Global Inequality and International Development

In September 2000, world leaders in New York adopted the Millennium Declaration, which embodied eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and about 20 specific targets. Following a decade in which the 'development project' seemed to have lost fashion, the international community decided to face up the widening gap between the rich and the poor. This led to a renewed focus by most donors on foreign aid and in fact the amount of development assistance increased enormously, more than doubling between 2000 and 2007. But to achieve the MDGs, it eventually became clear that foreign aid was not enough, but better synergies between aid and non-aid policies needed to be explored. This course focuses on the relations between the North and the South and looks at how issues of trade, agriculture, migration, investment in environment can reduce global inequalities and promote international development.