2014-2015 Academic Catalog

Apr 16, 2024

2014-2015 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

IDCE 30399 - MDGs and the Post 2015 Development Agenda

The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which range from halving extreme poverty rates to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education are fast approaching their target date of 2015. These benchmarks have served as the 21^st century’s blueprint for confronting inequality and extending the benefits of “development” to the global South. Early discussions also suggest that the MDGs will be followed by a new set of development goals cast in the framework of sustainability. Taken at face value, the MGD goals have been lauded for their seemingly ambitious goals and accountable framework. Yet others view them merely as new forms of Western impositions and distractions from the structural causes of poverty and disempowerment. In light of these tensions, this course positions the MDGs and their successors as more than just development benchmarks; rather they also represent deeper issues of power, representation and conflicted development aspirations. Consequently, the course explores the politics of MDGs and the post-2015 sustainable development agenda, including their systems of design, targets, participation, commitments, responsibilities, implementation, accountability, and funding.

This course draws on the analytical framework of global public policy and governance that examines the complexity of and tensions of pursuing international cooperation in the context of national sovereignty. We will also explore the contradictions inherent in efforts to “improve lives” around the world. The course consists of three inter-related sections. For the first few weeks we will examine concepts of global development policy and planning by exploring the various frameworks that underpin post-war development governance. This approach will help us understand how various stakeholders - states and institutions - construct the global development apparatus. In part II of the course we will explore the history, politics and core principles of the MDGs, as well as their aspirations, achievements and failures. The final section will look at the emergence of the post-MDG agenda in the context of the newly fashionable Sustainable Development framework.

Anticipated Terms Offered: annually