http://www.gsdrc.org Academic and policy-relevant publications on governance and international development. en-uk Copyright © 2012 Governance and Social Development Resource Centre Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:00:11 GMT Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:00:11 GMT http://www.gsdrc.org/rss/open george@gsdrc.org george@gsdrc.org http://www.gsdrc.org/images/logos/logo_gsdrc.gif http://www.gsdrc.org 205 90 GSDRC logo Joy Moncrieffe This study examines the concept of accountability from technical and relational perspectives. It argues that the principles of justice and equality are key for cultivating more equitable relations of accountability, which are critical for human development and necessary for the stability of democracies. Accountability will remain abstract and non-transformative until the implications of its relational dimension are understood. It is important to recognise the ingrained perceptions that skew accountability in unproductive ways. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4230&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4230&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Informal institutions Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT Nauja Kleist There is a growing trend in Ghana of appointing traditional authorities with an international migrant background. This study shows that Ghanaian chiefs who have lived abroad are expected to draw on transnational networks and experiences to bring development and innovation to their areas. Some collaborate with international development agencies, NGOs, and migrants, and tour European and North American countries. 'Return chiefs' must balance 'the modern' and 'the traditional', and their practices in negotiating this tension are both local and global. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4214&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4214&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Informal institutions Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT Carolyn Logan This examination of 2008-9 Afrobarometer survey data finds intense support for traditional authority across 19 African countries and all socio-demographic groups: large majorities believe that the institution should still play a significant role in local governance. Africans place considerable value on chiefs' role in managing and resolving conflict, their leadership qualities and their accessibility. Traditional leaders also seem to play an essential symbolic role as representatives of community identity, unity, continuity and stability: they seem to derive their support at least as much from who they are as from what they do. As long as chiefs continue to produce (especially intrinsic) benefits for their communities, they will continue to be perceived as important players who must remain active in local governance if it is to function effectively. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4197&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4197&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Informal institutions Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT Adrian Leftwich This paper suggests that working politically in a developmental context means directing attention and support to the agents of reform and development (leaders and organisations). This allows investment in the local processes that will resolve problems – such as problems of collective action – through the work of alliances and coalitions. Hence, it will drive the formation and consolidation of the locally appropriate, feasible and legitimate institutions that are most likely to advance development outcomes. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4191&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4191&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Informal institutions Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT Diana Mitlin, David Satterthwaite, Sheridan Bartlett Recent experiences demonstrate the significance of collective savings among low-income urban citizens in developing countries. Such practices have helped to raise incomes, consolidate and protect individual and collective assets, and reduce political exclusion. Some savings groups have evolved into substantive institutions. Not only can community savings initiatives trigger multiple reinforcing effects that help to move households out of poverty, they can also achieve changed relations with government agencies that support a more effective pro-poor and accountable state. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4187&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4187&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Informal institutions Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT Odd-Helge Fjeldstad Why have many anti-corruption reforms in customs in sub-Saharan Africa apparently not succeeded? This paper argues that the reforms have been too focused on formal institutions, and have paid too little attention to political economy issues and the role of informal institutions. Customs officers are often torn between compliance with abstract bureaucratic norms and the concrete expectations of their networks of social belonging. Accordingly, policy initiatives should focus more on reducing the possibility or attraction of favouritism versus acting in the public interest. This calls for anti-corruption efforts based on thorough political economy analysis. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4181&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4181&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Informal institutions Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT Jake Sherman How can criminal justice be strengthened in countries at risk of violent conflict? This paper examines criminal justice sector reform, relating it to research on the causes of violence. It argues that rather than focusing exclusively on state institutions – or blindly rushing to support informal systems – reform must be based on an understanding of actual demand for justice services. Donors need to improve their understanding of local contexts, address funding gaps, and improve measurement of results and outcomes. Interventions should: 1) encompass a broader range of local justice requirements; 2) seek to incorporate existing links between state and informal sectors into legislation and procedures; and 3) counter organised- and cross-border crime through multi-sectoral interventions with long-term vision. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4175&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4175&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Informal institutions Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT Leigh T. Toomey This paper argues that, given the empirical evidence on the high level of recourse to customary law, customary legal systems are integral to development, and that both customary and state legal systems have a role to play in a functional justice sector. It sets out a framework of policy options for programmes that seek to harness the respective strengths of customary and state legal systems. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4172&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4172&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Informal institutions Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT Michael Taylor This paper reports on pilot projects in Nigeria and Tanzania that tested the potential for religious organisations to engage collaboratively in policy consultation processes. The cases showed that Faith-Based Organisations can cooperate across religious and denominational divides to assemble grassroots data on issues central to Poverty Reduction Strategy Processes (and their successors), analyse findings and present them to government. They demonstrate that similar projects could be implemented more widely. Positive influences on policy depend, among other things, on the power relations within religious organisations and between faith communities and the state. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4152&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4152&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Informal institutions Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT Marwan Muasher How have efforts towards political reform fared in Jordan in the past ten years? How can this performance be explained? Successive Jordanian governments have failed to dismantle the laws and institutions that thwart the development of an effective system of checks and balances. This paper charts efforts at reform, and finds that an entrenched elite has successfully fought off reform attempts in order to preserve a rentier system based on rewards for loyalty rather than merit. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4150&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4150&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Informal institutions Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT UNESCO How can intercultural dialogue be promoted? This chapter examines cultural interactions and the barriers to dialogue such as stereotyping and intolerance. It argues that the perceived traits or identities that can lead to isolation and stereotyping can also be the bases for dialogue. The success of intercultural dialogue is dependent on the ability to listen with empathy. Support should continue to be given to networks and initiatives for intercultural and interfaith dialogue at all levels. It is important to ensure the full involvement of new partners, especially women and young people. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4136&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4136&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Informal institutions Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT H. Dean Nielsen How effective are community empowerment programmes in World Bank-supported educational programmes? Can community-led school management help to improve the quality of teaching and learning for the poor and disadvantaged? This article reviews 12 country case studies for evidence of their effectiveness. It suggests that school development features that contribute to learning outcomes – such as curriculum development, teacher assessment and student assessment – need to remain the responsibility of education professionals. A realistic model of community empowerment in support of basic education would contain an appropriate mix of community and professional involvement. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4080&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4080&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Informal institutions Mon, 01 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT Naila Kabeer How can development interventions manage information and ideas so as to empower women more effectively? This paper suggests that particular attention must be given to strengthening women's capacity for voice and action at five 'critical moments' of an intervention's planning cycle: conception, design, implementation, evaluation, and learning. At these moments, the ideas, values and knowledge of key actors profoundly affect how an intervention plays out in practice, and thus what it is able to achieve. Gender equality concerns are especially important at the conceptualisation stage, so as to plan follow-through. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4065&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4065&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Informal institutions Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT Andrea Cornwall and Karen Brock What do 'poverty reduction', 'participation' and 'empowerment' really mean? Has their use influenced mainstream development policy? This paper argues that the terms we use are never neutral. Different configurations of words frame and justify particular kinds of development interventions. Terms are given meaning as they are put to use in policies, and the policies influence how those who work in development come to think about what they are doing. 'Poverty reduction', 'participation' and 'empowerment' have been emptied of meaning by a lack of specificity that masks differing opinions. This 'one size fits all' apolitical approach undermines their ability to deliver the aspirations that they promote. Significant difference could be achieved in policies and actions if greater attention were paid to specificity in choosing words. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4059&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4059&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Informal institutions Sat, 01 Jan 2005 00:00:00 GMT Yongfu Huang What is the interaction between financial development and democratisation in developing countries? This research examines whether institutional improvement (i.e. democratisation) stimulates financial development. Improved institutional quality is associated with increases in financial development – at least in the short run – especially for lower-income countries, ethnically divided countries and French legal origin countries. Democratic transitions are typically preceded by low financial development, but followed by a short-run boost in financial development and greater volatility of financial development. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3999&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3999&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Informal institutions Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT Mark C. Casson, Marina Della Giusta and Uma S. Kambhampati How do formal and informal institutions influence each other and the process of development? This paper presents a critical review of the literature on institutional change and the role of institutions. Issues of equity, economic rules and regulations, caste, religion, social capital and elite groups impact on the dynamics of institutions. It is necessary to further analyse the ways in which informal institutions both shape formal institutions and change the interactions of agents in social organisations. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3997&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3997&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Informal institutions Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT Nicola Jones et al. Do social institutions result in gender differences in the incidence of poverty? This paper finds that discriminatory family codes, son bias, limited resource entitlements, physical insecurity and restricted civil liberties play a role in chronic poverty, specifically that of young women. It is therefore important to: eliminate gender discrimination through legal provisions; support girls' participation in decision-making; invest in child- and gender-sensitive social protection; extend services to hard-to-reach girls; strengthen girls' resource access; and promote girls' control over their bodies. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3996&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3996&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Informal institutions Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT Matthew Andrews, Jesse McConnell and Alison O. Wescott Development involves change but what does it take to get change done and what role does leadership play in effecting change? This paper examines literature on change in large organizations. Leadership is context-specific and about groups rather than individuals. Leaders are not those who possess a series of traits but those who provide a functional contribution which also helps build change space. Leadership interventions should focus on building functional groups, creating change space rather than creating leaders, and be context-specific. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3995&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3995&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Informal institutions Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT Jim Woodhill How can institutional innovation be catalysed? This paper argues that societies' overall learning capacities need to be enhanced in ways that enable greater responsiveness and resilience to emerging risks. To change institutions, 'soft' capacities are needed: communication, trust-building, diplomacy, networking, making sense of messy social situations, political advocacy and leadership. Specifically, it is important to be able to navigate complexity, learn collaboratively, engage politically and to be self-reflective. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3994&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3994&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Informal institutions Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT G. Giovannetti et al. How can the international community help national reformers to build effective, legitimate and resilient states in post-conflict settings? This chapter discusses the complex intangible dimensions of state-building – state-society relations and negotiation processes. It argues that building the capacity of formal institutions needs to be complemented by actions that take into account the roles of perceptions and expectations, of bottom-up consultations and of the degree to which populations feel represented by public institutions. It recommends a gradual, long-term and socio-culturally engaged approach to state-building, which external actors may support but not lead. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3909&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3909&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Informal institutions Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT