GOVT-776 The Political Economy of Development (3)

This course exposes doctoral students in political science to contemporary research on the political economy of development (PED). The first part explores the origins of strong states and democratic political institutions and examines their role in development. The second part dives more deeply into how factors like weak accountability, clientelism, bureaucratic corruption, ethnic divisions, natural resource wealth, civil conflict, and foreign aid undermine development. The focus is on cutting-edge research with the goal of introducing students to research frontiers and common methodological approaches used in this field. Restriction: PhD program. Note: Prior coursework in quantitative methods, causal inference, and formal modeling recommended.