This paper argues that law and justice need to be conceptualised as institutional matters, bound up with governance and driven by political processes: law and justice need to be understood not as a ‘sector’, but as central to processes of institutional development and therefore of governance for development. The strategic goal in law and justice must be to help facilitate a ...» 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.
The Political Participation of Africa’s Youth: Turnout, Partisanship and Protest
This paper finds that Africa’s youth tend to vote less and express a lower level of partisanship (attachment to a particular party) than older citizens. This is consistent with findings from other regions. However, Africa’s youth are not more likely to protest than older citizens: claims that disillusioned African youth will foment instability do not yet appear warranted in ...» more
Addressing Inequality: Framing Social Protection in National Development Strategies
This article argues that social protection will be most effective in reducing inequality when integrated in a coherent and redistributive national development strategy (NDS). An NDS provides an opportunity to create cross-sectoral synergy to address inequalities. In addition, strong rights, power and inequality analysis is needed to enable social protection mechanisms to target ...» more
A New Deal for Engagement in Fragile States
This new framework for working in fragile contexts proposes five key peacebuilding and statebuilding goals: legitimate politics, security, justice, economic foundations, and revenues and services. It focuses on country-led, inclusive ways of engaging that increase harmonisation and donor co-ordination. It seeks to build mutual trust and achieve better results in fragile states ...» more
Sexual Violence in African Conflicts
This brief outlines findings from a pilot study of conflict-related sexual violence in 20 African countries. The study included 177 armed conflict actors (state armies, rebel groups and militias). Its findings suggest that, in Africa, sexual violence is mostly indiscriminate and is committed by only some conflict actors. Further, it is often committed by state armies, in years ...» more
Disaster Risk Management for Insecure Contexts
In insecure contexts there is often a self-reinforcing spiral: conflict creates more vulnerability to disaster and more vulnerability to disaster creates further conflict. This is compounded by climate change, environmental degradation, market fragility, economic marginalisation, migration and unplanned urbanisation. Aid is currently too disjointed to address this spiral ...» more
Structures and Strategies in Relationships Between Non-government Service Providers and Government
Do NGOs that collaborate with government in service delivery lose their autonomy and capacity for policy influence? Does the formalisation of relationships imply that NGOs are subordinated to government agendas? This study analyses NGO-government collaboration in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan in three services: basic education, healthcare and sanitation. It finds that, even ...» more
Relational Accountability: Complexities of Structural Injustice
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 ...» more
Evaluation of Public Sector Governance Reforms 2001-2011: Literature Review
Why has Public Sector Governance Reform (PSGR) carried out in developing countries over the past decade not been effective? How can such interventions be improved? This literature review shows how much of the existing research emphasises underlying political economy and incentive problems, and the need for reforms to be demand-led rather than externally-driven. A fundamental ...» more
Gender, Rights and Religion at the Crossroads
How has the new approach to religion since 9/11 impacted on efforts to address women’s rights? How has it affected women’s day to day realities? This study examines various forms of instrumentalisation of religion, gender and human rights, against the backdrop of today’s volatile political context, the rise of identity politics and increased economic inequality and deprivation. ...» more
Women’s Economic Empowerment
This paper highlights the need for innovative approaches and partnerships to scale up women's economic empowerment. Achieving women's economic empowerment will take sound public policies, a holistic approach and long-term commitment from all development actors. It is important to 'start with women' by integrating gender-specific perspectives into policy and programme design. ...» more
A Preliminary Mapping of the Evidence Base for Empowerment and Accountability
This preliminary literature review finds that, so far, evidence on what works in interventions relating to accountability and empowerment is fragmentary. Studies using the same method (such as RCTs) often yield different outcomes in different contexts, suggesting that success or failure is very dependent on context. Indeed, a number of cases across a range of sectors suggest ...» more
The Role of Digital Media
What has the 'Arab Spring' taught us about the role of digital media in political uprisings and democratisation? What are the implications of these events for our understanding of how democratisation works today? This study argues that social media have become a significant tool for civil society. New information technologies give activists information networks not easily ...» more
Sticking to the Numbers: Performance Monitoring in South Africa, 2009-2011
What can be learned from the South African government's introduction of a service delivery monitoring system? This study examines the efforts of the Ministry of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation established by Jacob Zuma in 2009. The study shows that the chief ministers succeeded in encouraging departments to set measurable performance targets, but as political support ...» more
A Review of Recent Developments in Impact Evaluation
How can impact be credibly attributed to a particular intervention? This report discusses the merits and limitations of various methods and offers practical guidance on impact evaluation. A rigorously conducted impact evaluation produces reliable impact estimates of an intervention through careful construction of the counterfactual using experimental or non-experimental ...» more
Democratic Space in Asia-Pacific: Challenges for Democratic Governance Assistance and Deepening Civic Engagement
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 ...» more
The Paradox of State Retrenchment in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Micro-Level Experience of Public Social Service Provision
What has been the impact for sub-Saharan Africans of declining state involvement in public service provision? This paper examines public service experiences in Africa following neoliberal economic reform. It argues that the erosion of the quality of state services has led to a two-tiered system. The rural poor are forced to rely on public schools and clinics, while better-off ...» more
Buying Support and Buying Time: The Effect of Regime Consolidation on Public Goods Provision
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 ...» more
Refugees and IDPs after Conflict: Why They Do Not Go Home
National and international programmes to return refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) to their homes after conflict frequently leave far too many without viable futures. Using Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Burundi as case studies, this paper argues that the effects of protracted conflict and displacement mean that, for many, returning home is not a viable solution. ...» more
Investing in Security: A Global Assessment of Armed Violence Reduction Initiatives
What works and what does not in armed violence reduction and prevention? To begin to address this question, this report draws on a large-scale mapping of AVRP activities around the world, focusing on programming trends in the varied contexts of Brazil, Burundi, Colombia, Liberia, South Africa and Timor-Leste. The most promising AVRP activities are based on inter-sectoral ...» more
