2008/09 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

GEOG1290 Global Perspectives: Place, Politics and Development

10 creditsClass Size: 50

Module manager: Dr Nichola Wood
Email: n.x.wood@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable

Year running 2008/09

This module is mutually exclusive with

GEOG1200

Changing Worlds, Changing Places

This module is approved as an Elective

Module summary

In our everyday lives we are increasingly aware of the connections that link us to people, places and processes located elsewhere. But if we are truly to understand these specific connections we need to have some deeper appreciation of the wider political and economic systems into which they are embedded. This realisation forms the starting point for the module which explores contemporary politics and development from a geographical perspective. Particular attention is paid to debates about the meaning of development; global and local patterns of inequality; the relative merits of ambitious international planning and more localised systems of self-help as a means of relieving poverty; the (mal)distribution of power within international systems; and changing conceptions of the territorial scale at which key political decisions about development, the environment, and social justice are taken. The module is taught through lectures, supported by tutorials, and assessed by an unseen examination at the end of semester one.

Objectives

On completion of this module students who have engaged well with the syllabus should be able to:
1. demonstrate understanding of the socio-economic, cultural and political processes influencing geographical differentiation at scales from the local to the global;
2. display awareness of contrasting theoretical interpretations of contemporary political territoriality, socio-economic development, difference and inequality;
3. use academic, journalistic and electronic information sources to inform their critical analysis of pattern and process in the contemporary world

Skills outcomes
A Knowledge and Understanding
A4 Spatial patterns and relationships in human phenomena at a variety of scales
A5 The geography of places and their constitution by environmental, economic, social and political processes, and the influence of places on these processes
A6 The geographies of difference and inequality with particular reference to historical development, ethnicity, class, gender and the changing nature of urban and regional economies and policy
A7 Contemporary debates about time-space relationships, globalization and global interconnections
A10 The contribution of geography to development of environmental, political, economic and cultural agendas, policies and practices

B Cognitive skills
B1 Abstraction and synthesis of information from a variety of sources
B2 Assessment and critical evaluation of the merits of contrasting theories, explanations, policies
B3 Critical analysis and interpretation of data and text
B4 Developing reasoned arguments

D Key skills
D2 Communicate effectively (in writing, verbally and through graphical presentations)
D6 Work as part of a team and to recognise and respect the viewpoints of others
D7 Manage time and organise work effectively

Syllabus

A) Political Geography
1. What is political geography?
2. States, territories and territoriality
3. A geopolitical overview of the post-war world: the cold war
4. After the Cold-War (pre-9/11)
5. Video - People's century: 1997- fast forward
6. After the Cold-War (post 9/11)
7. The authority of the state: what states do and why it matters
8. Do states have a future? challenging the authority of the state
9. The tenacity of the state: the revival of nationalism

B) Development Geography
1. Conceptualising development
2. Theories and strategies of development
3. Exploring global geographies of development: Agents of development
4. Exploring global geographies of development: Spaces of development
5. Challenging development - the ideas of Robert Chambers and Arturo Escobar
6. Video - The new rulers of the world?
7. Dimensions of inequality: Globalisation and development
8. Dimensions of inequality: Gender and development
9. Post-development imaginings and resistance

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Lecture	20	1.00	20.00
Tutorial	2	1.00	2.00
Private study hours			78.00
Total Contact hours			22.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			100.00

Private study

45 hours reading to support lectures and tutorial work
33 hours reading and revision for exams

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Performance in tutorials and formative feedback on written work associated with the tutorials.

Methods of assessment

Exams

Exam type	Exam duration	% of formal assessment
Standard exam (closed essays, MCQs etc)	1 hr 30 mins	100.00
Total percentage (Assessment Exams)		100.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 28/04/2009

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