What are the effects of illegal and improper financing on politics? This paper suggests that illicit political finance is a key contributor to democratic governments' underperformance and loss of credibility. International actors should help transitional democracies to: (a) understand why the problem is arising; (b) raise awareness of it; (c) develop knowledge and tools to ...» 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.
Identity in Fragile States: Social Cohesion and State building
What role does identity play in determining a state's robustness? This article argues that the relationship between identities, institutions, social cohesion and state legitimacy is critical to understanding social and political progress in fragile states. States that lack a common identity will fail to progress. International actors should support fragile states to develop ...» more
The Convergence of Peacebuilding and State Building: Addressing a Common Purpose from Different Perspectives
What is the relationship between the concepts of statebuilding and peacebuilding? This briefing paper addresses the prevailing conceptual confusion by arguing that the two concepts represent different perspectives on a similar underlying problem: fragile social peace and the destruction of political order. The concepts share a positive vision and guiding principles, and imply ...» more
Fragility at the Local Level: Challenges to Building Local State-Citizen Relations in Fragile Settings
How does state fragility affect citizen-state relations at the local level? How can development agencies seek to promote citizen participation? This paper outlines the key issues and challenges in building local citizen-state relations in fragile settings. It argues that strengthening citizen voice and agency through support for local civil society institutions is just as ...» more
Anatomy of a ‘Political Chameleon’: Re-examining Fluid Shapes and Solid Constants of Nationalism and Nation Building
Why has the number of 'failed' states increased in spite of international intervention? This paper argues that this is in part attributable to the neglect of 'nation-building'. The social and cognitive processes of creating a common national identity during post-conflict reconstruction are paramount. Capacity-building and institutional reforms are important activities. However ...» more
Statebuilding without Nation-building? Legitimacy, State Failure and the Limits of the Institutionalist Approach
What is state collapse and how should external actors address it? This essay reviews the literature, outlining the 'institutional' and 'legitimacy' approaches to the state and statebuilding that emerge. It argues that to be effective, statebuilding needs to consider both the efficiency of state institutions and their legitimacy, (and in terms of the latter, the impact of ...» more
Getting to Pluralism: Political Actors in the Arab World
Why has political pluralism in the Arab world not yet matured into functional democratic politics? This book examines the weakness of the secular parties, the complexities of Islamist participation in politics, and incumbent regimes' grip on power. Formal political spaces are tightly controlled and have failed to achieve democratic dividends. Informal protests are increasingly ...» more
Trauma and Vengeance: Assessing the Psychological and Emotional Effects of Post-Conflict Justice
Do war crimes tribunals or truth commissions provide psychological relief from war-induced trauma? Alternatively, does the experience of post-conflict justice exacerbate emotional and psychological suffering? This article assesses the available evidence on the impact of transitional justice, finding little support for either salutary or harmful effects of post-conflict justice. ...» more
Security, Development and the Nation-building Agenda: East Timor
State-building has been seen as the path to both security and development in East Timor. However, this article argues that this approach neglects situating key government institutions within a social context. There has been little effort on the part of central institutions to engage with local, community and customary governance. A nation-building agenda needs to support the ...» more
A Review of Social Protection in Latin America
This study reviews social protection trends and policy responses in Latin America and the Caribbean. In the last two decades, the region has seen reforms of social insurance pensions and health insurance and the rapid expansion of social assistance. These changes have re-shaped social protection in most countries in the region. Nevertheless, significant challenges remain. The ...» more
Equitable Access to Basic Utilities: Public versus Private Provision and Beyond
How can developing countries increase the poor's access to utilities while maximising the spillover benefits? This issue of 'Poverty in Focus' argues that universal access to basic utilities is justified both on human rights grounds and because it is a public good with positive externalities. Where initial utility coverage is low, subsidy and cross-subsidy schemes are the best ...» more
DFID Social Transfers Evaluation Summary Report
What can be learned from DFID-supported social protection and social transfer programmes? This review of 24 programmes in 16 countries across Africa, Asia and Europe finds that outcomes and impacts vary greatly relative to the unique conditions applied in specific contexts. A set of generalised findings can be identified, but these are not prescriptive policy options, and ...» more
Socio-economic Security over the Life Course: A Global Review of Social Protection
This paper draws on a series of regional studies to provide an overview of the current field of social protection. It suggests that social protection needs to move beyond risk management and safety nets to support productive or developmental trajectories out of poverty that can strengthen citizenship rights and claims to security. Innovative, more developmental social ...» more
Social Protection in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Regional Review
How successfully is social protection being delivered in Africa? What challenges remain in the extension of social protection? This study explores how social protection strategies are being implemented by African governments, with support from bilateral and multilateral donors and international and local NGOs. The social protection debate in Africa now needs to move beyond ...» more
A Practitioner’s Guide to Evaluating the Impacts of Labor Market Programs
How can the impact of labour market programmes in developing countries be credibly evaluated? This note outlines the main issues that need to be considered when planning an impact evaluation. It also covers the techniques used to estimate impacts. Knowledge of evaluation techniques is important even at the programme planning stage; the types of data that need to be collected ...» more
Measuring the Impact of Bolsa Familia Program Based on Data from Health and Nutrition Days (Brazil)
Does Brazil's Bolsa Familia conditional cash transfer programme reduce children's malnutrition and food insecurity? This study assesses the programme's impact on the nutritional status of zero to five year olds. Data on 22,375 children's height/age, weight/age and weight/height shows that the PBF does improve child nutrition. To ensure an increase in beneficiaries' health ...» more
Ex-Ante Methods to Assess the Impact of Social Insurance Policies on Labor Supply with an Application to Brazil
This study has developed a behavioural model to assess how changes in the rules of pensions and unemployment benefit systems could affect savings rates, the share of time that individuals spend outside of the formal sector, retirement decisions, and system costs. Key parameters are: (1) preferences regarding consumption and leisure; (2) preferences regarding formal versus ...» more
Social Protection in Fragile States: Lessons Learned
How can social protection best be achieved in situations of fragility? This paper argues that while the objectives for social protection in fragile states are essentially the same as in development contexts, social protection instruments, financing and delivery need to be adapted. In order to scale up social protection in fragile settings, it is important to use a wider range ...» more
Averting a Human Crisis during the Global Economic Downturn: Policy Options from the World Bank’s Global Development Network
How should the world respond to the current economic crisis in order to avert a large-scale human crisis? This report assesses the implications of the current situation for poor and vulnerable populations. It argues that responses must be comprehensive and should involve many sectors of the economy. They should focus on young people, the low-skilled, women, older workers, and ...» more
Social Protection and Labor at the World Bank 2000-2008
This report examines the World Bank's social protection and labour (SP&L) strategy, its implementation and achievements. It finds that the strategy has led to social protection being mainstreamed at the World Bank. Further, the social risk management (SRM) concept it incorporates highlights the importance of: (1) multiple strategies for dealing with risks (prevention, ...» more
