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 18:00:12 GMT Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:00:12 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 Lisa Horner and Andrew Puddephatt What is democratic space and why is it important for democratic governance? Why is it fragile in the Asia-Pacific region? This paper examines the factors that affect the capacity of democratic space to give poor and marginalised groups meaningful opportunities to exercise their human rights. It shows that democracy in many Asia-Pacific countries consists mainly of formal democratic institutions rather than substantive democratic processes, values and relationships. This leaves democratic space prone both to manipulation and to closure by powerful individuals and groups. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4219&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4219&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Political systems Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT Curtis Bell This study uses quantitative testing to assess temporal variation in the provision of 15 public goods. It finds that regime consolidation changes leaders' incentives for public goods provision. New political leaders face not only institutional but initial extra-institutional challenges – such as coups and revolutions – that affect spending priorities. Thus, states with inclusive institutions spend more on public goods as they consolidate and become less vulnerable to elite demands.  Exclusive regimes spend more on public goods early on when they are vulnerable to the excluded majority, but become increasingly repressive as they become insulated from popular demands. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4217&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4217&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Political systems 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 Political systems Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT Ank Michels This study examines citizen participation in various Western countries. It shows that citizen involvement produces a number of benefits, which vary according to the type of democratic innovation. However, since these positive effects are perceptible only to those taking part, and the number of participants is often small, the benefits to individual democratic citizenship are far more conclusive than the benefits to democracy as a whole. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4213&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4213&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Political systems Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT Joseph Siegle et al. This paper suggests that the Arab Spring is a trigger for further democratic reforms in Africa, rather than a driver. There are few linear relationships linking events in North Africa to specific shifts in democratisation on the continent. However, the frustration propelling the protests in North Africa resonates with many Africans. The Arab Spring is instigating changes in the expectations that African citizens have of their governments. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4212&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4212&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Political systems Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT Alina Rocha Menocal Electoral systems matter because – in interaction with other structural and institutional factors – they influence incentives regarding government effectiveness, violence and conflict, accountability, public policy, and electoral malpractice. There are trade-offs involved in all electoral systems. For example, proportional representation systems may be more likely than majority systems to produce desirable public goods – but they also foster greater corruption. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4211&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4211&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Political systems Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT Martina Fischer What problems and dilemmas are faced in the development of civil society in war-torn societies? What types of activities do NGOs undertake and what are their strengths and limitations? This chapter focuses on the potential contribution that civil society actors can make to peacebuilding, drawing on lessons from Bosnia-Herzegovina. It argues that support for civil society should be further developed as a key element of development and peace politics, particularly in post-war contexts. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4198&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4198&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Political systems 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 Political systems Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT Tim Kelsall Is it possible to boost poverty-reducing economic investment and growth in Africa by working with, rather than against, neo-patrimonial politics? This study of seven 'middle African' countries shows that neo-patrimonialism can be harnessed for developmental ends – if pro-market, pro-rural policies and an institutional system for centralising and distributing economic rents with a long-term view are in place. However, problems associated with developmental patrimonial systems include: a potential loss of civil liberties; lack of sustainability; and inapplicability in some country contexts. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4180&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4180&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Political systems Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT Richard Youngs This paper contends that the problem with democracy promotion is not the over-zealous imposition of liberal norms, as much current criticism suggests. Instead, the paper argues, the problem is governments' failure to defend core liberal norms in a way that would allow local variations and choices of democratic reform, along with genuine civic empowerment and emancipation. Current criticisms of the democracy agenda therefore risk pushing policy deliberations in the opposite direction to their required improvement. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4179&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4179&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Political systems Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT Michael Bratton, Ravi Bhavnani and Tse-Hsin Chen This study finds that economic interests play a larger role in people's voting intentions in African elections than previously recognised. More would-be voters in Africa consider policy performance, especially the government’s perceived handling of unemployment, inflation, and income distribution, than they do ethnic considerations. In addition, people tend to vote for established ruling parties because they expect them to win: they wish to gain access to patronage benefits and to avoid retribution after the election. These dynamics are most evident in countries where dominant parties restrict electoral choice. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4171&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4171&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Political systems Sat, 01 Jan 2011 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 Political systems Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT David Booth How can a 'best fit' approach to governance improve development effectiveness? In its present form, 'good governance' is not evidence based. This brief highlights the need to build on the strengths of existing institutional arrangements when supporting governance reform in developing countries. It argues that governance assistance should be refocused on nurturing developmental leadership. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4151&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4151&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Political systems 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 Political systems Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT Mariz Tadros How can the international community advance gender equality in socially conservative contexts through effective support to women's coalitions? This report looks at how six collective initiatives in Egypt and Jordan have formed and worked politically to advance gender equality. It argues that engaging in informal 'backstage' politics is as important as formal channels of engagement in these 'closed' political spaces. The international community plays a critical role in supporting women's coalitions. Donors have provided some positive support, but there is room for improvement. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4149&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4149&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Political systems Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT William Case Does a new democracy or electoral authoritarianism better allow legislatures to check the executive? This study examines accountability and legislative power in Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Cambodia and Singapore. While legislatures are weaker under electoral authoritarian regimes than in new democracies, they define the opposition better. Opposition members try to use their limited powers to check executive abuses. However, this tends to strengthen authoritarian rule by giving it greater legitimacy. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4148&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4148&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Political systems Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT Manuel Castells This article examines the development of a global public sphere (based on global communication networks), and of 'public diplomacy' in this sphere. Globalisation has shifted debate from the national to the global domain, prompting the emergence of a global civil society, of ad hoc forms of global governance, and of a global public sphere. Public diplomacy – the diplomacy of the public, not of the government – intervenes in this global sphere, laying the ground for traditional forms of diplomacy to act beyond the strict negotiation of power relationships by building on shared cultural meaning. The global public sphere could facilitate public debate to inform the emergence of consensual global governance. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4140&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4140&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Political systems Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT Herman Wasserman Do new media technologies, including mobile phones, facilitate political participation and create social change? Why is there renewed optimism in the potential for mobile phones to facilitate change when the sector is typified by inequalities? This paper explores the analytical frameworks for understanding the relationship between mobile phones and participatory democracy. It argues that mobile phones can ease communication by facilitating information transmission. Their greater potential, however, lies in their capacity to transgress cultural and social borders by refashioning identities and creating informal economies and communicative networks. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4138&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4138&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Political systems Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT R. K. Garrett New information and communications technologies (ICTs) are changing how activists communicate, collaborate and demonstrate. How can we understand these changes? This paper focuses on three factors: mobilising structures, opportunity structures and framing processes. Activists have devised numerous ways to use new technologies for mobilising, realising new political opportunities, and shaping the language in which movements are discussed. Situating existing studies within a unifying framework will provide a more coherent overview of the field. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4132&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4132&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Political systems Sun, 01 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMT Naila Kabeer et al. What impact can social mobilisation NGOs have on democratic knowledge, practice and engagement? International donors have increasingly encouraged development NGOs to take up a service delivery function, to the detriment of social mobilisation functions. This paper reports on a quantitative study of the impact of an NGO in Bangladesh, Nijera Kori (NK), which prioritises rights, social mobilisation and solidarity. The results of NK's focus have important implications for enhanced democratic accountability and suggest an alternative civil society approach to improving democratic citizenship. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4116&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=4116&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gsdrc&utm_source=newsfeed Political systems Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT