express themselves orally and in writing—that will serve them well in their future educational and professional endeavours. Upon completion of this course students should be able to able to deploy key theoretical concepts from the main schools of thought in the field to analyse global issues and assess and evaluate various policy prescriptions designed to address transnational problems.

This class serves as the intermediate level course within the sub-discipline of International Politics. The completion of this course with a passing grade should serve as useful preparation for the MA course in International Politics course. The intent is also to provide a good foundation for students who want to pursue this topic in a C level essay.

Instruction

The instruction of this course is comprised of a combination of lectures and seminars. The course also includes a simulation (role-playing) exercise.

The literature includes books, articles and working material.

The language of instruction for this course is English.

Examination

• Mandatory attendance and active participation in the seminars and simulation exercise.
• Written assignments.
• Written Test (Final examination).

Examination is based upon participation in compulsory elements of the course and a written exam. The following grades will be applied: passed with distinction (VG), passed (G) and failed (U).

In order to pass the following is required:

(1) The completion of compulsory elements of the course (seminars, simulation, written assignments);

(2) A passing grade on the written exam.

To pass the course with distinction the student is required to participate in compulsory elements of the course as well as receiving a grade of ‘passed with distinction’ on the written exam.

7. Thesis, 15 credits

8. Comparative Politics, 7.5 credits

The course is taught during the spring semester

Course description

The course deals with some of the most central problems described in comparative politics. Why do some people decide to use a gun instead of the ballot when trying to influence politics? What explains differences in degrees of democratisation? Which role do domestic and international factors play in a process of development? What is the role of history – path dependence – for the success of democracy? Can different institutions help solve ethnic conflicts or create justice? These questions are discussed in the course literature, from historical and theoretical perspectives and with reference to empirical research from many parts of the world.

The language of instruction is English.

The goals of the course

The course aims at providing a good understanding of research in the field of comparative politics. It should provide good knowledge of important research contributions and research strategies that aim at, or are useful for, describing and explaining political and ethnic conflicts, socialisation, democratisation, development, in an extensive geographical comparative context, in developed as well as developing parts of the world. Also, the choice of literature and the cases selected to be studied have been made to give examples of different designs of research projects that should be useful for students preparing their C/D/master-level thesis project. In short, after the course, the students should:

• have a good idea of what comparative politics is
• understand when and why different groups enter into conflicts, and why they sometimes manage to establish peaceful coexistence, and even manage to build democratic regimes
• know the comparative politics discourse better
• be better prepared to write a thesis

Contents

Comparative politics is a strange name. It is strange because what you find under the label comparative politics – and its synonyms in other languages – often is not (explicitly) comparative. Most of the time it simply is “politics in other countries”; other, that is, than the home country of the author. The conventional distinction between comparative and international politics is that the former deals with politics in other countries, and the latter between countries; this is more easy to remember if one thinks of another common name for the latter – international relations. But clearly there are interesting questions to ask where this demarcation will not hold, not least in the post-11-September world.

If comparative politics is politics in other countries, then it is indeed a lot. Therefore we must make choices what to study. One option would be to attempt to see the world’s political systems as a number of fairly distinct categories, and to learn about these categories and their cases. This has been attempted by numerous authors. Another choice is to study a number of constitutional systems in the world. This course is built on another kind of logic. We have chosen to focus on some central research problems in comparative politics.

The overall problems concern democracy, conflicts, institutions (rules), justice and development. This is chosen because important parts of research in political science concern these issues, and secondly because these issues are important to many people in many countries; two overriding criteria for any research or teaching in social science. Within this theme the course focuses on these three issues:

- Ethnic conflicts and mobilisation

- Democratic consolidation and crises

- Historical and contemporary perspectives on multiculturalism

The choice of theme(s) and literature is a conscious attempt to bridge the unfortunate divide between studies of the West and “the rest”. The idea is that we can learn more about industrialised countries, former socialist countries and so-called low- or middle income countries not by separating them, but by studying them together.

Apart from the books required to be read, the course will make use of some academic articles. One purpose of using these articles is to give you an idea about current debates in international research. All articles will be available for free via the Uppsala University Library.

Within the allocated teaching resources there are a number of seminars you have to attend. We hope that all of you will take an active part in the discussions.

We have achieved our objective with this course if, in at the end of it, you think you have a better (or even much better) grasp of some substantial empirical, or political, problems in the contemporary world and some orientation in a few current debates in international research in general and comparative politics in particular.

Examination

Written exam. Seminars. Book report. Oral presentation.

Grading:

One grade for the whole course will be given according to the Swedish three-level system: Pass with distinction= Väl godkänd (Vg), Pass = Godkänd (G), and Fail = Underkänd (U). To pass, all requirements for the course have to be completed with at least the grade “Pass”.

9. Political Theory, 7.5 credits

The course is taught during the spring semester

Learning outcomes

Students are expected to learn the main theories in contemporary normative political philosophy, in particular theories of justice. They should be able to analyse them from a critical point of view and to formulate their own independent arguments for and against the theories studied. They should also be able to relate fundamental theories of justice to theories of international justice, to theories of gender equality and multiculturalism. Finally, the students are expected to apply abstract normative thinking to practical political problems.

After completing the course the students are expected to

• be informed about the modern scientific debate in normative political theory in general, and about the discussion on justice in particular.
• apply theories of justice to issues of international justice
• apply theories of justice to issues of gender equality and multiculturalism.
• independently identify and discuss political conflicts, related to different normative principles justice.
• be able to collect theoretical an empirical information in order to formulate normative arguments in questions related to justice - nationally as well as globally.
• be able to present their arguments in writing and orally, clearly and systematically.

Contents

This course consists of three parts. In the first part we focus on various liberal theories (Utilitarianism, Rawls’ and Nozick’s) and their critics - Marxism, Communitarianism and Feminism. The main book is Will Kymlicka’s Contemporary Political Philosophy.

The second part concerns theories of international justice and the problem of global warming. The main book here is Peter Singer’s One World – The Ethics of Globalisation. We also read an article by Simon Caney, where he gives a broad overview of different theories of international distributive justice, and an article by Thomas Nagel, where he defends a non-cosmopolitan conception of international justice.

The third part deals with theories of multiculturalism and feminism. Here we read chapter 8 and 9 in Kymlicka's book, but also parts of Rawls' Political Liberalism, and articles about the possible conflict between multiculturalism and feminism.

Teaching

The course is given both for Swedish students and exchange students. The lectures are given in English. The seminar discussions will be in Swedish and English.

Examination

The course ends with a written test. The exam is marked according to the Swedish standard (U-G-VG). Half of the maximum points are required to pass the test. The questions can be answered in English or in Swedish. Active participation in each of the seminars is also required. The students should prepare written answers to the seminar questions.

10. Swedish Politics, 7.5 credits

The course is taught during the spring semester

11. Environmental Politics and Its Challenges, 7.5 credits

The course is taught during the spring semester

Content

The course consists of three parts:

(1) Collective action problems and environmental challenges in developing and developed countries; (2) Energy and technology; (3) Regional and international efforts to address climate change.

Goals

The course has two overarching goals. The first is to deepen the students’ knowledge and understanding of the ‘collective action dilemma’ from a social science perspective. The second goal is to acquaint the students with two important, and interdependent, global problems: climate change and energy. As a corollary to these two goals the course will also analyse and discuss possible political solutions to the management of climate and energy issues (as well as dilemmas over natural resources more generally). To this end, the course will examine possible solutions at the local, regional, and international levels.

At the global and the regional level, emphasis will be placed on international cooperation on climate change and the European Union’s role in the struggle to combat climate change. At the local level, the course will focus on how energy and climate politics are played out in developing countries.

Upon the completion of this course the students are expected to thoroughly understand the interface between politics and the challenge of addressing environmental problems and managing limited natural resources. The intent is also to provide a good foundation for students who want to pursue this topic in a C level essay in Development studies or Political Science.

Teaching

The course is composed of a mixture of lectures and seminars. The lectures address the basic themes and issues. During the seminar students get the opportunity to discuss questions linked to the basic themes.

The literature includes books, articles and working material.

The course is taught in English

Examination

Examination is based upon participation in compulsory elements of the course and a written exam. The following grades will be applied: passed with distinction (VG), passed (G) and failed (U).

In order to pass the following is required:

(1) Active participation during compulsory elements of the course (seminars);

(2) A passing grade on the written exam.

To pass the course with distinction the student is required to participate in compulsory elements of the course as well as receiving a grade of ‘passed with distinction’ on the written exam.

Instruction

The instruction is done in the form of lectures and seminars of varying content and disposition.

Additional information regarding instruction and examination will be handed out before each sub-course.

Assessment

The students are examined by means of a written test, assignments, and active participation in seminars. The third part is examined by means of writing and defending a thesis, commenting on a thesis and active participation in thesis seminars.

Grades are awarded according the scale “failed”, "pass" or "pass with distinction".