Globalisation, Environment and Development (Graduate Certificate - Graduate Diploma)

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Birkbeck, University of London

Comments about Globalisation, Environment and Development (Graduate Certificate - Graduate Diploma) - At the institution - London - Greater London

• Objectives
  Debates about globalisation, the future of the global environment and human development have become ever more pressing in the last decade or so. The pressure of a rapidly changing global economy on nation states, on the natural environment and on peoples’ everyday lives has become much more evident. It has also become the focus of popular debates and has climbed the political agenda in recent years. This programme offers those with a broadly relevant first degree background to update and expand their understanding of some of the most pressing issues facing the world today. The fields of development studies and the academic debate around globalisation are fast-moving, and this up-to-date course provides a detailed and wide-ranging insight into both the theoretical and policy questions that lie at the centre of these fields. Our interdisciplinary approach offers a unique understanding of how these various fields of social science relate to each other. It will enable you to develop a much more confident and broad-based understanding of the most profound changes taking place in human society at the start of the twenty-first century. We recognise the importance of these areas, which is why this programme is geared to updating and/or extending your knowledge of the subject and helping you gain up-to-date specialised skills that will give you a competitive edge in the workplace.
• Entry requirements
  Entry requirements First degree in geography, environment or the social sciences. Other qualifications may be taken into consideration.
• Academic title
  Globalisation, Environment and Development (Graduate Certificate / Graduate Diploma)
• Course description
  -Graduate Certificate: complete two full modules (worth 30 credits each), to a total of 60 credits.
  
  -Graduate Diploma: complete two full modules, plus an independent -geographical study (worth 60 credits), to a total of 120 credits.
  
  Module options:
  
  -Globalisation in the Contemporary World: this module provides a wide-ranging understanding of academic theories around the concept of globalisation. It examines the nature of globalisation in relation to the emergence of a global economy, as well as questions concerning global culture, politics, and environmental issues. It moves on to consider topics such as the development of global cities, global financial integration, global political structures, and the development of transnational communities and social movements. In particular, it looks at new forms of resistance to contemporary globalisation in the form of the actions and ideas of the anti- or alter- globalisation movement.
  
  -Environment and Development in the Global South: ranging from ecotourism to the ‘greening’ of the World Bank and global corporations, this module explores in detail a range of debates about the relationship between environment and development in the Global South. The course will intersect with areas of key geographical interest, including: material and discursive power and resistance, postcolonialism, social movements, inequality, and spatial and social patterns of change. The module will analyse different theoretical models for understanding changing environmental conditions and discourses in the context of (mostly) capitalist world development. Studies in Orientalism, modernisation theories, neo-Malthusianism, sustainable development, political ecology, neopopulism, ecofeminism and ecological modernization will form a context for analyses of changing conservation agendas, religion and ecology, global environmental politics and transnational environmental movements in the Global South.
  
  -Issues in Development Economics: from the World Bank and the IMF, to the modern emergencies of debt, famine and conflict, this module equips you with theoretical knowledge backed up by knowledge of specific countries' experiences. It aims to empower you to take informed positions on issues ranging from alternative development and industrialisation strategies, to the changing patterns of international capital flows and its consequent crises of debt and instability. To achieve this, the course introduces you to the major theoretical paradigms on growth and development. It then introduces policy issues and experience relating to agriculture, trade, industrialisation, and international financial flows.
  

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