4000 words essay about development

Dr. Allyson Benton

Global Polltical Economy of Development 2019

ESSAY QUESTIONS

General Information

Essay Length: 4,000 words

The Essay Questions:

The essay questions are written in a way to ensure that students are able to develop well-

organized essays that answer the primary essay question posed.

In answering the primary essay question, please sequentially answer the secondary subquestions

provided. The introduction should summarize the outline and main conclusion of the essay. The

conclusion should summarize the answer to the primary question.

The essays should thus be organized as follows:

Introduction, with appropriate title

Section A, with appropriate title based on the question posed

Section B, with appropriate title based on the question posed

Section C, with appropriate title based on the question posed

Section D, with appropriate title based on the question posed

Section E, with appropriate title based on the question posed

Section F, with appropriate title based on the question posed

Conclusion, with appropriate title

Essay Timeline

To ensure tthat students finish their essays in a timely manner, I recommend:

1. That students choose their essay question during reading week 2. That they spend the following two weeks reviewing module and additional materials

relevant to the essay

3. That they spend the final weeks answering 1-2 subquestions each week, depending on the difficulty of the question.

Citations to Lecture:

Students may cite lectures. They should do so by citing the lecturer, lecture number, and date.

For example:

Benton, Allyson. 2019. Lecture X, Global Political Economy of Development, Delivered on

DATE, City, University of London.

Citations to Class Readings:

Students should cite class readings.

Additional Materials:

Students are encouraged to read additional materials important to answering the primary and

secondary questions, including newspaper and magazine articles, official websites, academic

journal articles, book chapters, and books. These materials should be cited.

Plagiarism:

Plagiarism is the reproduction of ideas without appropriate attribution. Plagiarism is a serious

offence with serious academic consequences. Please refer to City’s academic misconduct policy

guide for more information:

https://www.city.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/339750/Academic-Misconduct-Policy-and-

Guidance-Final.pdf

Methodological Questions

1. Why have experiments become so important in development economics?

To answer this question, students should answer the following subquestions:

a. What are experiments? b. What are the types of experiments most frequently used by social scientists? c. What are the methodological benefits of experiments in the social sciences? d. What are the benefits of experiments for promoting development? e. What key policy insights can be gained through experimentation? f. What are two good examples of experiments that taught us something new about how

best to tackle two different problems in development?

2. Design an experiment to test a policy intervention for resolving a development problem

To do this, students should answer the following subquestions:

a. What is the development problem and why is it important to address? b. What is the theory for the best policy approach for resolving the problem? c. What is the benefit of testing the policy intervention with an experiment first before

making policy recommendations to governments?

d. What is the experimental approach you wish to undertake to test your suggested policy intervention? What would your experiment entail? What is its design?

e. What kind of data/information would you gather from your experiment and how would you examine it?

f. How would you know whether your experiment showed that suggested policy intervention worked or not?

Conceptual Questions

1. What is democracy and why is it important for development?

To answer this question, students should answer the following subquestions:

a. What is democracy? Why is democracy important for development? b. What is representative democracy? c. How have external actors (i.e., international organizations) tended to promote

representative democracy? Why is this problematic?

d. What is participatory democracy and how is it different from representative democracy?

e. What are the benefits or participatory democracy for development? Is participatory democracy enough to improve government representation and policy-making? What

is missing?

f. What are the benefits of social welfare systems for democratic participation? Why do international organizations tend to promote both democracy and social welfare system

development?

2. What is governmental accountability and why is it important for development?

To answer this question, students should answer the following subquestions:

a. What is governmental accountability? Why is it important for development? b. What is the structure/system of governmental accountability? c. How have policy interventions (undertaken by external actors such as NGOs or

international institutions) tended to address problems in governmental accountability?

Why is this problematic for improving accountability?

d. What political/institutional factors can undermine governmental accountability? e. What social/economic factors can undermine governmental accountability? f. What historical/cultural factors can undermine governmental accountability?

3. What is decentralization and why is it important for development?

To answer this question, students should answer the following subquestions:

a. What is decentralized governance? What is the structure/system of decentralized government?

b. What is the difference between decentralized and centralized systems? c. What are the benefits of decentralization for policy-making and development? d. Why might decentralization be problematic for policy-making and development? e. What political, social, and economic factors further undermine the benefits of

decentralization?

f. What measures can be put into place to improve the policy and development benefits of decentralized governance?

Policy Program Questions

1. What are Conditional Cash Transfer programs and why are they used in promoting

development?

To answer this question, students should answer the following subquestions:

a. What are conditional cash transfer programs? What is the aim of conditional cash transfer programs?

b. How do conditional cash transfer programs contribute to development? c. How do conditional cash transfer programs work? d. Under what conditions do conditional cash transfer programs work best? e. Under what conditions do conditional cash transfer programs fail? f. What conditional cash transfer program would you propose, how would it work, and

what would be the expected benefits?

2. What are microfinance programs and why are they used in promoting development?

To answer this question, students should answer the following subquestions:

a. What are microfinance programs? What is the aim of microfinance programs? b. How do microfinance programs contribute to development? c. How do microfinance programs work? d. Under what conditions do microfinance programs work best? e. Under what conditions do microfinance programs fail? f. What microfinance program would you propose, how would it work, and what would

be the expected benefits?

3. How does social welfare, gender equality, ethnic peace contribute to development?

To answer this question, students should answer the following subquestions:

a. How does poverty, gender inequality, or ethnic conflict undermine development?

b. How does social welfare, gender equality, or ethnic peace contribute to development? c. What types of social welfare, gender equality, or ethnic peace initiatives can improve

these areas?

d. Under what conditions do social welfare programs, gender equality, or ethnic peace initiatives work best?

e. What institutional intervention could be undertaken to improve social welfare, gender equality, or ethnic peace. How would it work? What would be the expected benefits?

f. What conditional cash transfer or microfinance program could be undertaken to improve social welfare, gender equality, or ethnic peace. How would it work? What

would be the expected benefits?