4000

Students will be in a capacity to learn about the various research approaches and methods while developing at the same time a preliminary document for a graduation project where their research question is restated and a framework for the interpretation of analysis is developed, in addition to a brief bibliographic review.

How is knowledge produced, justified and used over prevailing dimensions of the category "development" used within the notions of regional development? What does the paradigmatic changes from objectuality to subjectivity and towards omnijectivity within the prevailing dimensions of development imply? These are the core questions with regard to the course´s theme and for whose answers an individual and collective knowledge construction methodology has been foreseen regarding the theoretical-methodological approach of the Graduation Project of each participant in the regional development planning and administration area, from the field of investigation of interdisciplinary development studies .

The course is organized in four modules which approach the following issues: 1) Discourses and conceptions of civil society, mainly from the analysis of global civil society, new social movements and the contemporary resurgence of civil society. 2) New social movements and new theoretical paradigms. 3) Citizenship, civil society and the dispute over democratic construction in Latin America. 4) Issues and debates around global civil society, the deepening of democracy and the struggle for social justice in the global political economy.

The close relationship between development management and environment, as well as political and institutional changes with regard to public policies has become more evident day after day. The seminar will analyze the main current themes and debates relative to the he society-nature relationship , through an in depth analysis of the so called environmental dimension of development, the concept of sustainability. and the multiple expressions of current social-environmental conflicts, as well as the various approaches and intervention practices aimed at promoting the conservation and sustainable use of the territory and of natural resources.

The student who receives advise from his Graduation Project Director must make a final bibliographical review and produce a version in accordance with the provisions set forth in the Master´s Degree Program graduation project regulations.

The close relation between development management and environment is increasingly clearer, which leads to political and institutional changes in the field of public policies. The seminar analyzes the main issues and current debates around the relation between society and nature, with a focus on the analysis of the so-called environmental dimension of development of the concept of sustainability and the multiple expressions of current socio-environmental conflicts, and on the different approaches and practices of intervention aiming at promoting the preservation and sustainable use of territory and natural resources.

The course is organized in four modules, which dwell on the following topics: 1) Discourses and conceptions of civil society, mainly based on the analysis of the global civil society, new social movements and the contemporary re-emergence of civil society. 2) The new social movements and the new theoretical paradigms. 3) Citizenship, civil society and the dispute for the construction of democracy in Latin America. 4) Issues and debates around global civil society, strengthening of democracy and the struggle for social justice in the global political economy.

Graduation Project defense.

Employment is the link between economic and social issues, between home and society, between public and private entities, between education and production. Analyzing the labor market is a core issue in the concerns about development. It is important in social issues because of its long-lasting impacts on the quality of life of human groups, as part of cultural issues due to the change of identities and social practices, as part of political and institutional issues because it provides legitimacy to a society and the redesign of power organizations, as part of economic issues because it generates and allows social reproduction. Development dimensions are related not only to labor, but also to time and space scales thereof. This concern has been essential in looking at the relation between global and local aspects, between national and municipal contexts. From the local viewpoint, it is a relatively novel function for administration and local governments. This course incorporates the principal approaches and theoretical perspectives as Local Economic Development practices for employment analysis, which will be dwelled on based on debates over agglomeration, innovation and governance, as common issues for globalization and gender for the analysis of labor and labor markets, in order to locate one of the most important concerns in political, institutional and economic life within the perspective of local and regional development.

After 50 years of official development assistance, we confront the same core questions as those in the development agenda in 1948: How to eradicate the different forms of human deprivation? How to respond to the public policy challenges posed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?, and how to ensure full enjoyment of political, economic, social and cultural civil rights for all humankind? The return of poverty as a core issue in the debate around development and its global scope is closely related to two issues, which are common to many other problems and are present between and within countries, namely: a) The rediscovery of inequality: the world is not flat.  The realization about the existence of deep inequalities related to a delayed eradication of poverty has brought about important changes such as the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals by the United Nations General Assembly, or the adoption by International Financial Institutions of new instruments, including Policy Reduction Framework Papers. The rediscovery of the issue of inequality is related to an undeniable increase in income inequality observed in the most populated nations in the world, such as the United States, China, Brazil and Russia and, more recently, India, as well as within other countries with transition economies. At the same time, the poorest 20% of the population appears to be losing ground and experiencing new levels of human deprivation and exclusion from the potential benefits of a world that is more open to exchange and opportunities, because the basic health problems, access to water, deterioration of natural resources and the livelihood of millions of people remain urgent and are still unresolved.   b) Social exclusion and differential access to the benefits of globalization: Globalization has accelerated a series of critical processes, unprecedented in the past 500 years, we live in a time of abrupt and extreme contrast among social groups, countries and geographic regions with a high access to resources and opportunities on one side, and on the other, a wider group of people, countries, and possibly geographic regions, that are marked by deep inequalities regarding access to resources and opportunities, as well as a gradual collapse of their own environment, this issue transcends the barriers of inequality regarding impact but not as to potential for confrontation.   Perhaps now more than ever are we able to state that the same environment that we have modified in our quest for growth and expansion of our production capacity required for a greater social justice, is now becoming a threat. The issues of climate change, environmental degradation, and their most evident consequence: natural disasters, tell us that we should have a wider vision, and that our research and public policies must face the challenge of the interdisciplinary and multi-dimension character of problems. At the same time, our institutional structures appear now, as rarely before, impotent in facing the challenges of environmental collapse and social exclusion social, when the ability to govern and generate public value and wellbeing is subject to the evil forces of economy and the unbridled interests that pursue profit to an extent never seen before since the times of domination of religion over monarchy during the Middle Ages.

The student who receives advise from his Graduate Project director must carry out a final bibliographical review and produce a final version of the Graduation Project.

The location of natural, social, economical and political phenomena is a basic aspect that influences the development process of a region. The phenomena or processes where location is important are a special type of data known as geographic or spatial information. The location of different phenomena allows to answer the following questions: What regions develop more than others? How are environmental and socio-economic variables related within the territory? How does this relationship evolve through time?   The location of these phenomena may be both cause and consequence of activities related to development, equity and inequity of its impacts and benefits. Developing computer system tools for the analysis and manipulation of geographic information, particularly of geographic information systems (SIG), global positioning systems (GPS) and information from remote sensors, has revolutionized the way phenomena, resources and current processes are managed and analyzed on the earth´s surface. These tools and their application to geographic data management and analysis of specific problems have created new disciplines known as u>geomatics.   Geomatics allows to answer five basic questions about a specific place or region:   Qué phenomena or resources are present SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION Where are located in different places Howare PROCESSES being usedWhen are they usedWhy are they used.  Considering that the territory is the geograpahic area where these activities take place, geomatic tools have a huge potential within the processes of territorial planning, development and management of territorial resources. Among others, these tools contribute to the decision process for resource management, enable to perform evaluations and monitoring of the territorial management and the impact from development policies. Additionally, they allow to simulate and model potential impacts resulting from the application of different types of management over the territory. Despite the enormous potential of geomatic tools, it is important to take into account its limitations, not only regarding the tools per se, but also the data available to use them. The course´s general objective is to provide an overall view of geomatic tools for students to learn about their basic functions, advantages and disadvantages of using them, information limitations and their application potential in various knowledge disciplines.   Unlike other geomatic courses, this one does not pretend to teach a specific package, it rather seeks for each student to acquire basic spatial analysis concepts that can be used independently from the program that may be available.