Poverty and Development into the 21st Century
Edited by Tim Allen and Alan Thomas
Oxford University Press

The book combines chapters written by experts with simple, visual aids, photographs, tables and diagrams.

Open University courses are the main 'building blocks' of our qualifications. You can take a single course or take several to build towards an Open University diploma or degree.

Which level of study is most suitable for you?

• New to studying social sciences?
• Have some study experience and interested in Globalisation and International Development
• Interested in a postgraduate qualification in Development Management?

Where to Start

An Introduction to the Social Sciences (DD100)

The social sciences are about people, how they act individually and how they act collectively. This course tackles everyday issues in an approachable and accessible ways, so that you can build on what you already know and draw on your own experience.

DD100 will help you understand some of the big issues in the contemporary world, such as changes in family, work and identity; risk and the environment; and the impact of globalisation. Course texts and carefully structured workbooks help you to improve your study skills. After this course, further study in the social sciences could lead to employment opportunities in a wide range of occupations.

Higher level study

International Development (U213)

International development in its many manifestations presents the world with some of its most pressing challenges. This course introduces the main issues associated with meeting those challenges and, in so doing, looks critically at ideas about inequality at local and global levels and the relationship between the levels. The first part introduces the main issues, placing them in their historical context. The second part examines three themes: Transitions (offering a choice between sustainability and displacement); Poverty and Inequality; and Technology and Knowledge.

Living in a Globalised World (DD205)

It is commonplace now to say that the world has gone global. Whenever we buy food and clothes, listen to music, or watch the news, we can see how different parts of the world, often thousands of miles apart, are connected together. And with these multiple and various connections comes a sense of the world as being an extraordinarily complex place. This course will help you to understand that complexity, giving you some key geographical concepts which help to make sense of the processes and patterns shaping our globalised world.

A World of Whose Making? (DU301)

The globalisation of the world economy is at the same time a process of political change. But how can we best understand and analyse international developments such as the role of the World Trade Organisation, the power of the USA, or global contests over religion, culture and rights?

What are the main forms of international order and disorder, and how are they changing? The course provides the tools of political and economic analysis needed to answer these questions as well as an historical and conceptual understanding of states and security; the contested place of religion, culture and norms at an international and global level; and the role of technology, inequality and networks.

The course concludes with a review of models of world order and debates about how world order is changing. A central feature of the course is its wide range of voices from different parts of the world.

Postgraduate study

MSc in Development Management (F11)

This MSc is part of our Development Management programme, which also offers a Postgraduate Certificate in Development Management (C48) and Postgraduate Diploma in Development Management (D37), is for:

• professionals in project management and those who have responsibility for development initiatives in government, non-governmental organisations, international and inter-governmental agencies and public and private enterprises
• people who intend to work in those areas, or who have an interest in public action for development
• those who want to combine important elements of development and management
• those who want to expand their conceptual and practical skills by taking an international perspective on management