This paper examines the political and political economy factors explaining Brazil’s success in raising tax revenue and assesses its contribution to a Brazilian ‘Development Model’. The recent rise in tax/GDP ratio in Brazil raises several intriguing questions. First, there is substantive macroeconomic and fiscal policy continuity since the mid-1990s, with fiscal stability ...» more
Library
This e-library contains more than 4500 external publications on governance, social development, conflict and humanitarian issues. It includes academic and grey literature selected for its basis in good quality research and coverage of a range of perspectives. Policy-oriented summaries of each document are provided, plus links to the full text.
Securing Women’s Land and Property Rights: A Critical Step to Address HIV, Violence and Food Security
This briefing paper examines the importance of women’s land and property rights in the contexts of HIV and AIDS, violence against women and food security. Land and property rights increase women’s autonomy—decreasing their dependence on men and entrapment in abusive relationships, enabling greater control over sexual relations and improving their ability to produce food for ...» more
The Risks of African Military Capacity Building: Lessons from Rwanda
Civil war and insecurity are widely seen as obstacles to development and threats to international stability, and donors are therefore keen to develop African capacities to manage conflict on the continent. Building the capacity of African militaries is hazardous, however, given their frequent roles in coups, support for authoritarian regimes, and violence against civilians.This ...» more
Interventions to prevent or reduce violence against women and girls: A systematic review of reviews
This paper is a systematic review of reviews. It synthesizes the fragmented evidence base from specific reviews of interventions to prevent and reduce Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG). The paper examines the diversity of geographical context, the types of violence addressed, and the numerous approaches that have been used to combat VAWG. Additionally the review ...» more
Secure property rights and development: Economic growth and household welfare
There remain debates on the association between secure property rights and long-term economic growth. Some evidence support this association, others critique the methods of analysis used in studies which find an association. Some studies argue that the link is not observed in important case studies; and others query whether strengthened property rights are the most important ...» more
Protecting civilians: the gap between norms and practice
How are civilians protected in armed conflict? A wide array of norms, laws, policies and mechanisms focused on improving the protection of civilians (PoC) in armed conflict have emerged since the early 1990s. These range from international conventions highlighting PoC and the establishment of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to PoC-mandated UN peacekeeping missions and ...» more
Evaluating protection in humanitarian action: Issues and challenges
This paper attempts to identify the issues and challenges relating to the evaluation of protection work carried out by humanitarian actors, including those both with and without a specific protection mandate. It excludes literature and practice on the Responsibility to Protect doctrine and work carried out specifically in the context of human rights, legal or prosecutory ...» more
In search of the game changers: rethinking social accountability
This paper speaks to a number of current debates regarding the effectiveness of accountability programmes. Drawing on lessons from the five-year Mwananchi social accountability programme, the authors argue for greater innovation and flexibility from donors, and analyse the need to identify and support project interlocutors with the power to really 'change the game'. This paper ...» more
Services in the city: governance and political economy in urban service delivery
How good is service delivery in urban areas? This discussion paper reviews literature on the political economy of four key urban services: solid waste management, water supply, transport, and urban health services. The four sector reviews demonstrate the importance of governance factors – partly rooted in physical, economic, social and political differences between rural and ...» more
Including People with Disabilities in Emergency Relief Efforts
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that around 15 per cent of the world’s population, or one billion people, have some form of disability. According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), 80 per cent live in poor countries, where communities are already more vulnerable to disasters and crises such as the current Ebola epidemic, with people with ...» more
Striving for Better Jobs: The Challenge of Informality in the Middle East and North Africa
Economic growth has been sustained for many years pre-crisis in the region, but this has not resulted in the creation of an adequate number of jobs and has succeeded, at best, in generating low-quality, informal jobs. This World Bank report addresses one margin of exclusion: informal employment and the vulnerabilities and lack of opportunities associated with it. The report ...» more
The Politics-Bureaucracy Interface: Impact on Development Reform
This paper provides an in-depth review of the existing research on the relationship between political and bureaucratic leaders in developing countries, the factors that shape this relationship, and the impact it has on the success and failure of reforms. It finds that political-bureaucratic relations are an important factor in reform success or failure. Politicians and ...» more
Preventing Corruption in Humanitarian Operations
The first edition of the TI Handbook was published in 2010. The substantial increase in the last few years of different challenges in and new ways of delivering humanitarian aid has resulted in this updated 2014 electronic version of the Handbook. It includes a revised list of references and links, as well as the inclusion of relevant new tools, that look at: Communication with ...» more
The political economy of economic growth in India, 1993-2013
What are the causes of India's economic growth? This paper from the Effective States and Inclusive Development Research Centre examines the political economy causes of India’s growth. It reviews the acceleration in the early 1990s, the periods of high growth in the 1990s and early 2000s, and the subsequent slowdown since 2011. It argues that India’s post-reform growth ...» more
Corruption Perceptions Index 2014
How bad is corruption, and what can be done? Based on expert opinion, the Corruption Perceptions Index 2014 covers 175 countries. Not one single country gets a perfect score and more than two-thirds score below 50, on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). A poor score is likely a sign of widespread bribery, lack of punishment for corruption and public ...» more
Experiences of National Governments in Expanding Their Role in Humanitarian Preparedness and Response
This paper examines how the governments of El Salvador, Mozambique, Indonesia and the Philippines have strengthened their countries’ disaster management systems. Many actors play important roles in the national disaster management systems, including government agencies, civil society groups, the private sector, and the population itself. In practice, however, thorough ...» more
Internal and external dilemmas of peacebuilding in Africa
This paper argues that peacebuilding programming has prioritised order above other social values, which has resulted in an emphasis on building robust state structures as the way to instil stability within a society. This trend exposes the concept and practice of peacebuilding to a range of dilemmas, particularly around the role of violence in state formation and the ...» more
Fragile States 2014: Domestic Revenue Mobilisation in Fragile States
What financial resources are available to fragile states – internationally and domestically – to fund their development? What role does aid play? What can be done to close the gaps in resources for development? This report looks at these questions, highlighting the need to focus more on domestic revenue generation as a source of state revenue, and also as a cornerstone of ...» more
The role and impact of private schools in developing countries: a rigorous review of the evidence
This rigorous review looks at the evidence on the role and impact of private schools on the education of school-aged children in developing countries. The focus of the review is on private school delivery of education to poorer sections of societies, including private schools identified as low-fee private schools (LFPs). The evidence is mixed and large gaps remain. The ...» more
Analysing Child Poverty and Deprivation in sub-Saharan Africa: Cross Country Multiple Overlapping Deprivation Analysis
This paper analyses multidimensional child deprivation across thirty countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The main objective of the paper is to present a direct method of child poverty measurement analysing deprivations experienced by the child. It applies the Multiple Overlapping Deprivation Analysis (MODA) methodology that measures aspects of child poverty, adapted to allow ...» more
