Structure

This module is organized as a collegiate, seminar-discussion-based module. Learners should expect to spend approximately 2 weeks on this module. Each week will have 2 sets of assigned readings, designed for twice-weekly class meetings.

The module is divided into 2 parts of 1 week each. Part 1 dives into how colonization in the past affected inclusive and extractive political and economic institutions across Africa and the Americas. This submodule will also describe the subsequent economic effects on these places when colonialism was occurring. The second half of part 1 will focus more on the present, discussing why economic equality is so widespread today and how European imperialism has affected the political and economic development of countries in the Global South.

Part 2 explains how poor political institutions caused by colonialism force developing countries into poverty traps. By providing specific examples—such as Sierra Leone’s corrupt government (a former British colony) and fossil fuel industry in Africa—this part effectively captures the shadow of colonialism in today’s developing world.

I advise for these readings to be completed in this order so that proper historical context can be set and readers can understand key concepts, like inclusive and extractive institutions, before learning about present examples that followed as a consequential result. While these readings are recommended to be read in this order, the pace at which they are read can be changed to meet student and class needs accordingly. By this, I mean that learners can engage with this material over a period longer than 2 weeks. Depending on preference, the structure can also be swapped so that economic inequality today and poverty in developing countries comes first. They can then tie this back to European colonialism.