Social Aspects of Development
Fall Semester, 2007 Course Syllabus Link to Class Protected Area Link to SAIS Library e-reserves Slides shown at last class Study questions for PNG case study: - What have development outcomes been in PNG since independence in 1975? How do they compare with those of other extremely poor countries, say in sub-Saharan Africa?
- Who is the “big man” in traditional Papuan culture? How does he get his status? How does the “big man” pattern play out in modern PNG politics?
- What is the system of traditional land tenure in PNG, and how does it affect foreign investment and economic growth more generally? Does it make sense to move the society towards a more modern form of land tenure?
- In the anthropological terms we have been using in this class, where on the development continuum would you rank Papua New Guinea?
- PNG was a stateless (acephalous) society before the arrival of European colonialists in the nineteenth century. Why was this the case? What other material conditions of the island explain its social structure?
Study Questions for Philippines case study: - Why do large bureaucracies exist in the first place? What are typical “bureaucratic” ways of doing business? (You can also draw on the James Scott reading.) How is that approach being modified in private sector large organizations?
- What effect does making poor farmers co-pay for certain services have on their relationship with the government? If they are poor, shouldn’t these services be given to them for free?
- What is the model for social change that is being illustrated by this case? Does change start from the top, or from the bottom?
- Do you fully trust the account being given of local participation in the irrigation project? What biases may exist in the self-reporting of the participants in the project?
- What are the similarities between this case and the CDD projects you have read about earlier?
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