It’s an exciting time to be profiling the International Development Department at the University of Birmingham, as 2024 marks the institute’s 60th anniversary. Part of their celebrations link to a new publication titled The Politics of Development. The Politics of Development is more than just a book though – it is a pathbreaking introduction to the controversial, contested and deeply political topic of development, written in an engaging and readable style that makes it essential for anyone studying and researching across the development discipline! What makes the book standout is that it’s a genuine collaboration across the entire department, edited by five members of IDD, led by Dr Claire Mcloughlin, with 21 colleagues contributing to the individual chapters.

“Writing the book has been a truly great process of sitting down and thrashing out how we see development, especially the politics of development,” says Professor of Politics and Development and Head of Department at the University of Birmingham, David Hudson. 

“As a result of working together on the book, we collectively came up with – what we think is! – a good definition of what development is. International development is the process of contestation around alternative desired futures.”

Hudson explains: “It’s not that one takes a political science lens to study development challenges, because actually the idea of development is political in itself. If we think of development as change, then we need to think ‘who is that change for?’ and ‘who helps to define what that change is?’ Rather than us define or predetermine what change is, we think that the process of contestation is itself the heart of development. We all have different interests in how the future looks and it’s that process which for us defines what development is.” 

This new position is a long way from the IDD’s start in 1964, when it was known as the Institute of Local Government and based its research on governance and governments, and delivered training to newly independent post-colonial public administrators.”

“Governance and governments is still a really strong thread that runs through all of IDD’s teaching and research, but IDD has now changed so that our focus is also on governance and politics across many different issues and sectors. For example, in gender inclusion, disability, security, the environment, food, health, as well as institutions and democracy. Our work is now more global, we take a more universal perspective and underline the inequalities of power and historical legacies that shape outcomes.”

“Part of our 60th anniversary year is about reflecting long and hard about where we have come from, where we are at and where we are going,” says Hudson. “We are asking what it means to be a northern-based development studies department going into the future. This means we must think about our role, our global partnerships and the divisions of the thought and labour between north and south and what authentic partnership means. It means being humble and focussing on shifting the power.”

The 60th anniversary of the Department is also focussing their future on the big and long standing questions such, as how to organise political authority; how to think about inclusion around the axis of gender ethnicity, race, disability; how to ensure that the future is sustainable? Colleagues in the department are also addressing connected questions around climate, conflict and migration, and a world that is increasingly embracing AI.

“Those questions are all areas that IDD colleagues are actively working on. How we do it is important, but the challenges facing the next generation mean we need to look ahead, not only looking at the present and the past.”

Addressing those future questions is IDD’s cohort of students, who are made up of a new undergraduate programme of nearly 100 students (the first cohort graduated in 2023); 300 postgraduate students across five Masters of Science and three Masters in Public Administration; and a PhD programme. 

Postgraduate students come from around the world and are taking a break from their careers to enhance their skills before returning to roles in government, administration, business, and civil society within their home countries. “This makes teaching a joy because of the rich experience they bring and their understanding of the mechanics and the way government works,” reflects Hudson. 

IDD has strong and well established links to policy and practice in different forms, such as formal seconded positions and sitting on advisory groups within the FCDO, through to board membership with large NGOs such as Oxfam, and advising private foundations and working with local civil society organisations.

This focus allows IDD to work with partners to identify what needs to be researched in the first place and stakeholders are involved in co-producing and co-designing relevant research proposals grounded in real world challenges. Examples include:

But Hudson also points out that the Department is not just a functional applied research organisation that is merely helping improve policy, it also balances policy practice with critical work. “IDD colleagues are incredibly critical; critical of power but also critical of their own work in the endeavour of development studies, the history of it and whose voices count.”

IDD is a pre-eminent member of the DSA. “We get so much from hearing what the others do and having conversations and sharing the experiences and challenges we face,” says Hudson. “The DSA is truly collegiate and I am struck by how much there is a desire and willingness to work together when we could see each other as competitive organisations,” says Hudson, citing without prompting from us, the DSA’s recent statement on UKRI and collecting shared responses and learnings about the REF.

If you’d like to connect to IDD researchers, visit their website, and sign up for their newsletter. They will also be at the DSA2024 conference in London with panels and papers on the following: