Topic: political economy of development

Order Description
Compare and contrast the function and relative importance attached to growth and equality in the different theoretical perspectives about development that have evolved since1945.
Recommended reading for this essay

See lectures 7, 8 and 9,

Marks for this essay are also awarded for your having searched and found additional relevant literature but you must ensure that you do all the recommended reading.

Try searching around the following

Growth and equity in Developing Countries
Growth and inequality trade off
Growth and inequality in Developing Countries etc;

Specific Advice for this essay
This essay is a literature review whereby you are surveying the evolution of development thinking since 1945 and in particular the different approaches taken to the meaning of development. You are asked to identify the key ideas and their implications for overall policy design and to compare and contrast the competing perspectives that have been taken.
• What have been the main schools of thought that have emerged in the last 70 years and what have been the main concerns of each one?
You need to show that you are aware of the different schools of thought in development (classical/neo-classical, structuralist/institutionalist. Dependency and Post-Structuralist and what have been their main concerns relating to growth and equity?

• Who have been the key thinkers and what have been the key theories that have emerged?

The vital thing in the essay is that you are able to identify the key ideas from each of the schools of thought using the reading that is outlined in both the module handbook and also which is in the reading folder in MyBeckett

• What have been the main areas of disagreement that have emerged in particular relation to the relative importance of a development strategy grounded in growth or equity?

You need to critically compare the competing views about the end goals of development policy in relation to growth and equity. What are the key differences between all the writers that you have been asked to read and between the competing perspectives in general/

• To what extent are you able to identify any areas of common ground?

Here you are invited to evaluate the extent to which there may be an emerging new consensus about the relationship between growth and equity but to do this you will need to find some up to date material from the major development organisations such as the World Bank and IMF. To what extent did the adoption of the MDGs and the new Sustainable Development Goals represent a new consesnsus?
Focus

Hopefully you will do a lot of reading for this question and you can list this in a bibliography at the end (this can be excluded from your 1500 word limit for the review).!

For this literature review you will need to show the depth and breadth of reading that you did in order to allow you to be in a position to offer a balanced answer to the essay question. It is important that the reading covers all the competing views that relate to the chosen topic.

You need to justify your choice of reading by stating what it was you were researching into and what questions you were looking to answer and how you feel your chosen sources enabled you to do this. You will read widely for this review you and select sources that you have read which you feel were the most useful in helping you to formulate your views and which would help the reader of your review gain a good general grasp of the competing perspectives in the political economy of development

Structure

The review should have a structured argument which answers the question set. In your introduction you should clearly state what you are going to argue and how you will substantiate this. You should refer to theories and concepts that you will employ and indicate how you are going to arrive at your conclusion. The main section of your essay will logically develop this argument and you will show how you deal with alternative explanations. You final conclusion should follow logically from your main section. It should not introduce new material.

Critical Analysis and evaluation

You will critically engage with the reading by clearly explaining the competing views that you encounter in the reading but you will also critically assess why you think that the chosen sources are important
Clarity and conciseness

You will effectively summarise in a concise and clear way the main points that the readings are making. What we are looking for here is your ability to “translate” into clear concise English the academic literature that you have read so that the general reader would be able to understand the arguments that you have explored.

Academic Standards

Under no circumstances must you plagiarise someone else’s work. If you use other sources you must reference them using the Harvard Method. The best way to steer clear of plagiarism is to read as widely as possible, reference accordingly and attempt to develop your own analysis and argument based on what you have read.
You must include in your bibliography only sources cited in the text and all sources cited in the text. Be accurate in your referencing. If you are quoting a source from second hand then you must write the source of where the second hand source was quoted.

The following show you the criteria applied when assessing your overall mark

FIRST
(80-100%)
Outstanding performance: The essay will be written to a very high academic standard and will clearly achieve ALL the marking criteria above. There will be an excellent grasp of theoretical and conceptual elements and there will be clear integration of theory and information in pursuit of objectives.

(70 – 80%)

Excellent performance: The essay will be written to a high level of academic standard and will achieve most of the marking criteria above. There will be an excellent grasp of theoretical and conceptual/practical elements and a good integration of theory and information in pursuit of objectives.

SECOND CLASS – FIRST DIVISION (60 – 69%)

There will be a very good performance. The essay will be written to a very good level although the quality of expression might lack a convincing translation of theory and concepts. Most of the marking criteria above will be accurately deployed although there may be some gaps in terms of structure. There will be a good grasp of the theoretical and conceptual elements and good integration of theory and information in pursuit of objectives.
SECOND CLASS – SECOND DIVISION (50 – 59%)

There will be a good performance especially in relation to showing coverage of most of the key relevant theory and concepts. While it is expected that most of the marking criteria are accurately deployed there may be a lack of focus, structure and critical evaluation and the quality of expression and breadth of reading might be a little limited. There will be an adequate grasp of the theoretical and conceptual elements and a fair integration of theory and information in pursuit of objectives.

THIRD CLASS (40 – 49%)

There will be a satisfactory performance. The essay will show evidence of having identified some of the key relevant and concepts. There will be problems with focus and structure and the essay will be descriptive and not critical and there will be problems for the reader in being able to confidently understand some elements of the essay. There may well be some omissions or inaccuracies and only limited integration of theory and information in pursuit of objectives.

FAIL (39% OR BELOW)

There will be an unsatisfactory performance. There will major deficiencies in relation to most of the marking criteria. There will be an inadequate grasp of theoretical and conceptual and elements and little or no integration of theory and information in pursuit of objectives.

The guidelines for the submission of the assignments are as follows.
? The essay should be word processed. It should not exceed 1500 words in length.
? The essay should be properly referenced throughout. It should include a bibliography, and where appropriate endnotes.
? Please ensure your essay has no appendices.
? Ensure the essay includes a word count on the first page – this figure does not include tables, endnotes or the bibliography;
? The essay should be produced with a typeface of Arial font size 14. Please use the same typeface throughout.
? The essay should be set out double-spaced (including bibliography and endnotes).
? All text should be ranged left and unjustified.
? The essay should include the following statement of authenticity.

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