This course will provide a conceptual framework for understanding the efforts at reform of international development cooperation. We will focus on reform initiatives relating to the United Nations development system, which manages some 17 billion dollars annually. The UN is a significant actor in the efforts of the international development community. At the same time, the last ten years have been characterised by important changes in the global development architecture and these have in turn led to increasingly strong calls for reforms in the UN development system. Globalisation has the potential either to marginalise the UN development system or to give it a critical role in the 21st century. Applying the conceptual framework, we will analyse the challenges posed by globalisation from two perspectives. The first will be to analyse the impact globalisation is having on development cooperation and the attempts to reform the development system in response. The second will be to identify the key institutional challenges this gives rise to. We will study the interplay between strategy, mission, funding, capacity and leadership in implementing reform in the international public sector. We will base our work on primary materials and draw heavily on practical examples.

Reading materials are posted in the password-protected area of the website (LOGIN).