Prospectus

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Institutions of Governance and Development

Course
2024-2025

Admission requirements

Required course(s):

None.

Description

Global challenges are nearly all, at some level, issues of governance and development. Why are some countries poor while others are wealthy? Why do well-established, seemingly well-functioning countries not tackle serious challenges like climate change more aggressively? Why are human rights enforced by governments in some countries but not in others? Why are some diverse communities peaceful and cooperative, while others are divisive and violent? As a foundational course of the Governance, Economics, and Development major (as well as the Policy Science and ID majors), this course aims to provide students with a foundational understanding of how to tackle these questions.

This course introduces students to the institutional perspective, which focuses on the formal and informal rules that structure human interaction. This framework can provide powerful insights into these questions, as evaluating the institutional foundations of decisions within and the development of communities over time provides strong, testable inferences about the origins of problems. More importantly, the institutional perspective suggests an avenue by which we can look for solutions to these challenges because many institutions are of intentional human design and thus can be designed differently. In other cases, a scientific understanding of the constraints facing human individuals may not point the way to solutions, but at least suggest which solutions are unlikely to work or, worse, may have less desirable consequences. By exploring these themes, students who enroll in this course will be presented with, and asked to critically engage with, many if not most of the themes of the Governance, Economics, and Development programme in a unified framework.

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

  • Define the key concepts of the new institutional framework for studying social processes and change.

  • Differentiate the processes of governance and development in terms of these concepts.

  • Apply key concepts and frameworks for evaluating the role of institutions in shaping governance outcomes and development processes to a specific case.

  • Demonstrate familiarity with basic methodological issues in evaluating institutional analyses of governance and development questions.

Timetable

Timetables for courses offered at Leiden University College in 2024-2025 will be published on this page of the e-Prospectus.

Mode of instruction

There are two primary teaching methods employed in this course: lectures and tutorials.

Lectures: The instructor will deliver a lecture based on the required reading once a week. Each lecture will offer an overview of the topic designated for that week. Every class will commence with a short question-and-answer session pertaining to the readings or previous lectures. This will be followed by the main lecture content for the day. At the conclusion of each lecture, there will also be a brief opportunity for students to ask questions. Students are encouraged to come prepared, ready to engage with the instructor, peers, and the discussed materials. PowerPoint slides from lectures will be available on Brightspace.

Tutorials: The instructor's lectures, presentations, readings, and in-class debates will be supplemented by tutorials. Tutorials aim to provide a platform for students to share their insights and ideas in a seminar format. Tutorials typically embrace the Socratic method. In this approach, a student presents their findings, and the professor rigorously questions their assumptions, actively involving other students in the discussion. This means that students are expected to have done the required readings BEFORE the tutorial session and to be fully prepared for an extensive discussion on them. Participation in the tutorial will be assessed using specific criteria. Speakers must provide accurate explanations of key concepts and theories using relevant literature. They should apply theories to case studies to highlight issues. Listeners should gain insights from the presentation. The presentation must be clear, logical, and well-organized. The audience should easily follow the line of reasoning. The presentation should be interactive and not just a reading of a paper. It should be paced for audience understanding. Speakers should be comfortable presenting and be audible to everyone. Tutorials will focus on the designated readings and the primary questions noted under the weekly topics. More details are available in the syllabus.

Assessment Method

There are five requirements for this course:

  • Class Participation: 10%

  • Tutorial Presentation: 15%

  • Quizzes: 20%

  • Case Application: 25%

  • Research Essay: 30%

Reading list

  • North, Douglass C. 1992. Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.

Registration

Courses offered at Leiden University College (LUC) are usually only open to LUC students and LUC exchange students. Leiden University students who participate in one of the university’s Honours tracks or programmes may register for one LUC course, if availability permits. Registration is coordinated by the Education Coordinator, course.administration@luc.leidenuniv.nl.

Contact

Dr. Ayokunu Adedokun, a.b.adedokun@luc.leidenuniv.nl

Remarks

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