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Showing papers in "IDS Bulletin in 2016"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a critical analysis of contemporary Mexican social and political phenomena, and on a two-year-long ethnography with the #YoSoy132 networked movement, demonstrates that digital tools have been successfully deployed by Mexican parties and governments in order to manufacture consent, sabotage dissidence, threaten activists, and gather personal data without citizens' agreement.
Abstract: Various strands of literature on civic engagement, 'big data' and open government view digital technologies as the key to easier government accountability and citizens' empowerment, and the solution to many of the problems of contemporary democracies. Drawing on a critical analysis of contemporary Mexican social and political phenomena, and on a two-year­long ethnography with the #YoSoy132 networked movement, this article demonstrates that digital tools have been successfully deployed by Mexican parties and governments in order to manufacture consent, sabotage dissidence, threaten activists, and gather personal data without citizens' agreement. These new algorithmic strategies, it is contended, clearly show that there is nothing inherently democratic in digital communication technologies, and that citizens and activists have to struggle against increasingly sophisticated techniques of control and repression that exploit the very mechanisms that many consider to be emancipatory technologies.

71 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors reported that these subsidy programmes were successful in increasing maize yields and reducing poverty and had positive spillover effects on input use by non-recipients and private sector development in rural areas.
Abstract: The Institute of Development Studies (IDS) has contributed to African agricultural policy debate which has featured prominently in growth and poverty reduction assessment in sub-Saharan Africa. This debate has rekindled interest in the use of agricultural input subsidies to promote food security nationally and at household level. After the enforced withdrawal of these agricultural subsidies during the structural adjustment era, their re-introduction as ‘market-smart’ subsidies has led to several assessment studies. This article draws on evidence from five countries and a detailed study in Ruvuma Region, Tanzania. These subsidy programmes were reported to be successful in increasing maize yields and reducing poverty and had positive spillover effects on input use by non-recipients and private sector development in rural areas. However, unclear programme objectives and serious implementation problems prevented most of these programmes from being effective. These results underline the controversial nature of subsidy policies, with contemporary debate mirroring historical controversy.

42 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the status of formal and informal education in Syrian refugee host states is examined and the factors that shape formal, non-formal and emergency education provision, and accelerated learning and best practice provision to help the next generation of Syrian refugees thrive.
Abstract: Education policy is uniquely placed to address the soft security concerns of refugee resettlement, with educators equipped to recognise, react and respond to the unique education needs and welfare of the Syria’s next generation. An appropriate education policy response to the refugee crisis can reduce the risk of stigma, isolation, intra-community tensions, marginalisation and even radicalisation. The protracted nature of the Syrian conflict has directed international donors’ attention to the ‘lost generation’ of school-age Syrian refugee children. Governments, international agencies and foundations at the fourth Syria donors’ conference in London (Supporting Syria and the Region) pledged to fund education projects and programmes to bridge the education gap. This article addresses the status of formal and informal education in Syrian refugee host states. The article examines the factors that shape formal, non-formal and emergency education provision, and addresses accelerated learning and best practice provision to help the next generation of Syrian refugees thrive.

40 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors review evidence on the use of 23 information and communications technology (ICT) platforms to project citizen voice to improve public service delivery, highlighting both citizen uptake ('yelp') and the degree to which public service providers respond to expressions of citizen voice ('teeth').
Abstract: This article reviews evidence on the use of 23 information and communications technology (ICT) platforms to project citizen voice to improve public service delivery. This meta-analysis focuses on empirical studies of initiatives in the global South, highlighting both citizen uptake ('yelp') and the degree to which public service providers respond to expressions of citizen voice ('teeth'). The conceptual framework distinguishes two roles played by ICT-enabled citizen voice: informing upwards accountability, and bolstering downwards accountability through either individual user feedback or collective civic action. This distinction between the ways in which ICT platforms mediate the relationship between citizens and service providers allows for a precise analytical focus on how different dimensions of such platforms contribute to public sector responsiveness. These cases suggest that while ICT platforms have been relevant in increasing policymakers' and senior managers' capacity to respond, most of them have yet to influence their willingness to do so.

39 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the relationship between economic inequality and political participation, using the power cube approach (www.powercube.net ), and argue that understanding the impact of inequality on political participation requires moving beyond the study of its impact on more conventional forms of participation found in voting and "voice" through established or formal democratic processes.
Abstract: Drawing on the contributions from the World Social Science Report 2016, Challenging Inequalities: Pathways to a Just World , this article examines the relationship between economic inequality and political participation. In particular, using the lens of the ‘power cube’ approach ( www.powercube.net ), we argue that understanding the impact of inequality on political participation requires moving beyond the study of its impact on more conventional forms of participation found in voting and ‘voice’ through established or formal democratic processes. Indeed, this relationship is also influenced by hidden and invisible forms of power, at multiple levels from the local to the global, which affect the rules of the game as well as individuals’ aspiration to participate, shaping whether, where and how citizens engage at all. Despite the power of inequality to shape its own consensus, recent evidence also points to the emergence of levels and forms of resistance to inequality outside of traditional channels of participation, which in turn help to expand and prefigure notions of what the new possibilities of change might be. Exploring these dynamics, the article concludes with a brief reflection on possible lessons for activists, policymakers and scholars working to understand, unravel and challenge the knotty intersections of inequality, power and participation.

27 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that knowledge as understood generally is about the information of facts and understanding of a subject, and they make a case for the importance of co-creation of knowledge, through acknowledgement and valuation of alternate paradigms of knowledge.
Abstract: We often come across theories and aspects related to ‘knowledge’, but seldom do we try to understand its hidden implications. Knowledge as understood generally is about the information of facts and understanding of a subject. This article essentially argues against this understanding. It explores the multiple dimensions of ‘knowledge’ through a literature review and illustrations of practical examples. It makes a case for how important the process of knowledge creation is, especially given current societal challenges. It also outlines the importance of co-creation of knowledge, through acknowledgement and valuation of alternate paradigms of knowledge. Further, it discusses the concept of ‘knowledge democracy’, and how institutions of higher education, by abiding by its principles, can help achieve ‘excellence in engagement’. The article concludes with the findings of two studies undertaken by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Chair, which were based on the principles of ‘knowledge democracy’ and ‘excellence in engagement’.

27 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyze Rojava's model of rule and socioeconomic development, and its theory and practice in the context of the civil war, and regional Middle Eastern and wider global geopolitics.
Abstract: As the civil war in Syria continues, in the territory of Rojava – in Kurdish, ‘the West’ – the northern Syrian Kurdish political movement is attempting to implement ‘libertarian municipalism’, based on the thoughts of United States (US) anarchist Murray Bookchin. Since the withdrawal of Syrian regime forces in 2012, the movement has consolidated significant territorial gains as a US ally in the anti-Islamic State (IS) struggle, while simultaneously securing Russian support. Viewed with suspicion by Turkey, Syria and Iraqi Kurdistan, the geopolitical conditions of Rojava’s emergence are its greatest impediment. This article analyses Rojava’s model of rule and socioeconomic development, and its theory and practice in the context of the civil war, and regional Middle Eastern and wider global geopolitics. It reflects on Rojava’s place and meaning for contemporary geopolitics in the Middle East, and considers the territory’s prospects, discussing its transformative potential for an otherwise troubled region.

26 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors examines the implications of the growing discussion around transformation and adaptation for development policy and practice, and traces the emergence of transformation in adaptation debates, and linking them to the intellectual roots of the idea of transformation.
Abstract: This article examines the implications of the growing discussion around transformation and adaptation for development policy and practice. While there is increasing agreement that incremental approaches are insufficient to tackle climate change, and that deeper transformative change is also necessary, the ways in which transformation is understood vary significantly, and hence how it is to be operationalised remains unclear. Tracing the emergence of transformation in adaptation debates, and linking them to the intellectual roots of the idea of transformation, we

25 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors considers the Institute of Development Studies' (IDS) concept of "engaged excellence" from a postcolonial perspective, interrogating notions of "excellence" determined in the global North, and calling for deep, long-term and mutually constitutive "excellent engagement" between institutions in the Global South and North.
Abstract: This article considers the Institute of Development Studies’(IDS) concept of ‘engaged excellence’ from a postcolonial perspective, interrogating notions of ‘excellence’ determined in the global North, and calling for deep, long-term and mutually constitutive ‘excellent engagement’ between institutions in the global South and North. It offers a case study of how excellent engagement has developed over a decade-long relationship between researchers from IDS and from a partner organisation in Uganda, the Refugee Law Project, and how incrementally these have extended to include intensive engagement with the lives and advocacy commitments of an association of male survivors of sexual violence. Engaged excellence, it argues, can only be the outcome of excellent engagement, itself a process that is challenged by structural arrangements related to funding from and academic enterprise within the global North.

24 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a scenario-building exercise revealed that there is no single linear pathway for social protection, but multiple highly context-specific trajectories subject to change as political ideologies and institutional capacities shift.
Abstract: The rapid ascendancy of social protection up the development policy agenda raises questions about whether its current prominence will be sustained, or whether it will turn out to be just another development fad. What trajectory will social protection follow, which actors will drive it forward and what will be the main issues and challenges? This article reports on a small foresight study designed to address the question: ‘Where next for social protection?’ A scenario-building exercise revealed that there is no single linear pathway for social protection, but multiple highly context-specific trajectories subject to change as political ideologies and institutional capacities shift. A ‘wind-tunnelling’ exercise highlighted the importance of a country’s political regime as a fundamental determinant of which social protection policies will be adopted. Better understanding of political processes is needed to protect gains made in social protection against possible reversals when the political climate shifts against pro-poor redistributive policies.

23 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors draw on a study of civil society strengthening work by Swedish organisations and their partners around the world which illustrates the challenges posed by political cultures of passivity and questions the logic behind much human rights and democracy programming.
Abstract: Poor people have been recast by development agencies from ‘beneficiaries’ to ‘engaged citizens’ – yet the assumptions behind many democracy and accountability programmes remain simplistic. Power defines and constrains citizen engagement, which takes place against a backdrop of complex histories of exclusion, discrimination and violence. Poor people’s access to income, services or benefits can rely on patronage relations which they may be wisely reluctant to challenge. Citizen engagement is thus shaped by civic habitus: the tacit collusion with socialised norms of power. This article draws on a study of civil society strengthening work by Swedish organisations and their partners around the world which illustrates the challenges posed by political cultures of passivity and questions the logic behind much human rights and democracy programming. The article offers useful frameworks for understanding how power affects citizen engagement and the formation of civic habitus, and explores the implications of this for more transformative approaches to citizen engagement.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Institute of Development Studies (IDS) as mentioned in this paper have identified four pillars that support engaged research: high-quality research, co-construction of knowledge, mobilising impact-oriented evidence, and building enduring partnerships.
Abstract: Approaches to engaged research, which do not just produce academic knowledge, but link with people and groups in society, have long intellectual roots. In recent years, however, for epistemological, practical and ethical reasons, interest in such approaches has gained ground. At the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) we seek to adopt an ‘engaged excellence’ approach to research. We have identified four pillars that support engaged excellence: high-quality research; co-construction of knowledge, mobilising impact-orientated evidence; and building enduring partnerships. This introduction interrogates this approach, deepening our understanding of what it means, whilst also acknowledging the challenges which it poses. It raises questions about who defines what good quality research is; how, why and who we co-construct knowledge with; what counts as impact; and how we build enduring partnerships. It also touches on some of the implications for both researchers themselves and the institutions through which we work.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors highlight the disconnect between perceptions, aspirations and behaviour among refugees, practitioners and policymakers in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, which has led to the implementation of international blueprints of humanitarian support that are disconnected from people's needs; the imposition of an encampment policy at odds with displaced people's need for temporary settlement enabled through their own social networks.
Abstract: Humanitarian assistance coupled with an unsustainable policy of regional containment have only created greater poverty and misery for Syrians fleeing civil war. How this has been allowed to happen on the southern shores of the Mediterranean – where extraordinary social linkages and networks have existed for centuries – lies mainly in the disparities between perceptions, aspirations and behaviour among refugees, practitioners and policymakers in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. This article highlights in particular three such disconnects: the a historical approach to engaging with displaced people in Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon, which has led to the implementation of international blueprints of humanitarian support that are disconnected from people’s needs; the imposition of an encampment policy at odds with displaced people’s need for temporary settlement enabled through their own social networks; the redundancy of humanitarian practitioners’ background and experience in dealing with the particularities of displaced populations in the Eastern Mediterranean, and the failure to build on practices that work.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore whether citizens live in rural Africa, Asia or Latin America are able and willing to report on service delivery failures and are service providers or government officials willing to listen and respond.
Abstract: Information and communications technologies (ICTs) are widely seen as a new avenue for citizens to hold service providers and government to account. But if citizens live in rural Africa, Asia or Latin America, are they able and willing to report on service delivery failures? And are service providers or government officials willing to listen and respond? We explore these questions using an analysis of recent ICT reporting initiatives to improve rural water sustainability. The findings demonstrate that models where a service provider is committed to responsiveness and designs an in-house fault-reporting and maintenance system show greater responsiveness and accountability to users than crowdsourcing models where users are encouraged to report faults. This raises the question of whether ICT is transformative, or whether service improvement simply hinges on making service provision designs more accountable.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A review of recent literature relating resistance studies to power studies, seeking insights that can be applied by change practitioners and social activists can be found in this article, where the purpose and evolution of power analysis with the hindsight that comes from two decades of scholarship and practice is revisited.
Abstract: This article reviews recent literature relating resistance studies to power studies, seeking insights that can be applied by change practitioners and social activists. Starting by critically revisiting the purpose and evolution of power analysis with the hindsight that comes from two decades of scholarship and practice, it shows how the transformative potential of power analysis is currently constrained in important respects. The coverage of power theory in the resistance literature is found to be promising but patchy. Agency-based, coercive and wilful versions of power as ‘power over’ tend – with noteworthy exceptions – to be more accessible and tractable to power and resistance scholars and strategists alike than the less accessible structuralist and post-structuralist versions of power as norms, culture and discourse, or processes of structuration. The article therefore proposes a broader framing of power analysis, and makes a start at extending its application beyond strategising for empowerment to strategising for resistance.

Journal IssueDOI
TL;DR: The IDS Bulletin this article focuses on the ways in which invisible power can perpetuate injustice and widen inequalities, and suggests means by which tacit understandings of what is bearable, useful and fair can be brought into question.
Abstract: Ten years on from the landmark 2006 edition of the IDS Bulletin that brought us the ‘powercube’ – a practical approach to power analysis that offered a way of confronting its complexity – we return to the question of how to analyse and act on power in development. This issue focuses on the ways in which invisible power can perpetuate injustice and widen inequalities. Articles call for ways to denaturalise norms and structures of social, political and economic inequality – tackling injustice, misrecognition, poverty, disenfranchisement – so that the universal aspirations of the Sustainable Development Goals may have a chance of success. Contributors discuss the ways in which economic and political modes of inequality interact with social inequalities such as gender, race or sexuality to create yet more inequality, confronting policymakers with a challenge. Such complex social inequalities become ‘normal’ – but the contributions in this new IDS Bulletin offer ways of untangling complexity using approaches to analysis which take account of multiple dynamics in unequal relations. Articles suggests means by which tacit understandings of what is bearable, useful and fair can be brought into question. The SDG call to ‘leave no one behind’ – which will only be achieved through breaking the vicious circle of inequality – is more than about policy, increased action, or creating alternative economies. It is also about changing norms of what is possible, and making visible those invisible norms that have hindered our ability to imagine and create a just world.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that inequality in access to water and sanitation is largely caused and legitimised by different forms of invisible power that prevent universal access, and they argue that unless the power imbalances that perpetuate inequality are tackled head on by both policymakers and activists, the SDGs will not achieve social justice.
Abstract: This article argues that inequality in access to water and sanitation is largely caused and legitimised by different forms of invisible power that prevent universal access. It shows how invisible power combined with structural violence and experiences of unequal citizenship result in dismal access to water that cause systematic harm to poor and marginalised women and men. The article also argues that invisible power and other forms of power imbalance have ended up naturalising water inequalities around the world. While the inalienable universality of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their focus on inequality must be celebrated, unless the power imbalances that perpetuate inequality are tackled head on by both policymakers and activists, the SDGs will not achieve social justice. It is thus important for both the sufferers of water injustices as well as water justice advocates to challenge structural violence and invisible power in the water domain.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors summarized some of the primary debates surrounding women empowerment across three lines: economic empowerment and its links with poverty reduction, social empowerment in terms of changes in gender norms and values, and political empowerment and mobilisation.
Abstract: With the formulation of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on gender equality and women’s empowerment, debates around empowerment of women find themselves at a critical juncture of donor preferences, programmatic and movement activity and the lived experiences of women. This introductory article summarises some of the primary debates surrounding women’s empowerment across three lines: economic empowerment and its links with poverty reduction – focusing on the intersections between paid work and unpaid care work; social empowerment in terms of changes in gender norms and values; and political empowerment and mobilisation. The interconnectedness of these three domains of empowerment is important to bear in mind while looking ahead – especially with high levels of intersecting inequalities and power structures that prevent the realisation of empowerment. We conclude that a process of collective notion of empowerment that focuses on addressing structural inequality and accords primacy to women’s own agency, would go a long way towards expanding women’s opportunities and choices – in other words, realising women’s empowerment in a meaningful way.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore co-construction from their experience as embedded researcher-practitioners through two case studies: the ecological restoration of fisheries by the Skolt Sami in Finland, and the conservation of agro-ecological and forest management practices by peasant communities in Paraguay.
Abstract: It is increasingly recognised that co-construction of knowledge which brings together researcher-derived understanding, with local, practitioner or non-researcher understanding is necessary to address current global challenges. Emerging empirical evidence suggests challenges remain in bridging across scales and ensuring inclusion of the marginalised. It is unclear whether espoused approaches are in practice enhancing the wellbeing of those currently on the front lines of ecological, social and political crises, or, whether they are inadvertently increasing inequality. In this article, we explore co-construction from our experience as embedded researcher–practitioners through two case studies: the ecological restoration of fisheries by the Skolt Sami in Finland, and the conservation of agro-ecological and forest management practices by peasant communities in Paraguay. We challenge the idea that co-construction of knowledge is sufficient to engage with regressive institutional and political dynamics that continue to marginalise, arguing for a focus on self-determination to be the foundation for co-construction.

Journal IssueDOI
TL;DR: The IDS Bulletin this article makes a timely contribution to our understanding of how ideas around empowerment have evolved and how we can move forward to expand women's opportunities and choices and realize women's empowerment in a meaningful way.
Abstract: With the formulation of the first ever internationally agreed stand-alone goal on gender equality, debates around women’s empowerment are at a critical juncture.This IDS Bulletin makes a timely contribution to our understanding of how ideas around empowerment have evolved and how we can move forward to expand women’s opportunities and choices and realise women’s empowerment in a meaningful way. Even though the importance of women’s empowerment is widely accepted, it remains a complex concept that defies precise definitions and easy measurements.Together, the articles in this special Archive Collection demonstrate the depth and breadth of a nuanced analysis of empowerment that has come out of academic scholars writing at the cutting edge of this field. The editors reflect on the interconnectedness of the economic, social and political components of empowerment. In doing so they highlight the significant gaps in policy and programming aimed at furthering processes and outcomes for women’s empowerment.Casting an eye to the future, they draw our attention to two relevant debates that merit further unpacking – that of inequality, and the question of how the Sustainable Development Goals can contribute to furthering processes of women’s empowerment and gender equality.Ultimately this IDS Bulletin reminds us that empowerment – implying an expansion of opportunities and the power to make choices – can only be realised through a collective, rather than individualised notion of empowerment that focuses on addressing structural inequality and inequitable power relations, and gives primacy to women’s agency in negotiating and challenging these structures.

Journal ArticleDOI
Laura Neuman1
TL;DR: The authors examines the issue of gender inequity in the exercise of the right of access to information by exploring the legislative framework underpinning the right for women, detailing the value of information for women and describing the principal obstacles that propagate information asymmetries, and exploring potential responses to advance a more universal right to information.
Abstract: The right of access to information is a fundamental and universal right, necessary for economic empowerment and the fulfilment of other rights. However, the recent study discussed in this article demonstrates that women are not able to exercise this right with the same frequency, ease and rate of success as men. The article examines the issue of gender inequity in the exercise of the right of access to information by exploring the legislative framework underpinning the right for women, detailing the value of information for women, describing the principal obstacles that propagate information asymmetries, and exploring potential responses to advance a more universal right to information.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors examine how the concept of power has been used and discussed in IDS Bulletin articles over the last five decades, reflect on IDS contributions to the concepts and practices of power in development, and speculate on what further work might shape and inspire work in this field in the future.
Abstract: Despite the fact that power has been a key concept in social and political theory for decades, within international development a focus on understanding power relationships and how they are challenged and transformed has only recently become more central. In this article, we examine how the concept of power has been used and discussed in IDS Bulletin articles over the last five decades, reflect on IDS contributions to the concepts and practices of power in development, and speculate on what further work might shape and inspire work in this field in the future. We argue that an explicit analysis of power was largely absent from earlier issues of the IDS Bulletin , or considered in narrow economic terms. However, beginning around the 1990s, the analysis of power emerged more centrally to IDS work across many fields – including gender, knowledge, participation and livelihoods – such that today, understanding how power relations shape development is considered a core part of the IDS approach.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper identified three new frontiers in the study of ethnicity: theoretical effort is required to unpack how ethnicity intersects with other forms of identity; further research is required on the impacts of ethnicity upon development and vice versa; and, finally, the geopolitical landscape emerging since 9/11 has stimulated major shifts in conceptions of ethnicity.
Abstract: Ethnicity has become prominent in popular and scholarly thinking over the last 50 years. In the late 1960s a few key works stimulated the growth of a complex body of literature, now defined by four main theoretical approaches. New insights are also emerging. Chief among these is the importance of integrating intersectionality into ethnicity theory. The Institute of Development Studies (IDS) has also made important contributions to this literature and its application to development studies. This article identifies three new frontiers in the study of ethnicity. First, theoretical effort is required to unpack how ethnicity intersects with other forms of identity. Second, as demonstrated by IDS’ contributions, further research is required on the impacts of ethnicity upon development and vice versa. And, finally, the geopolitical landscape emerging since 9/11 has stimulated major shifts in conceptions of ethnicity. These shifts and the resulting new framings of identity (ethnic and otherwise) beg investigation.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe an innovative foresight approach, which is used to examine the interactions among three themes that are likely to be significant for international development policy and strategy in the coming decades.
Abstract: In this article, we describe an innovative foresight approach, which we used to examine the interactions among three themes that are likely to be significant for international development policy and strategy in the coming decades. We adapted existing foresight scenario methods (drivers of change analysis, scenarios, wind-tunnelling) to investigate possible trade-offs, tensions and synergies that may exist among competing international development goals of reducing inequalities, accelerating sustainability and building more inclusive and secure societies. Our method combined foresight methods with programme theory analysis, an approach commonly used in impact evaluation. We describe our approach in detail and discuss its strengths and weaknesses.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Open government and open data are new areas of research, advocacy and activism that have entered the governance field alongside the more established areas of transparency and accountability as mentioned in this paper, highlighting contributions to more open, transparent, accountable and responsive governance via improved practice, projects and programmes.
Abstract: Open government and open data are new areas of research, advocacy and activism that have entered the governance field alongside the more established areas of transparency and accountability This article reviews recent scholarship in these areas, pinpointing contributions to more open, transparent, accountable and responsive governance via improved practice, projects and programmes The authors set the rest of the articles from this IDS Bulletin in the context of the ideas, relationships, processes, behaviours, policy frameworks and aid funding practices of the last five years, and critically discuss questions and weaknesses that limit the effectiveness and impact of this work Identifying conceptual ambiguity as a key problem, they offer a series of definitions to help overcome the technical and political difficulties this causes They also identify hype and euphemism, and offer a series of conclusions to help restore meaning and ideological content to work on open government and open data in transparent and accountable governance

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Pathways as discussed by the authors is an international group of research organizations, collaborating to explore processes of social transformation and to share insights across disciplines, cultures and contexts, working across the domains of food, energy and water, experimenting with new methods of research and engagement that both help to understand and contribute to transformations to sustainability.
Abstract: The ‘Pathways’ transformative knowledge network is an international group of research organisations, collaborating to explore processes of social transformation and to share insights across disciplines, cultures and contexts. Working across the domains of food, energy and water, the network is experimenting with new methods of research and engagement that both help to understand – and contribute to – transformations to sustainability. This article outlines some of the early experiences of two hubs in the network (UK and Argentina) and reflects on the lessons learned for ‘engaged excellence’. It also describes how approaches to transdisciplinary research (building on a diversity of academic and non-academic traditions) vary across different contexts, and how wider lessons in this regard will be shared across the consortium into the future.

Journal ArticleDOI
Jo Rowlands1
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the process of strengthening and developing power analysis in the international non-governmental organisation (NGO), Oxfam, and explore some of the obstacles and issues that need further attention for theory to reach practice.
Abstract: Theorising about power has developed over the past decade in ways that support significantly more nuanced understanding and analysis; the implications of this for development practice are becoming better understood, but have yet to be systematically integrated in programme design and implementation. This article explores the process of strengthening and developing power analysis in the international non‑governmental organisation (NGO), Oxfam. Some of the language is shifting, and power analysis has become a prerequisite for planning processes and is seen as a foundational skill. More programmes work intentionally with informal as well as formal power, and there is more willingness to engage with complexity. In practice, there is a hybrid approach to power analysis with multiple approaches in play. It is not easy to maintain and develop understandings in the face of constant changes, and the article explores some of the obstacles and issues that need further attention for theory to reach practice.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors examines the political violence through the lens of political demography, drawing partly on Henrik Urdal's theses on the impact of demographic factors on the risk of political violence, but more broadly documents and analyses the trajectory of youth movements involvement with violence in relation to issues of employment, education and urbanisation.
Abstract: The dominance of a generation of combat age, high levels of education combined with high unemployment, failed cities, and the relatively long duration of the transitional period still constitute an appropriate atmosphere for the explosion of a new wave of youth violence in the Middle East. The author takes Egypt as a case study. Egypt witnessed an unprecedented spike in violence following the revolution of January 25, 2011. This article first examines the political violence through the lens of political demography, drawing partly on Henrik Urdal’s theses on the impact of demographic factors on the risk of political violence, but more broadly documents and analyses the trajectory of youth movements’ involvement with violence in relation to issues of employment, education and urbanisation.

Journal IssueDOI
TL;DR: The role of foresight in policy-oriented international development research has been discussed in the IDS Bulletin this article, focusing on the opportunities and challenges associated with a wide range of fore-sight approaches and methods that help individuals and groups to think about and prepare for different possible futures.
Abstract: This issue of the IDS Bulletin focuses on the role of foresight in policy-oriented international development research and seeks to draw attention to the opportunities and challenges associated with the wide range of foresight approaches and methods that help individuals and groups to think about and prepare for different possible futures From its systematic origins in the private sector – where the interest was in developing strategy, understanding implications of present and future trends and events, facilitating better decision-making and improving risk management – so governments and public sector bodies subsequently embraced foresight with similar objectives Looking to the future is – or certainly should be – at the core of development studies While the benefit of ‘looking back to look forward’ is well recognised, foresight is more akin to ‘looking forward to look forward’ It is striking that foresight approaches and methods do not figure prominently in policy-oriented development research Why might this be so? This IDS Bulletin suggests two possible explanations First, most social science disciplines are more comfortable with the analysis of the past and the present than the future Second, the model of the large, well-funded public sector foresight programme simply does not reflect the realities of much policy-oriented development research A principle concern of this issue is whether foresight approaches and methods can be usefully integrated into small-scale, exploratory research of relevance to the international development community

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss discrimination as a form of invisible structural power, and how, if it is not addressed, it can undermine efforts to promote the social inclusion of Romani people in the Western Balkans and Central and Eastern Europe.
Abstract: This article discusses discrimination as a form of invisible structural power, and how, if it is not addressed, it can undermine efforts to promote the social inclusion of Romani people in the Western Balkans and Central and Eastern Europe. We argue that there is a need for development practitioners working in Western European aid agencies to be reflective about our own positionality and practice. Through processes of individual and group reflection, aid professionals can become more aware of the operation of invisible power. In the Roma context, this means recognising antigypsyism as historically constructed racism. In this article, we show how invisible power impacts on the lives of Roma people, on social institutions and on the sense of self and position among those who work for ‘Roma inclusion’. We also briefly sketch a process of critical pedagogy that we are working on with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) that aims to surface invisible power and bring discrimination into the foreground.