Development Policy and Power

Development Policy and Power: Introduction

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

Development Policy and Power: Master's Level

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.

Development Policy and Power: Courses

Core Courses

Course Code Course Title
IDS1000H
Development Policy and Power
SRM3333H
Master's Seminar Series

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

Course Code Course Title
ANT6019H
Anthropology of Neoliberalism
ANT7002H
Medical Anthropology II

Comparative, International and Development Education

Course Code Course Title
CIE1001H
Introduction to Comparative, International, and Development Education
CIE1006H
Transnational Perspectives on Democracy, Human Rights, and Democratic Education in an Era of Globalization

Curriculum, Teaching and Learning

Course Code Course Title
CTL1060H
Education and Social Development

Geography and Planning

Course Code Course Title
GGR1807H
Special Topics: Geographies of Postcoloniality and Development: Exploring the 'Infrastructure Turn'
JPG1426H
Natural Resources, Difference, and Conflict
JPG1429H
Political Ecology of Food and Agriculture
JPG1502H
Global Urbanism and Cities of the Global South
JPG1520H
Contested Geographies of Class-Race Formation
JPG1706H
Violence and Security

Physical and Environmental Sciences

Course Code Course Title
EES1122H
Global Environmental Security and Sustainable Development
EES1134H
Climate Change Policy
EES1135H
Environmental Change and Human Health
EES3002H
Conservation Policy

Political Science

Course Code Course Title
POL2205H
Topics in International Politics I
POL2212H
Human Rights, Politics, and International Relations
POL2226H
Ethics and International Relations
POL2322H
Topics in Comparative Politics II
POL2345H
Politics of Growth in Developing Countries
POL2361H
Globalization and Indigenous Politics
POL2391H
Topics in International Politics III
POL2392H
Topics in International Politics IV
POL2405H
Topics in Latin American Politics
POL2408H
Political Economy of International Development
POL2418H Topics in Middle East Politics

Public Health Sciences

Course Code Course Title
CHL5113H
Global Migration and Health
CHL5702H
History of International Health
CHL8001H
Selected Topics in Public Health Issues

Social Justice Education

Course Code Course Title
SJE1909H
Environmental Sustainability and Social Justice 1
SJE1954H
Marginality and the Politics of Resistance

Sociology

Course Code Course Title
SOC6008H
Network Analysis I
SOC6009H
Ethnicity I
SOC6101H
Sociological Theory II
SOC6119H
Gender Relations II
SOC6210H
Political Sociology III

Women and Gender Studies

Course Code Course Title
WSG1010H Special Topics in Feminist Studies 2
WSG1013H Special Topics in Feminist Theory 1
WSG1014H Special Topics in Feminist Theory 2
WSG1016H Migration, Mobility, and Displacement in Contemporary Africa
WSG1017H Special Topics in Feminist Studies
WSG1019H Special Topics in Feminist Studies
WSG1020H Gender and Globalization: Transnational Perspectives