Dr Heather Marquette My colleague, Laurence Cooley, and I have just finished a book chapter on ‘Corruption and Post-Conflict Reconstruction’ for a forthcoming collection, and we wanted to compare three cases to see if any specific lessons can be drawn about what worked, what didn’t and why. We chose Bad, Worse and Rock Bottom as … Continue reading “Bags of gold as an anti-corruption strategy?”
Masters students on Kenya study tour 2014
Freyja Oddsdottir is Research and Communications Support Officer in the GSDRC. She is responsible for communicating research outputs to partner organisations, implementing professional development activities, and maintaining the GSDRC’s online library. For the past couple of years, the IDD has organised a field research trip to assist IDD Masters students with the logistics of field … Continue reading “Masters students on Kenya study tour 2014”
Politics shape services; and services shape politics
Richard Batley is Emeritus Professor at the University of Birmingham’s International Development Department. His research focuses on state/non-state relations in service provision, and on the politics of public services in developing countries. He has researched particularly in Brazil, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Mozambique, and the UK. In governance circles, service delivery is often discussed as if … Continue reading “Politics shape services; and services shape politics”
Public service motivation: Love or money?
Sumedh Rao is a Research Fellow in the GSDRC, working on governance in situations of conflict and fragility, statebuilding and state fragility, political economy analysis, aid architecture, anti-corruption reforms, and civil service reform Ask what motivates workers, and the common response is a list of carrots and sticks. But offer a worker one of these … Continue reading “Public service motivation: Love or money?”
Violence in South Sudan illustrates the perils of state building
Paul Jackson is a political economist working predominantly on conflict and post-conflict reconstruction. Core areas of interest include decentralisation and governance, conflict analysis, and security sector reform. The Christmas period in the newest nation in the world, South Sudan, has been a violent one. More than 1,000 people are believed to have died (BBC) with … Continue reading “Violence in South Sudan illustrates the perils of state building”
Making ‘climate compatible development’ possible in coastal areas
Fiona Nunan is Lecturer in Environment and Development in IDD, specialising in natural resource governance and management in developing country settings, particularly within inland fisheries and coastal locations in East and Southern Africa, and in exploring the links between poverty and the environment. As the 19th Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention … Continue reading “Making ‘climate compatible development’ possible in coastal areas”
Fishing for decentralisation in Yemen
Andrew Nickson is Honorary Reader in Public Management and Latin American Studies in IDD and has extensive worldwide experience of teaching, research and consultancy on public administration reform, decentralisation, and the reform of basic service delivery and regulation of privatised public utilities. He is currently in Yemen, contributing to UNICEF’s strategic thinking in the direction … Continue reading “Fishing for decentralisation in Yemen”
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela 1918-2013
Heather Marquette, Reader in Development Politics at IDD, and David Hudson, Senior Lecturer in Political Economy at UCL, are directors of research for the Developmental Leadership Program (DLP). We were deeply saddened, like much of the rest of the world, to read about the death of Nelson Mandela. When he began his ‘long walk … Continue reading “Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela 1918-2013”
Empire without End?
Adrian Campbell is a senior lecturer at the University of Birmingham’s International Development Department. He is an organizational theorist with longstanding interests and experience in the associated fields of leadership and human resource management and he has researched, taught and consulted in these fields for over thirty years. Adrian is a strong believer in organizational analysis (primarily … Continue reading “Empire without End?”
In search of a new paradigm for international interventions.
Nicolas Lemay-Hébert is a senior lecturer at the University of Birmingham’s International Development Department. He is interested in peacebuilding and statebuilding, humanitarian interventions in post-conflict or post-disaster contexts, and local narratives of resistance to international interventions. Nicolas co-convenes the postgraduate module on Governance and Statebuilding. Nicolas presented a paper called The Unfulfilled Potential of the … Continue reading “In search of a new paradigm for international interventions.”