This class is super interesting because it really grapples with the theory related to development rather than community organizing and community based cases, which is what the other development on the ground class focuses on. You learn about import theory in international relations such as Modernization, Dependency theory, multidimensional development, Keynesian and Hayek economics, liberalism, neo-liberalism, statism, Marxism, and neo-Marxism. This class is challenging because the theories you read all sort of sound similar, so it's about learning the nuanced differences between the theories. There is also a lot of reading, about three per class and they are anywhere from 15 - 30 pages long.
The grading is heavy on the midterm and group end of year assignment: the discussion posts are only 10% of the grade and pass fail.

Gabi is a great professor! She’s a great lecturer and her class grade is based off participation, weekly discussion posts, a midterm project (individual), and a final group project + reflection. The content was super interesting and I learned a lot from her! Try your best to do well on everything that is done individually in this class because the group project can tank your grade a little bit (esp if you get bad group members lol - this year the groups were ~9/10 people so it’s a lot lol). There are readings assigned and some of them are quite heavy but she does encourage you to use online aids like chat gpt to help you with them if you’re confused/stuck, and she also does a great job of going over them in class during her lectures. But like I said, if you do great on everything else you should get an A even if you don’t get your desired grade on the group project!