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Graduate Program in Development
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The Case for Interdisciplinary Training in Development Sequencing and Time to Completion |
The Case for Interdisciplinary Training in Development
Understanding and promoting economic, social, and political development is one of the primary challenges for the world in the twenty-first century. Despite the tremendous efforts over the last fifty years, a large share of the world’s population—in Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and some of the Transition Economies—still lives in abject poverty. And while many countries have made the transition to democracy, pervasive inequalities, weak political institutions, and fragile civil societies continue to pose significant challenges to the exercise of genuine democratic freedoms. The “problem” of development has moreover become an increasingly global challenge as issues of security, governance, economic stability, and environmental sustainability have become internationalized. Recent cases of economic collapse, political upheaval, and resurgent nationalism provide jarring reminders that we still have much to learn. Success stories that defy traditional trajectories of development—growth in East Asia, cases of social development without growth, and waves of democratic transitions—call for new explanatory models. In sum, coming to terms with these complexities requires modes of thinking, forms of knowledge, and tools of research that borrow from all the social sciences. GPD is a PhD with a difference because it recognizes that the differences
in perspective and technique that often separate social science disciplines
are, in fact, a source of strength and innovation. By fostering multidisciplinary
training, Brown’s Graduate Program in Development aims to create a new
generation of scholars with the intellectual breadth and the range of
research skills required for coming to terms with the challenges and complexities
of development.
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Updated February 26, 2004
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