MSc Global Development / Course details

The unit aims to provide:

•  A critical understanding of key theories on environment, climate change and development
• An overview of the implications of environmental concerns and natural resource management (including climate change) on development policy and practice
• An understanding of the interlinkages between climate change adaptation and mitigation

An opportunity for students to develop their range of competencies in transferable areas, including research, analysis, team-work and both written and verbal forms of communication

After the completion of this module, you will be able to:

Provide a comprehensive overview of key theories, debates, and conceptual frameworks in the political ecology of development, critically examining how power, inequality, and historical legacies shape environmental governance and resource management.

Foster the application of theoretical insights to empirical case studies, enabling students to analyze real-world environmental and development challenges while developing transferable analytical skills essential for further academic inquiry and professional engagement.

Enhance students’ critical and analytical capacities by equipping them with the tools to interrogate sustainability and development policies, preparing them to engage with complex global issues in both academic and professional contexts. 

Assess the implications of environmental challenges, including climate change, on development policies and practices, identifying tensions between economic growth, sustainability, and social justice.

Develop and apply research, analytical, and communication skills to engage with complex environmental issues, demonstrating the ability to synthesize multiple perspectives in both written and verbal formats.

Collaborate and formulate interdisciplinary responses to environmental and development challenges, integrating insights from political ecology to propose equitable and sustainable solutions. 

Teaching and learning will occur mainly through weekly online lectures and materials and weekly large group workshops or small group tutorials in which students apply and discuss concepts learned in class. VLE is used strategically as the hub of the course to share course information, resources and support communication with and amongst students, as well as to foster student engagement (e.g. extracurricular events, info about departmental lectures etc.) 

Explain key theoretical debates on environment and development and their effect on policy and practice in developing countries.

Explain the contested role of knowledge production in sustainable development  

Critically assess decision-making and policies proposed to achieve sustainable development.

Describe how a changing global environment impacts development. 

Critically evaluate key theories on environment, climate change, and development, applying them to contemporary case studies in the Global South.

Analyse and compare central debates in political ecology, with a focus on how power, inequality, and historical legacies shape environmental governance and resource management.

Assess the implications of environmental challenges, including climate change, on development policies and practices, identifying tensions between economic growth, sustainability, and social justice.

Develop and apply research, analytical, and communication skills to engage with complex environmental issues, demonstrating the ability to synthesize multiple perspectives in both written and verbal formats. 

Demonstrate critical thinking, reflection, self-awareness and independent learning  

Undertake both team-based and independent work to deadlines

Develop, articulate and sustain logical, structured and reasoned arguments supported by evidence in both written and oral contexts 

Summative feedback via VLE within 3 weeks of submission. 

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Perreault, T., Bridge, G. & McCarthy, J. (eds.) (2015) The Routledge Handbook of Political Ecology, London, Routledge.  

Robbins, P (2020) Political Ecology: A Critical Introduction (3rd ed.). Oxford: Blackwell.

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Weldemichel, T. G. (2020). Othering pastoralists, state violence, and the remaking of boundaries in Tanzania’s militarised wildlife conservation sector. Antipode, 52(5), 1496-1518.