240529 SE Development, Markets and Ethical Economies (P4) (2019S)

Over the past decade global movements such as fair trade and corporate social responsibility (CSR) have gained great attention as new ways of addressing the economic inequities and ethical imperatives of social improvement in our increasingly globalised world. At the same time key development actors, such as the UN and DFID, as well as global NGOs, have become increasingly interested in mobilising business as partners and harnessing the market in the service of development. These concerns have given rise to a variety of new ethical economic initiatives such as fair-trade, CSR and pro-poor enterprise which present alternatives to the mainstream market and attempt to shift the balance of power in favour of producers in the South. Through an interdisciplinary approach this course explores the role of markets and business in development, from multinational corporations, to small enterprise, to those labouring in the informal economy. We explore the rise of corporate social responsibility, fair trade, civil society activism and ethical consumption practices as major new initiatives which attempt to make markets ethical, promote labour rights and offer market-based solutions to problems of poverty and under-development. The course investigates each of these initiatives from both a theoretical and empirical perspective, and critically considers their power, equality and gender implications.
Teaching will be through a combination of lectures and seminars, involving small and large group discussion, debate and student led actitivies. Some sessions will include a short lecture, followed by a seminar. Other sessions, where more appropriate for the topic, the class will run as a 1.5 hour workshop with no lecture. The lectures are designed to set out the broad parameters of the topic covered in that session. Seminars will take the form of discussion and debate in both small groups and plenary, as well as presentations. We will discuss a wide variety of case studies related to the particular topic.
By the end of the course, a successful student should be able to:
1. Show advanced knowledge of issues and concepts of morality, ethics and engagement in the global economy;
2. Show a grasp of advanced theories of moral economy, fair trade, ethical consumption and corporate citizenship;
3. Demonstrate an understanding of forms that ethics and engagement take in the context of the global economy through empirical literature;
4. Demonstrate critical capacities in thinking about morality, ethics and engagement in the global economy.
5. Students will develop the following skills: communication; independent research; and critical thinking.