Joint programme with the School of Politics

Programme Convenors: Professor Adrian Smith (Geography) and Dr Clive Gabay (Politics and International Relations)

About the programme
The programme will introduce students to the theory, practice and relationship between globalisation and development. Through its compulsory and core modules students will explore different approaches to understanding globalisation, and specifically where the questions of North-South issues of development both influence and problematise these approaches. This will be done through extensive examination of a number of themes and issues in the core modules, including theories of globalisation, development theory, the shift from Bretton Woods to neoliberalism, international capital flows and global commodity chains, the geographies of poverty, inequality and spaces of uneven development, US hegemony and the role of China, the global economic crisis, democratisation, migration, political transition, spaces of resistance and global uneven development.

The Programme comprises 180 credits from the following:

Compulsory modules 
Understanding Globalisation and Development (GEG7119) (30 credits)
The aim of this module is to develop advanced and critical understandings of geographies of globalisation and development and to engage with questions of power and resistance. In addition, the module provides an advanced theoretical grounding in the core aspects of globalisation as a process. These include a consideration of the history of globalisation and capitalism, geographies of protest and changing theorisations of development.  The economic, social and political dimensions of globalisation are then explored through an analysis of topics such as the geographies of transmigration, identities and consumption, post-socialism, and global regulatory frameworks. Within each the focus is primarily theoretical; however there is scope for students to explore specific avenues of interest within these subject areas.

Globalisation and the International Political Economy of Development (POLM026) (30 credits)
The module provides you with a detailed examination – and critique – of theories of globalisation and assessment of contemporary globalising processes, and how these particularly influence the developing world. It examines these influences through detailed analysis of contemporary manifestations of ‘globalisation’, including neo-liberalism, US hegemony and contemporary imperialism, capital flows, global commodity chains, state-market relations, patterns of global inequality, international institutions, and questions of cultural homogenisation/imperialism. The module also examines the ways in which ‘globalisation’ is resisted, focusing on the rise of transnational social movements and NGOs, and the politics of ‘anti-globalisation’, and how this relates to an ostensibly ‘post-development’ era. In addressing these issues, the module concludes by asking the most important question: how do we think of ‘development’ in an era of ‘globalisation’, US hegemony, neo-liberalism and imperialism?

Researching Globalisation and Development (GEG7124)
This module provides research training related to globalisation and development and covers key approaches to research in this area; research and transferable skills; and qualitative and quantitative, methodological and presentation techniques. This module will equip you with the skills necessary to design and implement an extended piece of primary research.

Core modules
Dissertation module (GEG7107) (60 credits)

Optional modules
Semester 2
GEG7110 Globalisation and Development in Practice (30 credits)
POLM049 Global Politics of Health (30 credits)
The inter-connectedness of people and the growth of inequality from economic globalisation have led to new and complex health issues that threaten human and financial security. This module looks at conceptual and empirical understandings of global health and its increased importance to international politics. You will study the complexity of health issues such as HIV/AIDS, tobacco, and obesity and how they have generated a particular form of international relations between states, international organisations, non-governmental actors, private philanthropists and the body. The module will draw on questions of liberty, justice, and equality in how we think about health politics, how the United Nations aim of health for all can be realised, and what it really means.
POLM046 Sub-Saharan Africa: States and Societies (30 credits)
The module seeks to take advantage of increasingly innovative research agendas which are developing around African politics. Whilst conflict and suffering dominates popular conceptions of African states and societies, researchers have been noting the increasingly important role being played by African actors in international relations, most recently in hosting and driving the Durban climate change agreement. At the same time, Africa has consistently been ignored by the academic discipline of international relations. Many of the major theoretical traditions treat Africa as either irrelevant to great power politics, or as simply an effect of great power or class domination. This module aims to introduce students to Africa-centric perspectives which challenges traditional international relations and seeks to locate Africa's fate not merely in processes of imperial domination but also in African social and class configurations themselves. This is a distinct approach which centres the teaching of Africa on the continent itself, rather than exclusively on what other actors in international relations are doing to it.
POLM043 International Relations of the Middle East (30 credits)
This module will use the analytical tools of International Relations to study the Middle East. It will do this by examining the interaction of the post-colonial states that make up the region with the trans-national forces of Islam and Arab nationalism on one hand and European and American interventions on the other. The result of these interactions is a series of fierce but weak Middle Eastern states, vulnerable to both the international system and their own populations.

See also the School of Politics website for further details of modules: http://www.politics.qmul.ac.uk/postgraduate/postgraduatemodules/index.html

Programme Team
Dr Kavita Datta, Dr Al James, Professor Cathy McIlwaine, Dr Bronwyn Parry, Professor Adrian Smith, Dr Lee Jones, Dr Richard Saull, Dr Adam Fagan, Dr Bryan Mabee, Dr Clive Gabay, Dr Robbie Shlliam

Module Assessment
The MA in Globalisation and Development is assessed through the following:

Compulsory modules:
GEG7119 Understanding Globalisation and Development – one 1,500 word coursework essay and one 3,500 word coursework essay.
POLM026 Globalisation and the International Political Economy of Development – two 3,000 word essays.
GEG7107 Dissertation – 15,000 word dissertation.
GEG7124 Research Globalisation and Development – three 2,500 word essays

Optional modules:
GEG7110 Globalisation and Development in Practice (30 credits) – two 2500 word reports
POLM049 Global Politics of Health (30 credits)
POLM046 Sub-Saharan Africa: States and Societies (30 credits)
POLM043 International Relations of the Middle East (30 credits)