SUM3001 – Development and Environment: Theory and Policy Challenges

Course content

In this course we further important themes in the interface between development and environment. We explore important theories and dominating political praxis behind development, and how these mesh with the challenges of sustainable development. We give attention to the relationship between North and South and to the political and commerical sides of development. We explore the role of international development organisations, national governments, non-governmental organisations and multi-national corporations.

In addition to two introductory lectures, the course consists of four sections, each made up of three lectures and one seminar. Each section springs from ongoing research at SUM:

In the section Energy and Climate Change, we describe the driving forces behind human-made climatic change, and take up theoretical and policy approaches to reducing energy use and climate change emissions. We discuss energy production and consumption in the North and the South, and focus especially on the connections and challenges related to development, environment, energy and gender.

In the section Poverty and Development, we question the current status of the development agenda and examine why development has eluded large groups of poor. Further, we assess the different modes of development thinking and intervention that characterize the sensational and the invisble factors of poverty, respectively, in lectures that take up food security, malnutrition, and natural disasters.

In the section Forests and Climate, three lectures, by a political economist, an anthropologist and an ecologist will be concerned with REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries).

In the section Global Health, we consider the historical origins of international collaboration on health, and trace recent changes to the governance of the same. We review diverse frameworks for studying global health policy, and discuss key texts, in order to highlight the tensions between global health policies designed by international organisations and local social and cultural realities.

Learning outcome

Learning Outcomes
What can you expect to take from the course?

-To account for some of the main challenges of sustainable development, including poverty reduction, global distribution of wealth and resources, access to health, increasing consumption and the environmental impacts of development.
-To recognize and critically evaluate the central actors that participate in and influence the directions of global sustainability and development.
-To analyze global change in a perspective which includes power differentials between North and South, and between different social groups.
-To identify and discuss the challenges and dilemmas involved when the goal of sustainable development is to be realized in practice
-To write and present academic texts, discuss problems in class, and comment on the work of peers.

Admission

Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.

If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures.

Prerequisites

Formal prerequisite knowledge

Minimum requirement for admission is 90 credits.

Overlapping courses

This course from overlaps 10 ECTS with SUM4000. SUM4000 is an obligatory course for masterstudents at Culture, Environment and Sustainability.