Uppsala University

The course has three themes: introduction to the development discourse; aid and conditionality; and development in practice. In the first theme the book DEVELOPMENT AS FREEDOM by Amartya Sen and several articles introduce students to some of the most important problems and discussions about development. The relationship between development and democracy is studied. In theme two, development and democracy are analyzed in connection with aid based on William Easterly's book THE WHITE MAN'S BURDEN and a number of articles. Within this theme there is a focus on aid policies, and the creation of democracy in development states and specifically on democracy in Africa. The last theme is development in practice; a section planned to study development through specific regional cases that allow us to understand some of the problems and possibilities it faces. It includes specific initiatives aimed to deal with the most pressing problems in the field while discussing the ways in which such challenges and programs can be further analyzed and theorized. The course consists of three themes that are derived from three connected dimensions of the relations between the exercise of state power and various identities and forms of organization in society in different regions in the global south: i) development, ii) democracy, iii) political identities. The first course theme addresses different perspectives on economic and social development and underdevelopment, with special attention paid to the role of the state in shaping these processes. The second theme discusses forms of political rule and introduces different explanations of democracy and authoritarian rule. The theme also discusses theories of how these forms of political rule are related to levels of development. The third theme discusses how different political identities are connected to the organization of political institutions. This theme pays special attention to the question of how national identities are linked to other political identities based on gender, class, ethnicity and religion, how identities affect and are affected by the organization of state institutions, and how this in turn is linked to issues of conflict and stability.

The course focuses on the development of the American mass media and how different media, mainly television, convey knowledge about politics and social issues in the USA. The course illuminates media developments from a historical perspective and takes up the question of how various media, primarily television, convey knowledge about politics and social issues in today's US.

This course covers Swedish audiovisual culture from the early sixteenth century and onwards. Themes centering around national identity, ethnicity, gender, and class are covered. Emphasis is put on discussing issues related to audiovisual movements, styles, and individual artists. This course is a module within the SWEDISH CULTURE course.

This course current problems in present-day US politics, such as the declining importance of parties, voter turnout, financing election campaigns, relations between the president and Congress, the power of the courts, and current US foreign policy.

The course has three themes. The first theme introduces central debates about the contested concept "development" - what it is and what it should be. It presents dominant development theories and critique against these as well as a historical overview of how development theory and practice have changed over time. The second theme focuses on political development and it introduces basic democracy theory. The question on whether democracy can and should be introduced from outside/above is discussed. Apart from illustrating theoretical debates, the development of policy and international development cooperation within the field of democracy is discussed as well as the role of democracy in development cooperation. The third theme addresses the issue of aid and how theory/research and practice/aid affect each other. An historical overview of aid and development cooperation is presented to illustrate changes over time. The theme introduces central concepts that explain how development cooperation is organized. The present focus on sustainable development and measurable goals is given particular attention, including a discussion of the sustainable development goals.