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AIS4127 Poverty and the Politics of Aid
Part I Course Duration: | One semester | | No. of Credit Units: | 3 | | Level: | B4 | | Medium of Instruction: | English | | Prerequisites: | Nil | | Precursors: | Nil | | Equivalent Courses: | Nil | | Exclusive Courses: | Nil |
Part II 1. Course Aims: ‘Poverty’ refers to involuntary deprivation of basic human needs. Politics refers to power relations, including but not those limited to the functioning of states. ‘Aid’ is a buzzword used to describe various kinds of assistance to the poor or needy. This course examines the nature and significance of poverty and of the complex relation between poverty, politics, and aid. It examines different conceptualizations and theorizations of poverty and investigates the empirics of poverty, politics, and aid in East Asia and other global settings. Success in this course will require students to master core concepts and to use evidence and reasoning to assess the adequacy of different theorizations of poverty in its relation to politics and aid. 2. Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs) Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to: No. | CILOs | Weighting | | 1. | Explain core concepts regarding poverty, politics, & aid | 20 | | 2. | Distinguish competing measures & theories of poverty | 20 | | 3. | Elaborate significance of social exclusion and inequality | 20 | | 4. | Recount nuanced features of poverty in East Asia & beyond | 20 | | 5. | Conduct theoretically-informed empirical analysis of poverty and the politics of aid | 20 |
3. Teaching and learning Activities (TLAs) (designed to facilitate students’ achievement of the CILOs) ILO No | TLAs | Hours/week (if applicable) | | CILO 1 | Lecture, tutorials, formative assessments | 3 | | CILO 2 | Lecture, tutorials, formative assessments | 3 | | CILO 3 | Lecture, tutorials, formative assessments | 3 | | CILO 4 | Lecture, tutorials, formative assessments | 3 | | CILO 5 | Research project | NA |
4. Assessment Tasks/Activities (designed to assess how well the students achieve the CILOs) Type of Assessment Tasks/Activities | Weighting | ILOs to be addressed | Remarks | | Periodic quizzes | 50% | 1-5 | Periodic quizzes will test and reward students’ facility with concepts and cases from lectures and readings, Students will periodically be required to submit, comment, and evaluate blog entries. The best blog entries will reflect serious thinking that engages the arguments in the required readings and lectures. You will be required to comment on a specific question. | | Term paper | 30 % | 6 | Students will prepare a term paper addressing some specific issue appropriate to the themes of the course. Students will be required to submit and outline that includes at least six scholarly sources (i.e. some combination of books and articles in scholarly journals) | | Blog Assignment | 20 % | 1-6 | Students will be required to address a specific questions on the course’s dedicated blog site. |
5. Grading of Student Achievement: Refer to Grading of Courses in the Academic Regulations. Standard (A+, A, A- …F) Below are the performance standards based on which students’ work will be graded: Quizzes (50%) | | Letter Grade | Grade Point | Grade Definitions | | A+
A
A- | 4.3
4.0
3.7 | Excellent: | Evidence critical understandings of the assigned readings and lecture materials | B+
B
B- | 3.3
3.0
2.7 | Good: | Evidence good understandings of the assigned readings and lecture materials | C+
C
C- | 2.3
2.0
1.7 | Adequate: | Evidence adequate understandings of the assigned readings and lecture materials | | D | 1.0 | Marginal: | Evidence limited understanding of the assigned readings and lecture materials. | | F | 0.0 | Failure: | Evidence failure to understand the themes and arguments of the assigned readings and lectures |
Individual Term Paper (30%) | | Letter Grade | Grade Point | Grade Definitions | | A+
A
A- | 4.3
4.0
3.7 | Excellent: | Critically extend and critique major theoretical perspectives on poverty and the politics of aid in a methodologically sound and well-written empirical analysis of a relevant case. | B+
B
B- | 3.3
3.0
2.7 | Good: | Evidence a serious engagement of major theoretical perspectives on poverty and the politics of aid in a methodologically sound and well-written empirical analysis of a relevant case. | C+
C
C- | 2.3
2.0
1.7 | Adequate: | Evidence an adequate engagement of major theoretical perspectives on poverty and the politics of aid in a methodologically adequate and well-written empirical analysis of a relevant case. | | D | 1.0 | Marginal: | Evidence limited engagement with major theoretical perspectives on poverty and the politics of aid in the analysis of some relevant empirical case. | | F | 0.0 | Failure: | Evidence a failure to grasp of engage major theoretical perspectives on poverty and the politics of aid or an exceptionally poorly-written analysis of some concrete empirical instance or analysis of some issue of very limited or no relevance. |
Blog Assignment (20%) | | Letter Grade | Grade Point | Grade Definitions | | A+
A
A- | 4.3
4.0
3.7 | Excellent: | Evidence a exceptionally thoughtful engagement of the ideas presented in the readings and an exceptionally thoughtful commentary on classmates’ submissions. | B+
B
B- | 3.3
3.0
2.7 | Good: | Evidence a thoughtful engagement of the ideas presented in the readings and a thoughtful commentary on classmates’ submissions. | C+
C
C- | 2.3
2.0
1.7 | Adequate: | Evidence an adequate engagement of the ideas presented in the readings and an adequate commentary on classmates’ submissions. | | D | 1.0 | Marginal: | Evidence a minimal engagement of the ideas presented in the readings and minimal or unreflexive commentary on classmates’ submissions. | | F | 0.0 | Failure: | Failure to complete the blog assignment and/or to comment on others’ submissions |
Part III Keyword Syllabus: Poverty, global inequality, welfare, development, development aid, social exclusion, international non-governmental organizations. Suggestive Thematic Outline Week 1 | Course overview and introductory discussion of poverty and its measurement | | Week 2 | Poverty: definitions and measurements – An overview of the official poverty measure, its history and construction, critiques, and alternatives | | Week 3 | Contending explanations of poverty; “As the World Runs Now, Why Does Somebody Always Have to be Poor?” | | Week 4 | Is the word flat? Poverty and the global political economy | | Week 5 | “Development” and “poverty” | | Week 6 | What is aid and how did it start? A structural typology of aid, including quantitative and qualitative dimensions and discussion about Aid-giving institutions | | Week 7 | The politics of aid: costs, qualities, conditionalities, distributions, and outcomes | | Week 8 | Comparative analysis of poverty reduction initiatives; Analyze key development approaches to poverty reduction, including welfare, social security, land reform, Millennium Development Goals, and other relevant programs and projects | | Week 9 | What is an aid NGO? | | Week 10 | Education, health, and poverty | | Week 11 | Micro financing/ Micro lending for poor | | Week 12 | Child poverty: A multi-dimensional approach |
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Department of Asian and International Studies
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