POLS 215 : POLITICS OF DEVELOPING NATIONS (IW)

This course is designed to study the causes and consequences of underdevelopment in the global South. More specifically, we will study national-level political institutions, processes, and outcomes in “developing nations” of Latin America and Africa. We will try to answer three main questions throughout the course: 1) with the notable exception of a few, why are these countries less wealthy than the advanced industrial nations of Europe and its settler colonies of North America? 2) What are the political determinants of economic success or failure? And 3) what are the political consequences of lower levels of economic development?