IB DP Global Politics – Thematic study – Development and sustainability Revision Notes

For full explanations and worked examples, read the Development and sustainability study guide first. These notes condense the whole thematic study for the final weeks before Paper 2. They follow the IB Diploma Programme Global politics guide (first assessment 2026, published February 2024), the course examined from the May 2026 session onwards. They cover all four prescribed topics of the Development and sustainability thematic study, which is common to SL and HL.

Links: course hub · printable checklist · practice questions · assessment revision notes

The four prescribed topics at a glance

1. Contested meanings: development, sustainability, poverty, inequality.
2. Interactions of political stakeholders and actors: states and governments at every level; civil society; IGOs including international financial institutions (IFIs); marginalised, vulnerable or most affected groups; TNCs and MNCs.
3. Nature, practice and study: dimensions and assessment; pathways; economic, environmental, political, social and institutional factors; links between development and sustainability.
4. Debates: globalization and development; sustainable development; alternative views.

Definitions to know

Term	Recall version
Development	Improvement in people’s lives across economic, political, social and institutional dimensions – not growth alone
Human development	Widening people’s real freedoms and capabilities (Sen)
Sustainability	A system or practice that can continue without destroying what it depends on; environmental, social and economic
Sustainable development	Meeting present needs without reducing future generations’ ability to meet theirs (Brundtland Report, 1987)
Absolute poverty	Below a fixed minimum, e.g. the World Bank’s dollars-a-day line
Relative poverty	Well below the typical standard in your own society, e.g. under 60% of median income
Poverty as lack of opportunities	No access to school, credit, land or political voice
Inequality	Unequal income, wealth, voice or status; tied to power asymmetries
Structural adjustment	IMF/World Bank loan conditions from the 1980s: cut deficits, privatise, liberalise trade
Informal economy	Unregistered, untaxed work outside state regulation
FDI	Foreign direct investment: a firm builds or buys a lasting stake in another country

Measures – what each misses

Measure	Captures	Misses
HDI	Health, education, income (geometric mean)	Inequality, environment, freedoms
HPI	Deprivation (replaced by the MPI in 2010)	Household-level detail
MPI	Ten household indicators; MPI = H × A	Income; weights are a judgement
Happy Planet Index	Wellbeing and life expectancy per unit of ecological footprint	Objective living standards
Gini index	Income spread, 0 to 1 (or 0 to 100)	Where in the distribution inequality sits
Corruption and trust indices	Perceived honesty of institutions	Actual corruption
ESI, Sustainable Society Index, Sustainable Governance Indicators	Environmental, social and governance performance	Agreement on weights

Method in steps – using an index in an essay

1. Name the index and what it measures.
2. Use it as evidence for your point.
3. State one thing it leaves out.
4. Show how a second measure changes the picture.

Worked reminder. If 25% of people are multidimensionally poor (H = 0.25) and the average poor person is deprived in 44% of weighted indicators (A = 0.44), MPI = 0.25 × 0.44 = 0.11.

Actors – one-line roles

Actor	Role in one line
State, national and local governments and agencies	Make welfare, tax, land and environmental policy; hold sovereign control of resources
Civil society and grassroots initiatives	Mobilise, deliver services, hold power to account
World Bank	Long-term development loans and grants
IMF	Short-term balance-of-payments lending with conditions
Inter-American Development Bank	Regional development lender for Latin America and the Caribbean
WTO	Global trade rules and dispute settlement (since 1995)
Marginalised, vulnerable or most affected groups	Bear costs, often lack voice
TNCs and MNCs	Investment, jobs and technology; shape supply chains and standards

Method in steps – analysing an actor’s role

1. State what the actor wants.
2. Identify the power it holds (money, rules, votes, mobilisation).
3. Show who it cooperates or clashes with.
4. Judge whether those affected see its role as legitimate.

Pathways

Pathway	Slogan	Weakness
Modernization	Follow the rich world’s stages	One route for all
Market-led	Trade and FDI, small state	Inequality
State-led	Government picks and protects industries	Vested interests
Dependency / world-systems	Core exploits periphery	Misses success stories
Human development	Capabilities first	Slow growth payoff
Community-led / sustainable	Local control, green technology	Scale

Factors checklist (the guide’s five groups)

• Political: conflict, stability, accountability, transparency, legal frameworks, aid decisions, bureaucracy, vested interests.
• Economic: resources, infrastructure, debt, credit, aid, trade, FDI, income distribution, informal economy.
• Social: values, culture, tradition, gender relations, migration.
• Institutional: UN, IMF, World Bank, WTO, partnerships between developing countries, national and local institutions.
• Environmental: geography, resource endowment, climate change impacts.

Debates in one line each

• Globalization: export-led growth and poverty reduction versus inequality, a race to the bottom and lost policy space.
• Sustainable development and the SDGs (17 goals, 2015-2030): shared universal agenda versus growth-dependent, non-binding, internally contradictory targets.
• De-growth: rich states should shrink material throughput and aim for wellbeing; critics say it hurts jobs and ignores poorer states’ needs.
• Regenerative approaches: restore ecosystems and communities, not just limit harm.

Must-know distinctions

• Growth vs development: a rise in output vs a rise in capabilities and wellbeing.
• Absolute vs relative poverty: fixed minimum vs compared with your own society.
• Headcount vs intensity: how many are poor (H) vs how poor they are (A).
• Weak vs strong sustainability: natural capital can be replaced by human-made capital vs some natural capital cannot be replaced.
• IMF vs World Bank: short-term stability lending vs long-term development lending.
• Poverty as lack of resources vs lack of opportunities: too little income or food vs no access to school, credit, land or voice.

Method in steps – Paper 2 essay plan (15 marks)

1. Define the key term in the question, and show it is contested.
2. Set out two or three claims, each with a developed example.
3. Give a counterclaim for each and weigh them.
4. Link to at least one key concept (power, sovereignty, legitimacy, interdependence).
5. Conclude with a judgement that follows from your weighing.

Key concepts applied

• Power: who writes loan conditions, trade rules and aid priorities, and who is left out.
• Sovereignty: debt, conditional loans and investment treaties narrow a state’s policy choices.
• Legitimacy: whether affected people accept IFI, TNC and government decisions as fair.
• Interdependence: supply chains, debt and climate change tie one state’s development to others’.

For the concepts themselves, see the core guides on power and sovereignty. HL students can take cases from this unit into the global political challenges research.

Case bank – one line each

Case	Use it for
Bolsa Família, Brazil (from 2003)	State-led poverty reduction through conditional cash transfers
Green Belt Movement, Kenya	Grassroots civil society linking development and sustainability
Grameen Bank, Bangladesh	Microcredit as a community pathway, and its critics
Rana Plaza collapse, Bangladesh (2013)	TNC supply chains, labour standards and accountability
Loss and damage fund (COP27, 2022)	Climate justice and the environmental factor
Ecuador’s 2008 constitution	Rights of nature and buen vivir as an alternative view

Quick self-test

1. Name the four contested meanings in this thematic study.
2. Give two dimensions of development other than economic.
3. Which index did the MPI replace in 2010?
4. H = 0.25 and A = 0.44. Calculate the MPI.
5. A fictional country’s HDI dimension indices are 0.60, 0.80 and 0.90. Calculate its HDI to 3 s.f.
6. In a fictional country the richest fifth receive 48% of income and the poorest fifth 6%. What is the ratio of the two shares?
7. State one criticism of structural adjustment.
8. What does a Gini value of 0 mean?
9. Name the two alternative views the guide lists.
10. Give one example of a partnership between developing countries.
11. Which of the guide’s factor groups includes gender relations and migration?
12. State one criticism of the SDGs.

Answers

1. Development, sustainability, poverty, inequality.
2. Any two of political, social, institutional.
3. The Human Poverty Index (HPI).
4. 0.25 × 0.44 = 0.11.
5. Cube root of (0.60 × 0.80 × 0.90) = cube root of 0.432 ≈ 0.756.
6. 48 ÷ 6 = 8; the richest fifth receive eight times the share of the poorest fifth.
7. Any one: spending cuts hit health and education; conditions limited sovereignty; privatisation raised prices for poor households.
8. Perfect equality: everyone has the same income.
9. De-growth and regenerative approaches.
10. Any one: South-South cooperation; the BRICS New Development Bank.
11. Social factors.
12. Any one: they assume continued growth; targets conflict; they are not legally binding.

Where marks are usually lost

• Defining development only as GDP growth and never mentioning political, social or institutional development.
• Citing an index figure with no comment on what it leaves out.
• Writing about sustainability as if it meant only the environment.
• Listing actors without showing how they interact, cooperate or clash.
• Treating IFIs, TNCs or NGOs as all good or all bad, so no diverse perspectives appear.
• Naming a case (Rana Plaza, Bolsa Família) without developing it or tying it to the question.
• Dropping the key concepts, so the answer reads as economics rather than politics.
• Ending with a conclusion that does not follow from the weighing in the body.

Official syllabus

International Baccalaureate Organization, Diploma Programme Global politics guide, first assessment 2026 (published February 2024). Thematic studies: Development and sustainability. See also the practice questions and the Peace and conflict revision notes.