Universität Wien
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240121 SE VM5 / VM2 - Oil Crises, Debt Crises, Structural Adjustment Programms (2021W)

The 'Long 1980s' as 'Lost Decade' of Development

7.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 24 - Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie
Continuous assessment of course work
ON-SITE
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 25 participants
Language: German

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

The first session will take place "online only" via BigBlueButton; the link can be found on Moodle.
The rest of the seminar can take place on site, if possible and desired.
In case of a large group, the seminar may be split; i.e. each participant will read texts and do homework every week, but only attend sessions in person every two weeks.
Alternative: "online only" seminar with BigBlueButton. We will decide how to proceed in the first session.

Please note that the 6th session will not be held on Tuesday from 2 to 4 p.m. as usual, but on Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2021, from 4 to 6 p.m. Please make a note of this change in your calendar.

  • Tuesday 05.10. 14:00 - 16:00 Digital
  • Tuesday 12.10. 14:00 - 16:00 Seminarraum SG1 Internationale Entwicklung, Sensengasse 3, Bauteil 1
  • Tuesday 19.10. 14:00 - 16:00 Seminarraum SG1 Internationale Entwicklung, Sensengasse 3, Bauteil 1
  • Tuesday 09.11. 14:00 - 16:00 Seminarraum SG1 Internationale Entwicklung, Sensengasse 3, Bauteil 1
  • Tuesday 16.11. 14:00 - 16:00 Seminarraum SG1 Internationale Entwicklung, Sensengasse 3, Bauteil 1
  • Tuesday 30.11. 14:00 - 16:00 Seminarraum SG1 Internationale Entwicklung, Sensengasse 3, Bauteil 1
  • Tuesday 07.12. 14:00 - 16:00 Seminarraum SG1 Internationale Entwicklung, Sensengasse 3, Bauteil 1
  • Tuesday 14.12. 14:00 - 16:00 Seminarraum SG1 Internationale Entwicklung, Sensengasse 3, Bauteil 1
  • Tuesday 11.01. 14:00 - 16:00 Seminarraum SG1 Internationale Entwicklung, Sensengasse 3, Bauteil 1
  • Tuesday 18.01. 14:00 - 16:00 Seminarraum SG1 Internationale Entwicklung, Sensengasse 3, Bauteil 1
  • Tuesday 25.01. 14:00 - 16:00 Seminarraum SG1 Internationale Entwicklung, Sensengasse 3, Bauteil 1

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

The 1980s are often referred to as the "lost decade of development." Originally, the term referred to recessions in Latin America, but it soon came to refer to broader development policy changes during this period, some of which continue to have an impact today. In the wake of a neoliberal turn, government spending on development goals was massively cut in many countries, and "aid" was henceforth focused primarily on creating supposedly ideal conditions for free market economies to flourish. The aim of the seminar is to trace the historical origins and course of this global neoliberal turn.
The seminar focuses on economic policy decisions and events at the international level, but also on the consequences of these policies and upheavals in individual countries, e.g. in the USA or Jamaica. We look at the "oil shocks" of the 1970s and the demand for a New International Economic Order (NIEO) formulated by countries of the global South in 1974; the "Volcker shock" of 1979 and the conservative "counter-revolution"; debt crises and the implementation of structural adjustment programs as well as civil society resistance movements in the 1980s; and finally, the formulation of the "Washington Consensus" and the transformation processes in the (post)communist world (Eastern Europe and China) in the late 1980s.

Previous knowledge of economics is not a prerequisite for participation; we will read and discuss mainly historiographical texts (written in English).

Assessment and permitted materials

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

weekly:
- response papers that discuss the required readings
- active participation in the individual sessions
one-time:
a seminar paper, a short presentation, active participation in the IE talk by Paul Kershaw on Wednesday, November 24, 2021, 4-6 p.m.

Examination topics

Reading list

Introductions/ Overviews:

Latham, Michael. The Right Kind of Revolution: Modernization, Development, and U.S. Foreign Policy from the Cold War to the Present. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2011, 157-185. (Kapitel 6 "Modernization under Fire: Alternative Paradigms, Sustainable Development, and the Neoliberal Turn").

Lorenzini, Sara. Global Development: A Cold War History. Princeton: Princeton University Press: 2019, 160-169. (Kapitel 10 "The Dynamics of the Lost Decade")

Mazower, Mark. Governing the World: The History of an Idea. New York: The Penguin Press, 2012, 343-377. (Kapitel 12 "The Real New International Economic Order")

Sargent, Daniel. "The Cold War and the international political economy in the 1970s." Cold War History, 13, no. 3 (2013): 393-425.

Ther, Philipp. “Eine Einführung in die Geschichte des Neoliberalismus” In Osteuropa transformiert, edited by T. Olteanu et. al., 125-153. Springer VS: Wiesbaden (2017).

Ther, Philipp. “Neoliberalismus,” Version: 1.0, in: Docupedia-Zeitgeschichte, 05.07.2016 http://docupedia.de/zg/ther_neoliberalismus_v1_de_2016 

Toye, John and Richard Toye. The UN and Global Political Economy. Trade, Finance and Development, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004, 254-275. (Kapitel 11 "The Conservative Counterrevolution of the 1980s")

Unger, Corinna. International Development: A Postwar History. London: Bloomsbury, 2018, 143-152. (Kapitel 8 "The Disintegration of Development")

Association in the course directory

VM5 / VM2

Last modified: Fr 12.05.2023 00:21