Institut d'Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po)

This course covers the history, theories, institutions, and policies of economic development. It begins by considering development from classical Western perspectives (liberalism, neoliberalism, and the Washington Consensus), burgeoning Eastern perspectives (the “East Asian model,” the Beijing Consensus), as well as various heterodox traditions (postcolonialism, Marxism). The course then explores the doers of development in today's global economy and international system: the Bretton Woods and multilateral institutions, the private sector and private philanthropists, as well as individual countries such as the United States and China. Finally, the course dives deep into the particular problems and policies that define global development in low-income countries today: how they meet their domestic energy needs and attain a clean energy transition; how they meet their domestic food needs and maximize their agricultural export revenues; how they build the infrastructure they require for their rapidly growing populations and economies; and how they attract or create good jobs and high wages to ensure stable and equitable growth.

This course reflects on contemporary issues through the lens of the political history of the last century. Political history is a broad term and incorporates social, economic, and cultural actors. The 20th century is analyzed through three angles: wars and types of war; collective utopia and individual rights; and human security and insecurity. The course examines how a multi-pronged inquest into security and the defense of human rights forged our 21st century. 

This course examines how people mobilize certain values to think and act while at the same time disagreeing over their definition, ranking, and translation into norms that organize the legal, social, and political world. The course uses political theory to provide concepts, principles, categories, and arguments to navigate through these conflicting normative aspirations. The course addresses questions of how to be coherent while having different values, beliefs, and practices; where to bridge the gap between ideal political principle and current institutions; whether there are acceptable trade-offs between conflicting values or conflicting interpretations of values; and why and how some values are politicized and weaponized.