Lead Faculty of the Collaborative Specialization

University of Toronto Scarborough

Participating Degree Programs

Anthropology — MA, MSc
Environmental Science — MEnvSc
Geography — MA
Political Science — MA
Public Health Sciences — MPH (field in Social and Behavioural Health Sciences)
Social Justice Education — MA, MEd
Sociology — MA
Women and Gender Studies — MA

Supporting Unit

Department of Global Development Studies

Overview

The Collaborative Specialization in Development Policy and Power is designed to provide master's students with a critical and historicized understanding of the nature of some of the main policy debates within the field of international development. These include: power dynamics and their shifts over time within particular development policy domains at the global, national, and local levels of analysis; the role of the power struggles around development policy making in the processes of program design and implementation; and the ways in which these power struggles shape the institutionalization of policies that are (or are not) equitable and social justice oriented.

In addition to examining contestations around the development field’s major historical and theoretical threads, students will be immersed in thematic discussions around development policy fields such as: trade, financialization, and (illicit) financial flows; food, agriculture, and land struggles; political ecology and extractivism; the politics of sustainability and environmental survival; inclusive social policies; health governance and health inequities; displacement, immigration, and citizenship; foreign aid and South-South cooperation; Indigenous resistance and popular mobilization against racism, patriarchy, and class oppression; political economy of knowledge production; commodity booms, poverty reduction, and the exercise of state power; neoliberal globalization and corporate power; and associated resistance and popular mobilization, writ large.

The graduate programs listed above participate in the Collaborative Specialization in Development Policy and Power at the University of Toronto. The collaborating graduate units contribute courses and provide facilities, support, and supervision for master's-level research and practicum placements.

Upon successful completion of the master's degree requirements of the participating home graduate unit and the collaborative specialization, students will receive the notation “Completed Collaborative Specialization in Development Policy and Power” on their transcript.

Contact and Address

Department of Global Development Studies: www.utsc.utoronto.ca/dgds/
Development Policy and Power: ccdscsutoronto.wixsite.com/ccds
Email: gds-cs-ma@utsc.utoronto.ca
Telephone: (416) 287-71113

Collaborative Specialization in Development Policy and Power
Department of Global Development Studies
University of Toronto Scarborough
1265 Military Trail
Toronto, Ontario M1C 1A4
Canada

Admission Requirements

Applicants must:

• Meet the admission requirements of both the home graduate unit and the collaborative specialization.

• Be enrolled in, or applying to, a participating master's degree program.

• Submit a copy of their CV/resumé.

• Submit a one-page essay describing why and how their interests coincide with the Collaborative Specialization in Development Policy and Power.

Optional Preparation

• The Department of Global Development Studies will provide students interested in the collaborative specialization with a Summer Reading list of key background readings. Students with no critical development studies exposure through their undergraduate studies, a placement or internship, or relevant work experience are strongly encouraged to review the material identified in the list. Students with a critical development background are encouraged to review texts to which they have not been exposed.

Specialization Requirements

MA and MSc in Anthropology;
MA in Geography;
MA in Political Science (Fields: Political Economy of International Development; Political Science);
Master of Public Health (Field: Social and Behavioural Health Sciences);
Social Justice Education (MA; MEd Coursework Plus Major Research Paper Option; MEd Coursework Plus Thesis Option);
MA in Sociology (Research Paper Option);
MA in Women and Gender Studies

• Students must meet all the respective degree requirements of the School of Graduate Studies and the participating graduate unit.

• Students must meet the requirements of the collaborative specialization as follows:

  • IDS1000H (0.5 full-course equivalent [FCE]): a core course meeting every other week throughout the academic year involving a mix of classes covering a substantive theme.

  • Participate regularly and actively in the Development Policy and Power Seminar Series SRM3333H.

  • The major research paper, thesis, or practicum placement in the participating degree program will be on a topic in critical development studies, approved by the collaborative specialization committee.

• Collaborative specialization courses may be taken as electives for the purpose of satisfying home program requirements.

Specialization Requirements

MEd in Social Justice Education (Coursework Only Option)

• Students must meet all the respective degree requirements of the School of Graduate Studies and the participating graduate unit.

• Students must meet the requirements of the collaborative specialization as follows:

  • IDS1000H (0.5 full-course equivalent [FCE]): a core course meeting every other week throughout the academic year involving a mix of classes covering a substantive theme.

  • Participate regularly and actively in the Development Policy and Power Seminar Series SRM3333H.

  • 1.0 elective FCE related to development policy and power.

• Collaborative specialization courses may be taken as electives for the purpose of satisfying home program requirements.

Specialization Requirements

MA in Sociology (Coursework Only Option)

• Students must meet all the respective degree requirements of the School of Graduate Studies and the participating graduate unit.

• Students must meet the requirements of the collaborative specialization as follows:

  • IDS1000H (0.5 full-course equivalent [FCE]): a core course meeting every other week throughout the academic year involving a mix of classes covering a substantive theme.

  • Participate regularly and actively in the Development Policy and Power Seminar Series SRM3333H.

  • 0.5 elective FCE related to development policy and power.

• Collaborative specialization courses may be taken as electives for the purpose of satisfying home program requirements.

Specialization Requirements

Master of Environmental Science (Research Paper Option)

• Students must meet all the respective degree requirements of the School of Graduate Studies and the participating graduate unit.

• Students must meet the requirements of the collaborative specialization as follows:

  • IDS1000H (0.5 full-course equivalent [FCE]): a core course meeting every other week throughout the academic year involving a mix of classes covering a substantive theme. This course must be taken in addition to the 5.5 FCEs required for the MEnvSc program.

  • Participate regularly and actively in the Development Policy and Power Seminar Series SRM3333H.

  • The major research paper in the participating degree program will be on a topic in critical development studies, approved by the collaborative specialization committee.

• Collaborative specialization courses may be taken as electives for the purpose of satisfying home program requirements.

Specialization Requirements

Master of Environmental Science (Internship Option)

• Students must meet all the respective degree requirements of the School of Graduate Studies and the participating graduate unit.

• Students must meet the requirements of the collaborative specialization as follows:

  • IDS1000H (0.5 full-course equivalent [FCE]): a core course meeting every other week throughout the academic year involving a mix of classes covering a substantive theme. This course must be taken in addition to the 5.5 FCEs required for the MEnvSc program.

  • Participate regularly and actively in the Development Policy and Power Seminar Series SRM3333H.

  • 1.5 elective FCEs from the following: EES1122H, EES1134H, EES1135H, EES3002H.

• Collaborative specialization courses may be taken as electives for the purpose of satisfying home program requirements.

Core Courses

Elective Courses by Graduate Unit

These courses may have prerequisites and enrolment limits and may not be offered every year. Students may take courses not listed here with approval of the collaboration specialization director.

Anthropology

Comparative, International and Development Education

Curriculum, Teaching and Learning

Geography and Planning

Physical and Environmental Sciences

Political Science

Public Health Sciences

Social Justice Education

Sociology

Women and Gender Studies