20 Mar development intervention analysis

The objective of this assignment is to analyze a policy/program/initiative related to globalization and development by drawing on the theoretical lenses and debates we explore in the course (lecture materials and assigned materials). This is not a research report, but a critical essay with a clear central argument (thesis statement).

 

A strong paper will 1) make connections between your topic and concepts, trends, and debates discussed in class and course readings (see examples below); 2) demonstrate attention to inequality and the development discourse.

 

Your paper must contain the components listed below (though not necessarily in separate sections). You can use different subheadings in the body of your essay if you wish, but it must contain all of these elements.

 

1. Introduction

A strong introduction includes: (1) an opening statement with initial contextual information that sets the stage for the thesis statement; (2) your thesis statement or main argument; and (3) an overview of how you will support your argument, in the format of a ‘roadmap’ of what is to come in the rest of the paper. Here you give us a preview of what is to come and how it will be organized.

 

Your thesis statement is a 1-2 sentence main argument that you will support in the rest of your paper. Please underline your thesis statement. Here are some tips for crafting strong thesis statements: http://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/planning/thesis-statements/Links to an external site.

 

2. Description of the topic

Provide background information on the policy/program/initiative you are analysing, including any necessary contextual information your reader will require to understand your paper. Ex. if you are discussing an intervention based in a particular city, you will need to give geographical information and a brief description of the dynamics in that city that are relevant to your topic. If you are discussing a social movement, plan, policy, or development project, etc., you will need to give the reader some historical background and the basic information about the topic. Remember that space is limited. Your reader does not need to know everything about your topic—just the elements that are essential for understanding your argument and analysis. 

3. Key concepts framing the analysis

A strong paper will use a small number of key concepts from the course to ‘frame’ the whole analysis. In other words, concepts or approaches serve as a set of ‘lenses’ that you use to explore or evaluate the topic. This means that these concepts are central to your overall argument and discussion, rather than just ‘tacked on’ or ‘sprinkled in’. It should be clear to your reader that this paper was written for GGR112 (rather than it being just a generic report on a topic that could have been written for any class). It is useful to describe/define the concepts you have chosen to use before your reader gets to the analysis.

4. Critical Analysis

This section and section 5 are the most substantial sections of your paper. Here is where you discuss the interventio you have chosen (that you introduced in section 2) and present the evidence and examples that support your argument about the topic or issue. Evidence can by quantitative (ex. statistics) or qualitative (examples, cases, testimonies of people involved, etc.). You will link together your argument and your evidence using the lenses and concepts you introduced in section 3. This section should be composed of multiple paragraphs.

5. Conclusion

Here you restate the argument you have made. A conclusion can also be a good place to draw out any broader implications from your analysis. Ex. does your analysis suggest any pathways forward for policy or practice? Does your exploration of one specific case tell us anything that might be relevant to other cases (ex. other places? Other groups of people or movements?).

Some tips for writing this paper:

How do I engage concepts in a way that is ‘central’ to my analysis?

The examples below are just meant to get you thinking… you are encouraged to frame your argument in the way that best suits your topic.

Using concepts as a metric or standard by which to evaluate a plan, policy, movement, intervention, etc. For example, you might analyze how a food security program, government policy, or movement for women’s rights addresses structural or symbolic violence

Sample thesis: I argue that while X program temporarily addresses structural violence by improving access to X resource, its program design reinforces certain forms of symbolic violence by excluding X from meaningful decision-making and framing them as incapable of contributing value to such decisions. Therefore, this program reifies the identity of X community as intellectually/morally inferior ….

Use broader ‘course lenses’ that help you reveal certain key components of an issue or policy/program that might be overlooked if we did not apply these lenses. 

Sample thesis: X government’s reliance on global remittances to provide a social safety net for its citizens is an example of a neoliberal flanking mechanism that suggests that individuals are responsible for their own wellbeing and celebrates the economic integration of globalization as a solution to the inequitable distribution of wealth worldwide. The global implications of such a policy can be understood using Young’s social connection model which would help us see how…

Sample thesis: The design of X program is rooted in modernization theory and strives to solve problems of inequality and insecurity through a strong drive for economic growth. While the program may have contributed to increased economic growth in the target region, the distribution of that wealth is such that it has not resulted in improved wellbeing, as measured by Gough & McGregor (2007).

Some concepts or lenses you might find useful:

Globalization (Ellwood)

Development (Black)

Human Rights (Coulter)

Structural and Symbolic Violence (Lectures)

Oppression, Discrimination, Eugenics, Colonialism (Lectures)

Economic Growth (Easterly, Rostow)

High Modernism, Modernization, Progress, Legibility (Scott, Li)

Migration, Remittances (Melo, Mekong Migration Network)

Problematization of poverty (Escobar)

Models of responsibility and accountability (Young)

Storytelling/Narrative/Discourse (Escobar, Hehir, Ngozi Adichie, and others)

Reification/Simulacra/Hyper-Reality (Hehir)

Democracy/Authoritarian Capitalism (Livesy)

Measuring Development (Stiglitz, Asif, Gough & McGregor)

Development as Freedom (Sen)

Neoliberalism and Structural Adjustment (Ellwood, Harvey, Guldbrandensen)