Higher education and state-building in Sri Lanka

How governance and sector specialists can help each other understand the politics of service delivery

PNG's BPW Port Moresby, a case study for a DLP research project, is an impressive example of local women networking without donor assistance to advance gender equity.

DLP hosted a day-long high level introductory workshop on political settlements in June. This post introduces a series that showcases the contributions of researchers, policymakers and practitioners.

Emerging lessons from the Central Land Council’s community development program to strengthen Aboriginal people’s participation in mainstream Australia.

A practitioner considers how the intangible nature of power can be discussed and included in a policy framework. 

Bad news sells. And for news editors looking for horror stories to recycle, Colombia's second largest city used to be a reliable source.

While most development research is well on the way to embedding gender analysis, PEA - many donors' key analytical tool - largely ignores it.

Why rethink the international consensus on 'quality basic education for development'?

The brutal rape and murder in December 2012 of a 23-year-old student in a Delhi bus has been the catalyst for rapidly evolving activism against sexual violence in India.

What does the evidence say about whether giving aid to a high-achieving authoritarian regime makes good developmental sense? 

Taking stock of recent research evidence that shows how higher education can feed into political stability and civil engagement.

Bringing to the fore some of the unique problems faced by the Pacific region.

Anti-corruption messages aim to recruit citizens to the fight - but what do they actually hear?

Learning how to balance the technically possible and politically feasible in volatile, conflict-affected contexts.

One of the most influential and enduring World Development Reports ever produced – Making Services Work for Poor People – is a decade old this year.

Only through putting inclusiveness first can fragile states begin to break the dysfunctional societal and institutional patterns that hold back change.

How do we explain the profound dissatisfaction with the quality of representation now manifest in democracies everywhere?

When aspirations triggered by development and prosperity outstrip a political settlement's ability to deliver on those expectations, how easy is it to 're-settle' the settlement? 

New thinking on the reasons why individuals engage in corruption - including the pragmatic calculation that, right or wrong, corruption may be the only solution to pressing difficulties. 

The argument for asset-based approaches to development programming and practice that value communities' capacity, skills and knowledge.

Have donors overlooked the role played in development by secondary education? Reflections on new research on peacebuilding in Somaliland. 

The history of India’s largely forgotten shift to autocracy and its return to democracy can tell us much about how change happens.

The educated, internationally connected women who are changing the way 'development' is done

The inescapable conundrum that politics involves actual politicians is one reason why the subject of political settlements generates so much debate.

DLP research fellow Claire Mcloughlin challenges the widely held assumption that there is a self-reinforcing 'virtuous circle' between service delivery and state legitimacy. 

Reflections on the 2015 DLP annual conference.

Can donors, researchers, policymakers and practitioners all agree on what we mean when we talk about 'political settlements'?

The next step on from a rights-based approach to disability inclusion is to hand over control to those who know best - people with disabilities.

The poor aren't simply 'easy targets' - they necessarily come into contact with corrupt state officials more often.

New DLP research poses the question of whether the focus of the international development community on primary education is too narrow.

What we can learn from areas of stability and calm in regions where near neighbours seem to be struggling to resolve strife.

Thoughts on two sources of new and useful ideas about the deeper structures that might shape creativity.

Bringing politics back into PEA - a new paper with Adrian Leftwich

Donors have recently made great efforts to understand power in partner countries. Yet they have largely ignored one of the most pervasive power relations – gender.

Promoting and sustaining individual behavioural change is as important as building flexibility into development programming.

What hinders more politically nuanced security and justice programming?

A more nuanced understanding of good developmental leadership demands a shift away from the conventional focus on 'big' individuals.

Societies with more inclusive institutions are more peaceful and more resilient, and tend to be better governed - but how do they get there?