IB Glopo Year 2: Development (our final unit of study)

Welcome back! I hope you all had a restful holiday & break. Monday marks the start of our final unit of study, that of development. We have some new and exciting games and simulations set for this unit, including Ayiti: the cost of life, a Peace Corps challenge on micro finance, and two separate simulations on foreign direct investment and energy development. The unit guide, which also outlines all of the prompts for our course of study, is listed below. This should keep us busy for the next four to six weeks; before you'll have the opportunity to work independently on your two HL extension tasks. Our calendar for the week is as follows:

2 through 6 December

• Monday: Introduce the new unit, Watch and discuss Boyer 4.1 and 4.2.1
• Tuesday: Reading period for Mingst, K. A., & Karns, M. P. (2007). Economic development and sustainability. In The United Nations in the 21st century (pp. 178-216). Boulder, CO: Westview Press. (link)
• You should have this complete in order to adequately respond to the prompt on Friday. 
• Thursday: Watch and discuss Boyer 4.2.2 and 4.2.3
• Friday: In class writing: In what ways do Mingst and Karns define the concept of development?  What are some of the geopolitical challenges that Mingst and Karns identify that are related to development? To what extent do you agree with the way Mingst and Karns frame the idea of development?. Please share your responses with me via Google Docs by the end of the period. 

To what extent do individuals and societies benefit from development?

Introduction

This unit focuses on what development means, how it can be pursued and what may help or stand in the way of people, communities and countries becoming better off in a comprehensive sense. All of the skills you will practice and content you will encounter will be framed around the following question, to what extent do individuals and societies benefit from development?  As with all of our units, you will work to achieve a polyangular understanding of development from a variety of different material and experiences. 

Key Concepts
In this unit, you will come to understand, apply, and communicate your understanding of the following concepts and terms: development, globalization, inequality, sustainability. In addition, you will revisit the theoretical concepts of Realism, Liberalism, and Constructivism, as you consider new theories of both capitalism and socialism. Finally, you should familiarize yourself with the following vocabulary: human development; poverty alleviation; Bretton Woods institutions (World Bank Group, International Monetary Fund, General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs); UN Development Program (UNDP); Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); basic human needs; privatization; structural adjustment programs; balance of payments; weighted voting system; BRICS; UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCATD); World Trade Organization; trade preferences; economic liberalism; dependency theory; New International Economic Order (NIEO); terms of trade; debt reduction; sustainability; Global Compact.

Overview of Assessments
There are six assessments in this unit. The first five prompts are designed to give you an opportunity to make sense of the various experiences, readings, video, and other content you’ll encounter. Each prompt is aligned to specific learning targets which are reflective of the standards and benchmarks for the course. Put another way, the learning targets are a student-centered, student-friendly way of providing you with a objectives to work for in your coursework. The final prompt is a modeled after a Paper 2-type question that you will see on your IB Global Politics exam. Your response to this prompt will be assessed according to the IB Paper 2 Markbands. All of your written work will be formatively assessed using the SE2R method of narrative feedback. Please note that all of these assessments are formative; there will be no letter grades or percentages associated with your work. My goal is to provide you with the most detailed and explicit feedback on your ideas so that you may continue to develop your intellectual prowess in the study of world politics

Summary of Assessments

1. Introduction to  development; Contested meanings of development
1. Prompt: In what ways do Mingst and Karns define the concept of development?  What are some of the geopolitical challenges that Mingst and Karns identify that are related to development? To what extent do you agree with the way Mingst and Karns frame the idea of development?
1. Learning targets: You will practice using terms and concepts that are appropriate to the Social Sciences. You will practice using models of development (modernization, dependency theory, capitalism, socialism) to understand the various meanings of development in contemporary world politics. You will practice writing using an analytical style and voice. 
2. Debates surrounding development
1. Prompt: Choose one (1) article from Foreign Affairs (located in the bibliography). How does the author(s) frame the issue(s) in terms of a geopolitical challenge related to development. What solutions does the author(s) provide? To what extent do these seem reasonable?
1. Learning targets: You will practice using terms and concepts that are appropriate to the Social Sciences. You will practice using various models and theories of international relations (Levels of Analysis, Realism, Liberalism, Constructivism)  to explain a current event in world politics. You will practice writing using an analytical style and voice. You will practice documenting primary and secondary sources using APA format. 
3. Factors that may promote or inhibit development
1. Prompt: Compare and contrast the views of Collier and Wilkinson with respect to the divide between rich and poor around the world. What political solutions do they offer? To what extent do these seem reasonable?
1. Learning targets: You will practice using terms and concepts that are appropriate to the Social Sciences. You will practice using IB command terms to construct an analytical argument from two different sources. You will practice writing using an analytical style and voice. You will practice documenting primary and secondary sources using APA format. 
4. Pathways towards development
1. Prompt: How does Bhagwati frame the issue of growth in terms of a geopolitical challenge or conflict? What solutions does the Bhagwati provide? To what extent do these seem reasonable
1. Learning targets: You will practice using terms and concepts that are appropriate to the Social Sciences. You will draw upon your existing knowledge and skills to evaluate the claims made by a source. You will practice writing using an analytical style and voice. You will practice documenting primary and secondary sources using APA format. 
5. Debates surrounding development
1. Prompt: Evaluate the claims made by Naim  with respect to globalization. To what extent do you agree with his sentiments?
1. You will practice using terms and concepts that are appropriate to the Social Sciences. You will draw upon your existing knowledge and skills to evaluate the claims made by a source. You will practice writing using an analytical style and voice. You will practice documenting primary and secondary sources using APA format. 
6. Summation (Paper 2-type question)
1. Prompt: Discuss whether trade or aid is a more effective way of encouraging development
1. You will practice using terms and concepts that are appropriate to the Social Sciences. You will apply your knowledge and understanding of development towards constructing an analytical and evaluative argument of the prompt. You will practice writing using an analytical style and voice. You will practice documenting primary and secondary sources using APA format. 

Games and Simulations

Game	URL	Summary
Ayiti: The Cost of Life	http://ayiti.globalkids.org/game/	Ayiti challenges its players to manage a rural family of five in Haiti over four years.
Peace Corps Challenge: Microfinance	http://www.peacecorps.gov/kids/?challenge=3	Students simulate the experience of working in the fictional village of Wazuzu, focusing on the area of microfinance.
Foreign Direct Investment in Mandoa	http://www.pon.harvard.edu/shop/foreign-direct-investment-in-mandoa/	A facilitated multi-party negotiation among government officials regarding the design of a foreign direct investment strategy that balances economic, societal, and environmental concerns
Meridia and Petrocentram	http://www.pon.harvard.edu/shop/meridia-and-petrocentram/	Two-party, four-issue negotiation between representatives of a Central American country and an international petroleum corporation over the terms of an offshore drilling project

We will use class time to play and debrief each of these simulations and games throughout the unit of study. In all cases, games and simulations provide us with the opportunity to learn, apply, synthesize and communicate our understanding of the course material in a comprehensive and sophisticated fashion. 

Bibliography

1. Birdsall, N., Vaishnav, M., & Cutherell, D. (2012). Not so great expectations. Foreign Affairs, (August). Retrieved from http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/138037/nancy-birdsall-milan-vaishnav-and-danny-cutherell/not-so-great-expectations 
2. Bollyky, T. J., & Bradford, A. (2013). Getting to yes on transatlantic trade. Foreign Affairs, (July). Retrieved from http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/139569/thomas-j-bollyky-and-anu-bradford/getting-to-yes-on-transatlantic-trade 
3. Boyer, J. (2011). GEOG 1014: World Regions. Lecture presented at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA. Retrieved from http://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/geog-1014-world-regions/id481684171 
4. Brant, P. (2013). Charity begins at home. Foreign Affairs, (October). Retrieved from http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/140152/philippa-brant/charity-begins-at-home 
5. Council on Foreign Relations (Director). (2013, November 5). Why growth matters: How economic growth in India reduced poverty and the lessons for other developing countries [Video]. Retrieved from http://www.cfr.org/india/why-growth-matters-economic-growth-india-reduced-poverty-lessons-other-developing-countries/p31789
6. Fernandez, J. W. (2013). Bridge to somewhere. Foreign Affairs, (November/December). Retrieved from http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/140163/jose-w-fernandez/bridge-to-somewhere 
7. Mingst, K. A., & Karns, M. P. (2007). Economic development and sustainability. In The United Nations in the 21st century (pp. 178-216). Boulder, CO: Westview Press. (link)
8. Moss, T. (2012). Missing in Africa. Foreign Affairs, (October). Retrieved from http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/138158/todd-moss/missing-in-africa 
9. Naim, M. (2009). Think again: Globalization. Foreign Policy. Retrieved from http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/02/16/think_again_globalization?page=full
10. Sharma, R. (2013). The rise of the rest of India. Foreign Affairs, (September/October). Retrieved from http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/139646/ruchir-sharma/the-rise-of-the-rest-of-india 
11. TED (Director). (2008, May). Paul Collier: The "bottom billion" [Video]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/paul_collier_shares_4_ways_to_help_the_bottom_billion.html 
12. TED (Director). (2011, October). Richard Wilkinson: How economic inequality harms societies [Video]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_wilkinson.html 

Copyright
My work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Please do not take anything from this publication without giving me proper credit or if you intend to re-use it for commercial purposes. The citation for this particular work is Gleek, C. (2013). Development (A companion to IB Global Politics) [Electronic]. When in doubt, please contact me for permission.