SOCIAL JUSTICE AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE MEDITERRANEAN

This teaching will provide students with the analytical and methodological tools necessary for a critical approach to interpret current socio-economic and political dynamics in the Southern Mediterranean, by exploring the relation between neoliberal economic policies, social justice and development as well as the multiple alternatives in response to the dominant development model.

- Students will acquire the analytical and methodological instruments for a critical understanding of the complex social, economic and political dynamics of Southern Mediterranean, through the analysis of a number of key issues (labour, energy, environment and agriculture), numerous case studies and a plurality of sources.

By problematizing the concepts of social justice and development, students will learn to assess economic policies and cooperation projects according to criteria that valorise bottom-up perspectives.

Drawing from the analysis of alternative ideas and practices to the dominant development model in Tunisia, Morocco and other Southern Mediterranean countries, students will start thinking and reflecting on possible proposals aimed at promoting social justice in the Mediterranean.

Finally, students will acquire the following skills: Ability to assess, through a critical approach, statistics, documents, projects and policies toward Southern Mediterranean countries in the field of energy, industry, agriculture and employment.

Criteria for admission are the same as for the study programme..

The first part will offer a brief introduction to the following issues:
i) The history of economic policies implemented since the 1980s up to now;
ii) The multiple interpretations and perceptions about social justice and development depending on different actors (e.g. international agencies, global actors, governments, political forces, local communities, civil society and so on)
This part will serve as a background to the second one.

The second part will be organised around three topics, considered to be crucial for a better understanding of the relation between social justice and development in the Southern Mediterranean:
- Environment and exploitation of natural resources
- Labour question with a focus on gender dynamics
- Agriculture and rural development

For each topic, drawing from different case studies, this part will take into exam policies and projects implemented by local governments and international actors, with particular attention to Euro-Mediterranean relations and putting at the centre a bottom up perspective.

The final part will analyse the alternatives that have emerged in response to the dominant development model. It will discuss proposals by scholars, civil society groups and social movements, as well as projects and concrete initiatives aimed at promoting more inclusive, equal and sustainable societies.

The reading list to prepare the exam, my power-point presentations and other material will be available on moodle platform (a.y. 2023-2024) (https://moodle.unive.it/login/index.php ).

Questions on the topics covered in class will be addressed to the students at the beginning or end of lesson.

Group activities

- Power-point presentations
- Case study analysis
- Group activities
- Analysis of audio sources and videos
- Analysis of secondary sources (academic literature) and primary sources (interviews, official documents, statistical data..)
- Complementary readings on the covered topics (not compulsory for the exam)

Italian

written and oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Poverty and inequalities" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development