Transnational organised crime (TOC) refers to a fluid and diversified industry that engages in illicit activities ranging from drug and human trafficking to drug smuggling, piracy and money laundering. Although it may affect strong states, conflict-affected and fragile states are especially vulnerable to the dynamics of TOC and may provide more favourable conditions for its ...» 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.
From Spoilers to Statebuilders: Constructive Approaches to Engagement with Non-State Armed Groups in Fragile States
The global policy discourse and the war on terror tend to ignore the wide variety of roles and agendas of non-state armed groups (NSAGs). NSAGs are viewed primarily as threats to security, as negative for peace, and as important spoilers that can undermine successful peace building. They tend to be grouped with other forms of transnational threats such as international ...» more
Think Global, Act Global: Confronting Global Factors that Influence Conflict and Fragility
This paper reflects a study sponsored by the OECD DAC’s International Network on Conflict and Fragility (INCAF) on global factors influencing the risk of conflict and fragility. On the basis of expert interviews, a brief literature review and the experience of members of INCAF, it identifies eight ‘global factors’, licit and/or illicit processes operating at the international, ...» more
Improving Transparency and Accountability in the Budget Process: An Assessment of Recent Initiatives
Budget transparency has in recent decades come to be seen as a pillar of good governance by international organisations and civil society groups. This article reviews budget-related transparency and accountability initiatives (TAIs) to analyse their impact. Cross-national academic studies find that budget transparency is correlated with better credit ratings, better fiscal ...» more
The Impact and Effectiveness of Accountability and Transparency Initiatives: Freedom of Information
This article discusses some of the main conceptual parameters of freedom of information (FOI) theory, before reviewing the available evidence from a range of studies. There is confusion about what kind of right FOI is (civil, political, social), and what consequences can be expected from an FOI regime, particularly effects on governance, corruption, and the investment climate. ...» more
The Adverse Effects of Sunshine: A Field Experiment on Legislative Transparency in an Authoritarian Assembly
An influential literature has demonstrated that legislative transparency can improve the performance of parliamentarians in democracies. In a democracy, voters can sanction delegates in response to increased information about a delegate’s performance. Some have argued that, in authoritarian regimes, although delegates may not be responsive to voters, they may be responsive to ...» more
Creating Space for Child Participation in Local Governance in Tanzania: Save the Children and Children’s Councils
This brief summarises the findings of a study that examined whether children’s councils promote children’s participation in local governance in Tanzania. The research found that the councils (supported by Save the Children) are genuinely child-led organisations that have contributed to improving local service delivery to children. However, councils are operational in a limited ...» more
Changing Climate, Changing Disasters: Pathways Towards Integration Strengthening Climate Resilience
This report is an introduction to the Climate Smart Disaster Risk Management (CSDRM) approach, which attempts to help disaster risk management practitioners and policymakers consider what ‘a climate smart organisation, programme of policy looks like in the real world’. This report is aimed at experts in their fields who are looking to integrate their knowledge on disaster risk ...» more
World Disasters Report 2012: Focus on forced migration and displacement
Over 70 million people are forced migrants displaced by conflict, political upheaval, violence and disasters but also by climate change and development projects. Although rapid-onset events such as conflict or disaster may be the immediate reason forcing people to leave their homes, the search for better economic opportunities, slow-onset and progressive environmental ...» more
Trusting the Enemy: Confidence in the State among Ex-Combatants
What factors determine ex-combatants’ degree of trust in the state after their demobilisation? This paper presents the first empirical examination of this question through a survey of 1,485 former members of paramilitary and guerrilla groups in Colombia. The study found no evidence that social capital increased trust in the state. It also found that former fighters’ continued ...» more
Reducing Risks of Future Disasters: Priorities for Decision Makers
This report reviews the latest science and evidence, and its role in disaster risk reduction (DRR). The report concludes that, despite increasing challenges ahead, it is possible to stabilise disaster impacts and save both lives and livelihoods given political leadership and concerted action by the wide range of stakeholders.Drivers of future disaster riskThe project considers ...» more
The State of the Humanitarian System (2012 Edition)
This report presents a system-level mapping and analysis of the performance of international humanitarian assistance in contexts affected by disasters and conflict. It builds on the pilot report published in 2010. This 2012 edition finds: slowed but continued growth in human and financial resources; continued insufficiency of funding and gaps in coverage; modest improvements in ...» more
Responding to Urban Disasters: Learning from Previous Relief and Recovery Operations
The need for humanitarian response in urban areas is increasing with rapid urban growth, threats to cities from extreme weather and several other factors. However, urban areas present unique challenges in terms of complexity and scale with respect to humanitarian response. This is because many of the existing ways of working were originally developed to address rural crises, ...» more
Human Rights-Based Approaches to Development: Concepts, Evidence, and Policy
This paper assesses the benefits, risks, and limitations of human rights based approaches (HBRAs) to development, which can be catalogued on the basis of the institutional mechanisms they rely on: global compliance based on international and regional treaties; the policies and programming of donors and executive agencies; rights talk; and legal mobilisation. The paper briefly ...» more
Meeting the Urban Challenge: Adapting humanitarian efforts to an urban world
This report is based on the discussion held at the 27th Meeting of the Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in Humanitarian Action (ALNAP) and on a review of recent literature on humanitarian responses to urban crises. The document discusses the humanitarian response to rapid urbanisation and identifies ways in which the humanitarian system could learn ...» more
The Reliability of Perception Surveys in Afghanistan
The surveys conducted in Afghanistan and other challenging environments tend to polarise opinions, with either too much or too little confidence often being placed in the findings. This paper examines three concerns regarding perception surveys in Afghanistan: that the responses are unreliable that the samples are unrepresentative of the populace that the data is ...» more
Looking Like a State: Techniques of Persistent Failure in State Capability for Implementation
There are multiple dimensions to ‘development’, one of which is the acquisition of administrative capability, which in the standard characterisation of the modernisation process is the acquisition of state capability. Enhancing this capability, especially in fragile states, is a long-term task. This paper aims to explain how developing countries and international agencies ...» more
Escaping Capability Traps through Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA)
This paper argues that many reform initiatives in developing countries fail to achieve sustained improvements in performance because governments and organisations pretend to reform by changing what policies or organisations look like rather than what they actually do. The flow of development resources and legitimacy without demonstrated improvements in performance undermines ...» more
Monitoring and Accountability Practices for Remotely Managed Projects Implemented in Volatile Operating Environments
Remote management approaches to project implementation are increasingly used to reach vulnerable populations in conflict-affected regions while safeguarding the security of organisational personnel. This report highlights the need for organisations to engage fully with the principles of remote monitoring and accountability and with the planning required to ensure they are ...» more
Empowering Women: Legal Rights and Economic Opportunities in Africa
Strengthening the incentives and abilities to pursue opportunities expands women’s economic empowerment, and property rights are central in this process because they ensure that people can reap the benefits of their efforts. Yet despite the importance of property rights, this World Bank publication is the first study to look systematically across Sub-Saharan Africa to examine ...» more
