GSDRC newsfeed on Institutional development

Debt Relief Effectiveness and Institution Building

Andrea Presbitero — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

What effects have recent debt-relief programmes had? Does debt relief promote institutional change? This article from the Development Policy Review provides new evidence on debt-relief programmes in Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs). It shows that debt relief is only weakly associated with subsequent improvements in economic performance and is correlated with increasing domestic debt. But donors are moving towards a more sensible allocation of debt forgiveness, rewarding countries that have better policies and institutions.

Development Assistance, Institution-Building and Social Cohesion after Civil War: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Liberia

James Fearon, Macartan Humphreys, Jeremy M. Weinstein — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Can brief, foreign-funded efforts to build local institutions have a positive effect on governance, cooperation and well-being? This paper from the Center for Global Development reports on a project carried out by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in northern Liberia. This community-driven reconstruction (CDR) project attempted to build democratic, community-level institutions for making decisions about local public goods. The project was successful in increasing social cohesion, with some evidence that it reinforced democratic political attitudes and confidence in local decision-making. Evidence on improved material well-being was weak.

The Role of Scholars and Scholarship in Economic Development

Mary Shirley — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

What is the role of scholars and scholarship in institutional change? How do shared beliefs shift so that self-enforcing and persistent institutions change radically? This chapter from Institutions and Development, published by Edward Elgar, argues that the impetus for changing institutions must come from within a society. When leaders believe that their present policies cannot cope with an economic shock or an external threat, local scholars can act as institutional entrepreneurs by devising and disseminating a new conceptual model of how the world works and a related set of policy reforms. Under the right circumstances the initial reforms institute a persistent and gradual transformation of institutions.

Interim Institutions and the Development Process: Opening Spaces for Reform in Cambodia and Indonesia

Daniel Adler, Caroline Sage, Michael Woolcock — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

How can donors facilitate the development of better governance institutions in developing countries? This paper from the Brooks World Poverty Institute analyses current development practice in institution-building through two case studies in Cambodia and Indonesia. It argues that traditional, linear, technically-driven approaches are unproductive due to the inherent unpredictability of socio-political processes. Donors should instead embrace the concept of �interim institutions� as a means of promoting equitable political contestation and facilitating positive and sustainable change.

Institutions and Economic Performance: Implications for African Development

John M. Luiz — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

How are sub-Saharan Africa�s (SSA) institutions helping or hindering economic development? This paper from the Journal of International Development explores current theories on how institutions impact economic growth in SSA. �Good� institutions could be the key to increasing the stagnant economic growth in this region. Any attempt to build �good� institutions must consider the existing impediments of poor political institutions, weak social capital and weak state capacity.

Making Reform Work: Institutions, Dispositions and the Improving Health of Bangladesh

Jean-Paul Faguet, Zulfiqar Ali — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

What is the role of social attitudes in supporting institutional reform? This article from World Development explores the institutional and social underpinnings of service provision by comparing decentralised health provision in the Bangladesh upazilas (sub-districts) of Rajnagar and Saturia. Regional variation in health outcomes is explained by the presence or absence of a dense web of relationships that enmeshed reformers in local systems of authority and legitimacy. Policymakers must focus on tailoring service provision to the specific needs and characteristics of the population. This involves increasing local level participation, improving accountability mechanisms, and providing incentives for good performance.

Reforming Institutions: Where to Begin?

M. Idrees Khawaja, Sajawal Khan — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

How can institutions in Pakistan be reformed? This working paper from the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics analyses the current literature on institutional change. For institutional change to happen, cultural belief systems must be shaped in a way that provokes a shift in the institutional power structure. Given the current institutional framework and social situation in Pakistan, institutional reform should focus on changing cultural belief systems through education policy reform.

International Compacts: Sovereignty Strategies

Ashraf Ghani, Clare Lockhart — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

This chapter from the book 'Fixing Failed States' argues that a stable world requires functioning states in order to overcome challenges to the political and economic system. Domestic and global leadership must find a new approach to transform states so that they provide security and prosperity for their citizens and also act as responsible members of the international community. The study terms this a sovereignty strategy. A long-term state-building strategy tailored to specific contexts should be an organising principle for the international community. Collective energies and capital need to be harnessed.

Inequalities and Development: Dysfunctions, Traps and Transitions

A. Bebbington, A. Dani, A. de Haan, and M. Walton — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT

What are inequality traps and how can the international community help countries with inequality to progress toward more equitable and efficient societies? This introductory chapter to the book 'Institutional Pathways to Equity' contends that addressing inequality traps requires understanding the causal forces, be they economic, political, or social, which shape a society�s inequalities. It recommends that the international community shift its focus toward providing incentives for internal actors to change the structures and institutions that sustain inequality and the self-reinforcing mechanisms that generate inequality traps.

Participation and State Legitimation

Katia Papagianni — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

How do postwar countries gain legitimacy in the eyes of political elites and the public? This chapter from Building States to Build Peace argues that statebuilding should be approached as a process (not an event) to legitimate new state institutions. A statebuilding process is most likely to generate legitimacy for the state when it is inclusive of all major political forces, open to public participation, and prioritises maintaining public order and delivering services. Although inclusive and participatory political processes do not necessarily lead to legitimate outcomes, when managed well they have a significant chance of bolstering the legitimacy of postwar states.

Delivering the Goods: Building Local Government Capacity to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals

United Nations Capital Development Fund — Sat, 01 Jan 2005 00:00:00 GMT

How can local development programmes (LDPs) build the capacity of local governments and local organisations in order to improve their performance? This practitioner's guide from the United Nations Capital Development Fund presents lessons and guidelines for local government capacity-building in development programmes. It addresses LDP strategy, financing strategy, local public investment expenditure management, and accountability, communications and information.

Designing Inclusive and Accountable Local Democratic Institutions: A Practitioner's Guide

Henrik Fredborg Larsen — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

How can fair representation be promoted in societies that are deeply divided along ethnic, religious, caste and class bases? This study from the United Nations Development Programme looks at local democracy in Asia. It argues that evidence from the design of systems for representation and elections in divided societies suggests that an appropriately crafted framework can help nurture the accountability and commitment of political parties, while an inappropriate system can harm the process of democratisation. While focus is often on electoral systems, the choice between direct and indirect representation to higher tiers, the functioning of political parties and other elements usually have a stronger impact on the inclusiveness and accountability of the democratic institutions.

Who Answers to Women?

UNIFEM — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

How can accountability systems become more gender-responsive? This introductory chapter of a study from UNIFEM examines how women, including the most excluded women, are strengthening their capacity to identify accountability gaps and call for redress. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and other international commitments to women will only be met if gender-responsive accountability systems are put in place both nationally and internationally.

Do Inclusive Elite Bargains Matter? A Research Framework for Understanding the Causes of Civil War in Sub-Saharan Africa

Stefan Lindemann — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Sub-Saharan Africa is the world�s most conflict-intensive region. But why have some African states experienced civil war, while others have managed to maintain political stability? This discussion paper from the Crisis States Research Centre argues that the ability of post-colonial states in Sub-Saharan Africa to maintain political stability depends on the ability of the ruling political parties to overcome the historical legacy of social fragmentation. Creating inclusive elite bargains can bring stability, while exclusionary elite bargains give rise to trajectories of civil war.

Brazilian Experiences of Participation and Citizenship: A Critical Look

Andrea Cornwall, Jorge Romano, Alex Shankland — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

What lessons does Brazil offer for democratisation in other countries? This study from the Institute of Development Studies looks at the meanings and practices of participation and citizenship in the north and north east of Brazil. Participatory budgeting, sectoral policy councils and conferences at each tier of government have provided spaces for new meanings and expressions of citizenship and democracy. These innovations may offer lessons on the pre-conditions for effective participatory governance as well as on institutional design.

The Political Economy of Accountability in Timor-Leste: Implications for Public Policy

Peter Blunt — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

What conditions facilitate corruption in Timor-Leste and what measures should be taken to address it? This article from Public Administration and Development examines the social, economic, political and governance context of Timor-Leste and suggests that it is conducive to state capture and systemic grand and petty corruption. It is also resistant to conventional short-term technocratic anticorruption remedies. Anticorruption progress is a long-term endeavour that requires sustained impartial service delivery, the emergence of leaders of integrity and a middle class, and the establishment of the rule of law.

The Political Economy of Policy Reform: Issues and Implications for Policy Dialogue and Development Operations

World Bank — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

How can donors improve the effectiveness of policy reform processes? This study from the World Bank addresses the political economy of sector reform in agricultural marketing, and water supply and sanitation. It uses a social analysis perspective to analyse stakeholder interests, incentives, institutions, risks and opportunities. Development agencies should undertake timely political economy analysis and establish a sustainable process for building broad coalitions. They should also promote transformative institutional change that includes empowering forms of bottom-up accountability.

Understanding State-Building from a Political Economy Perspective

Verena Fritz , Alina Rocha Menocal — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT

The need to build capable and accountable states has emerged as a leading priority for the international development community. This paper from the Overseas Development Institute seeks to contribute to a more conceptually informed understanding of state-building, adopting a political economy perspective.

Democratic Constitution Making

V Hart — Wed, 01 Jan 2003 00:00:00 GMT

In this era of democratisation, constitution making plays a key role in determining the legitimacy and acceptability of new nations, particularly those emerging from conflict. This report from the United States Institute of Peace examines recent experiences of constitution making, emphasising the emerging international consensus around the need for participatory processes. Participatory constitution making can provide a forum for reconciling divisions, negotiating conflict and redressing grievances. Process has joined outcome as a necessary criterion for legitimating new constitutions.

The Theocratic Challenge to Constitution Drafting in Post-Conflict States

Ran Hirschl — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The influence of theocratic principles is rising around the world. This article from the William and Mary Law Review by Ran Hirschl, Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of Toronto, assesses the challenges this trend creates in post-conflict political and legal development. It identifies a new form of governance, 'constitutional theocracy', that has emerged from these tensions. Constitutional courts can play a key role in preserving the secular nature of polities against growing support for theocratic governance. In spite of some institutional progress, however, further study on religion in post-conflict constitutionalism is needed to address the growing theocratic challenge.