IDS Bulletin Research Articles

Social Contracts, Networks and Security in Tropical Africa Conflict States: An Overview

In this IDS Bulletin we present fieldwork from articles covering the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Mozambique and Somalia to show that assumptions derived from the classical social contract theorists frequently lead the international community astray as it attempts to rebuild these African states. The historical social contract for most Africans is not between the state and individuals but with communities. When it comes to security, there are two contracts and two bargains to consider instead of the single one of classical presumptions. The contracts are (i) community governance structures with local families; and (ii) the state with community governance systems, with supplemental ties to individuals. The bargains are (iii) the regime with the military; and (iv) the state with the international community. The military is frequently a source of predation on communities rather than of protection. The dynamics of these contracts and bargains can be in conflict with one another, leading to a situation where governance is multilevel and networked. The presence and importance of international actors in the networks changes policies and indirectly affects politics, but it does not threaten the integrity of the state as an institution itself, which instead is rooted in the processes of the other three compacts.

Introduction: Is Development Research Communication Coming of Age?

In this article we reflect on three themes that highlight current trends in research communication for development and, in turn, shape this issue of the IDS Bulletin. We argue that shifts in the sociopolitical and theoretical context within which development research communication is being put into practice; the range and configurations of actors and roles being deployed; and technological advances or innovations available for research communication are affecting important and often contested changes. In introducing this collection of articles relevant to these themes, we conclude that further work is needed in mapping out this evolving landscape and better understanding the interlinkages, antecedents, and tensions between perspectives. Doing so, we argue, could contribute to a stronger praxis of development research communication.

Introduction: Action Research for Development and Social Change

This article examines the threads that run through the seven different accounts of action research that make up this IDS Bulletin . It links the practice of action research to the power and positionality of action research facilitators. It argues that action research must explore the flows and dynamics of power in order to ensure that any changes are not superficial. It is explicit that action research involves risks and it is important to be mindful of those risks as the action research unfolds. It grounds the articles in theories of change that emphasise systemic relationships and complexity. Finally it sees learning as an iterative process in which decisions constantly have to be made about what methods to use – matching the methods specifically to the knowledge that participants want to generate at any one time.

Exploring the Textured Landscape of Water Insecurity and the Human Right to Water

he last decade has seen historic advances in the formal establishment of the human right to water and global agreements on development goals that target improved access to water and sanitation. How...

Conclusion: Rethinking African Governance and Development

This article draws together the main strands of argument being developed by the Africa Power and Politics Programme (APPP), as reflected in this IDS Bulletin. The central question is what kinds of governance arrangements work better to support the provision of the public goods that are essential to sustained and inclusive development in Africa. Evidence at local, sectoral and national levels is pointing to the overall conclusion that what works is often a ‘practical hybrid’, combining authoritative coordination with local problem‐solving and constructive borrowing from local cultural repertoires. Consistent with the general idea of ‘going with the grain’, we find that the most likely source of the necessary vertical discipline is a developmental form of neo‐patrimonialism, not ‘good governance’, as currently conceived. Similarly, local collective action to address bottlenecks in public goods provision is seldom enhanced by standard donor and NGO approaches to citizen or client empowerment.

Introduction: Working with the Grain? The Africa Power and Politics Programme

At the heart of current policy thinking about Africa there is a significant knowledge gap concerning governance and development. This IDS Bulletin is concerned with what can be done about that, drawing on the initial experience of a new research venture, the Africa Power and Politics Programme. The APPP is committed to discovering forms of governance that work better for development than those prescribed by the current ‘good governance’ orthodoxy. It aims to do so chiefly by examining the range of post‐colonial experience in sub‐Saharan Africa focusing especially on under‐appreciated patterns of difference in institutions and outcomes. This article explains the rationale of this approach and outlines the options which have shaped the programme's methods and concepts. A central challenge has been operationalising the working hypothesis that institutions function better when they ‘work with the grain’ of the society which hosts them.

Introduction: Gender, Rights and Religion at the Crossroads

The introduction to this IDS Bulletin captures why this is the moment for re‐engaging with the politics of gender and religion in a securitised post‐9/11 context in which ‘Muslim communities’ have emerged as a political category in their own right. The article traces and exposes how religion has been deployed by international actors, donors, states, feminists, development practitioners, and human rights activists in engaging with gender issues. It analyses both the underlying motives for promoting a ‘religionised’ form of engagement with gender issues by these actors and how it is reflected in their policy and practice. It argues that various forms of instrumentalisation of religion, gender and human rights need to be examined against the backdrop of volatile political context, the rise of identity politics and increased economic inequality and deprivation. In particular, the article questions what an instrumentalised approach to religion means for negotiating the terms of engagement for addressing women's rights as well as how it impacts their day to day realities.

Overview: Getting a More Balanced View of What is Working in Agriculture to Reduce Hunger

This article suggests that to understand better what is working in agriculture in order to reduce hunger, a strengthening and transformation of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) in agricultural research and development is needed. It presents the Agricultural Learning and Impacts Network (ALINe) as the initiative that has commissioned this IDS Bulletin, reflecting aspects of the current status and role of M&E, how it can be strengthened and ultimately transformed, and some of the reasons for why such change is possible. ALINe argues that asking farmers about their priorities, and what is and is not working and embedding this data into performance management systems is vital for improving accountability, value for money and the impact of agricultural development on people's lives. The article also introduces the other articles in this collection and commentaries on them by Southern practitioners and specialists.

Introduction: Quotas - Add Women and Stir?

Quotas have become increasingly popular as a fast track option for securing enhanced political representation largely because of their proven impact on increasing the number of women in parliament. As more countries have adopted one form or another of the quota, it is now timely to reflect on what the implications have been for transforming gender relations and the nature of politics at large. This introduction examines from the country case studies presented in this IDS Bulletin , the insight offered into the dynamics of motorways and pathways of increasing women's decision‐making power (with or without a quota) and the underlying assumptions about gender, power and politics as well as the policy issues for consideration.

Introduction: Overcoming Barriers to the Extension of Social Protection: Lessons from the Asia Region

The contributions to this IDS Bulletin report on some of the findings from research undertaken under the Social Protection in Asia programme. This is a three‐year policy‐oriented research and network building programme, funded by the Ford Foundation and IDRC, with project partners in China, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The research focuses on examining interventions aimed at extending social protection to those sections of the population, the majority in many Asian countries, who are excluded from formal social security systems. It has sought to identify and address barriers to the establishment of more comprehensive social protection systems that could address such difficult‐to‐reach groups. This issue of the IDS Bulletin brings together some initial reflections on the findings from this research. These relate to advocacy efforts to draw attention to those groups that have been largely invisible in the social protection agenda; to the importance of civil society and grassroots mobilisation in creating access to state provision and to lessons from social protection efforts to go to scale. These reflections are intended to feed into current debates about the design of appropriate social protection schemes that effectively meet identified needs.

Introduction: Why Reflect Collectively on Capacities for Change?1

‘Capacity development’ implies a promise of growing self‐reliance, national ownership and sustainability, yet practice seems consistently to fall short of this emancipatory promise. This introduction argues for a reframing of capacity development for emancipatory social change. Articles in this IDS Bulletin show how understanding and practice must engage with complexity, appreciate the importance of specific culture and context, and continually address the role of power in shaping relationships, understandings and practices. Values and leadership are fundamental drivers of capacity development processes. This IDS Bulletin argues against a deficit approach based on linear causal logic and replicable ‘best practice’. Instead, practitioners are encouraged to develop a detailed understanding of the culture and dynamics of specific contexts, to detect energies for positive change and work to connect and facilitate them. Learning is at the centre of the approach. Capacity development is understood as a collective process of learning in action for social change. Support for capacity development processes demands a critical development practice that implies mutual learning, with an emphasis on reflective and experiential approaches. However, this reframing implies enormous challenges for development practice, and therefore considerable personal and organisational commitment.

Introduction: Negotiating Empowerment

This introductory article draws out some of the dimensions and dilemmas around women's empowerment that are highlighted in the articles in this IDS Bulletin: the choices, the negotiations, the narratives and above all, the context of women's lived experience. In doing so, we show that empowerment is a complex process that requires more than the quick and easy solutions often offered by development agencies. Much of the significant change happening in women's lives takes place outside of the range of these conventional interventions. In conclusion, we suggest that for development agencies to really support women's empowerment requires greater engagement with changing structures rather than accommodating women within the inequitable existing order, and a much deeper understanding of what makes change happen in their lives.

Introduction - The MDGs and Beyond: Pro-poor Policy in a Changing World

This issue of the IDS Bulletin is dedicated to discussing and reviewing the MDGs and the global effort that grew from the UN Millennium Declaration. This article provides an overview of this IDS Bulletin and introduces the key themes.

The Local Politics of Public Action: Relationships, Bargains and the Question of ‘Impact”

The concluding contribution to this IDS Bulletin draws together the themes and findings from the eight country case studies. It reflects on the choice of the framing notion of ‘public action’ as distinct from a focus on ‘civil society’, as an alternative and more appropriate frame of reference for the hybrid forms of change in local governance witnessed through these cases. Three main wider contributions of the research are identified. First, as action research, some of the cases offer fresh perspectives on processes of change, often from the valuable perspectives of insiders or engaged practitioners. Second, the cases collectively provide striking new insights into how relationships are built to bolster alliances, strike bargains, and develop trust between actors engaged in local governance reform. Third, the article draws together the case study findings to develop a working typology of the impacts of local democratic governance reform on poverty, inequality and exclusion.

Introduction: The Global Financial Crisis, Developing Countries and Policy Responses

How is the global financial crisis affecting developing countries and what should policy responses be? This is the subject of this IDS Bulletin. In this introduction, we summarise the key findings of a set of research projects on the financial crisis undertaken at IDS between February and April 2009 and propose policy responses.

Introduction: Researching Democracy and Social Change with Violence in the Foreground

There are many studies of violence within specific fields of the social sciences, but the next stage in our evolving understanding of violence may lie with interdisciplinary approaches. By traversing traditional academic categories, violence as a variable may become more visible in its multiple modes. It is through our ability to see the linkages between interpersonal, cultural, collective, political, state, interstate and structural violences that we can gain a better understanding of its persistence in human interactions. Researchers for this IDS Bulletin set out not only to understand contemporary dynamics of violence, but also to work with people trapped in violent places, spaces and histories who were willing to talk about and act upon their situation. Researching violence in an interactive way with those living in the thick of it posed many ethical, safety, epistemological and methodological challenges. These are documented in this IDS Bulletin alongside findings on the dimensions and impact of violence in different contexts.

Conclusion: Understanding Violent Realities … and Transforming Them?

The conclusion sums up the contributions which this IDS Bulletin makes towards the goals of reducing violence through social action and improving research in violent contexts. These contributions are of three kinds: methodological, ethical and transformational, with respect to the violent realities in which the processes unfolded. Methodologically speaking, the contributions in this issue offer a series of insights that permit better understandings of violence and better contextual awareness of violent settings. They emphasise innovative research methodologies which elicit insights from those who experience violence but are often invisible. Ethically speaking, contributors' concerns with uncovering often-suppressed facets, dynamics and perspectives on violence are part of their normative interest in the emergence of democratic forms of politics and progressive social change. The research intervention can serve as a catalyst for transforming violent realities, dislodging and re-focusing participants' viewpoints on their lifeworlds, allowing changes to happen.

Essays on Transforming Security and Development in an Unequal World

SummaryThese two papers add further dimensions to the discussions in IDS Bulletin 40.2 (March 2009) on ‘Transforming Security and Development in an Unequal World’ edited by Robin Luckham, Niagalé Bagayoko, Lucia Dammert, Claudio Fuentes and Michael Solis. Like the contributions to the latter, they were first discussed at the founding Colloquium of the Global Consortium for Security Transformation held at Kandalama, Sri Lanka in September 2007.Niagalé Bagayoko's paper on ‘State, Non‐State and Multilateral Logics of Action in Post‐Conflict Environments’ considers the complexities of Northern policymaking and their impacts in post‐conflict countries. It thus differs from but complements IDS Bulletin 40.2, which focuses mostly on security and development from a Southern perspective.She argues that a number of different policy logics are at work in the security, development, humanitarian and media etc domains, which are sometimes coordinated – but often in tension with – each other. Her approach thus differs from that of certain critical voices in the NGO and academic worlds, which hold that there is a danger that Northern security priorities might ‘securitise’ the humanitarian and development agendas, particularly in post‐conflict environments. While these dangers are real, nevertheless one should not stereotype all international actors as ‘Northern’ or as promoting Northern security (e.g. anti‐terrorist) agendas. It is instead more fruitful to view such actors as diverse players with conflicting interests that operate according to different policy logics.Lyndsay McLean Hilker's paper on ‘Why Identity Politics Matters for Security and What Follows for Research and Policy’ spells out a general framework for analysis of identity‐based violent conflict, drawing upon empirical examples, including Rwanda, where she has focused her own research. It is unique in its focus on the implications of analysis and research on identity politics for development policy.She contends that identity politics matter both to the persistence of insecurity and to the achievement of greater security. Evidence from multiple contexts demonstrates that identity provides an effective basis for group mobilisation into collective action – both violent and non‐violent in nature. If we are to work to combat insecurity at the local as well as the global level, we need to look in more depth at the processes leading to violence in the name of identity in specific contexts, and explore the types of interventions that can prevent and respond to such violence. It is especially important to understand under what circumstances identity politics can be exercised in ways that are inclusive and empowering rather than exclusionary or violent.

Introduction: Transforming Security and Development in an Unequal World

Security is a contested concept, which means very different things to different people. It bears the heavy historical imprint of the existing state system and of global capitalism. However this IDS Bulletin contends that it is essential that the development community understands and engages with security issues, for violent conflict and insecurity can no longer be treated as exogenous shocks disturbing the smooth course of development; but rather they should be seen as intrinsic to development itself. In the twenty-first century, the dominant state-based narratives of security are no longer credible and need to be rethought, especially from the perspective of the poor, vulnerable and dispossessed. This article and this IDS Bulletin as a whole are an attempt to sketch out a multilevel framework for the governance of (in)security, taking human and citizen security as its starting point, and addressing the gender, class, ethnic, religious, etc. inequalities built into the dominant narratives of security.

The International Financial Architecture and the Limits to Neoliberal Hegemony

Unlike neoliberalism, [the] new financial architecture recognises the limits of a disembedded global economy. Yet, rather than seeking to rein in the forces of liberalisation by re-embedding intern...