Governance and fragility

Part of 'ReCom – research and communication on foreign aid' project

Since the late 1980s, governance has become a major concern for both donors and aid recipient countries. Good governance is seen as an important objective in and of itself, as well as a critical influence on economic development. The 2005 Paris Declaration’s commitment to national ownership of the aid agenda has further focused attention on the quality of domestic governance.

Fragile states—which have low state capacity and often high levels of poverty—are home to one-third of the world’s poor. In this animation we look at how foreign aid helps building stronger, more accountable states. The film is part of a series produced by UNU-WIDER on the project ‘ReCom–Research and Communication on Foreign Aid’. It can, for instance, be used when teaching students about what aid can achieve.

This is part of the 'ReCom – research and communication on foreign aid' project.

 

Team

Focal point: Finn Tarp, Rachel Gisselquist

Communications: Annett Victorero

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    Blog
    Afghanistan 2021: A quickly made long tragedy
    Placeholder

    The tragedy for the Afghan people of the Taliban re-taking control of the country in August 2021 is the denouement of a process 20 years in the making...

    Professor Tarp has four decades of experience in academic and applied development economics research and teaching. His field experience covers more than two decades of in-country work in 35 countries across Africa and the developing world more...

    Seminar
    Michael Woolcock and Lant Pritchett on building state capability: evidence, analysis, action
    Wed, 13 March 2019
    UNU-WIDER, Katajanokanlaituri 6 B, Helsinki, Finland
    Past event
    Parallel session
    Aid and governance

    Does foreign aid still play a role in shaping democratic trajectories in sub-Saharan Africa? Given significant economic and political developments over the past five years, this panel revisits previous UNU-WIDER research findings on aid and democracy...

    Policy Brief
    Development assistance for peacebuilding
    Book Chapter
    Premature Load Bearing

    Part of Book Building State Capability

    Book Chapter
    The Big Stuck in State Capability

    Part of Book Building State Capability

    Book
    Building State Capability

    This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Governments play a major role in the...

    Policy Brief
    Experiments in government performance
    Policy Brief
    Aid for governance
    Presentation
    The root causes of large scale forced migration

    Director Finn Tarp made a contribution on international migration in a policy seminar hosted by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.

    Wed, 24 August 2016
    Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, Laivastokatu 22, Helsinki, Finland
    Past event
    Journal Article
    Transitional Justice, Gender Programming, and the UNSCR 1325

    Part of Journal Special Issue Aid for Gender Equality and Development

    Journal Article
    Innovative Delivery Mechanisms

    Part of Journal Special Issue Aid, Social Policy and Development

    Journal Article
    Aid, social policy and development

    Part of Journal Special Issue Aid, Social Policy and Development

    Journal Special Issue
    Aid, Social Policy and Development

    The UNU-WIDER Special Issue aims to address collectively the following questions: (1) What are the principles and facts that have underpinned the evolution of bilateral and multilateral social sector aid over the past 25 years? In particular, how pro...

    Video
    UNU-WIDER Interview Series: Professor Lant Pritchett

    An interview with Professor Lant Pritchett from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, conducted during his visit to Helsinki to deliver a presentation titled 'It’s a Deals World: The Dynamics of Capitalism with Weak Institutions' at a...

    Video
    UNU-WIDER Interview Series: Michael Woolcock

    Michael Woolcock, Lead Social Development Specialist, the World Bank, discusses the concept and routes to aid effectiveness, capability traps, governance and gives advice for future research on development issues for students of these subjects. The...

    Video
    UNU-WIDER Interview Series: Nicolas van de Walle

    The intricate dynamic between foreign aid to Africa, democratic transitions and consolidation is the topic of a series of research papers being published under the ReCom Governance & Fragility theme this spring. In this interview we speak to Nicolas...

    Video
    UNU-WIDER and University of Ghana Seminar: Donors, Democracy and Development

    This seminar addresses whether and how foreign aid has impacted the democratic trajectories of countries within sub-Saharan Africa.

    Video
    UNU-WIDER Interview Series: Scott Hubli

    The intricate dynamic between foreign aid to Africa, democratic transitions and consolidation is the topic of a series of research papers being published under the ReCom Governance & Fragility theme. In this interview we speak to K. Scott Hubli...

    Video
    UNU-WIDER Interview Series: David Richards

    The intricate dynamic between foreign aid to Africa, democratic transitions and consolidation is the topic of a series of research papers being published under the ReCom Governance & Fragility theme.

    Video
    Research communication: Why doesn’t research turn into policy?

    At the recent UNU-WIDER research conference on development and climate change, the communications team took the opportunity to ask participants visiting us here in Helsinki for their views on how research turns into policy. We heard many interesting...

    Video
    Development aid and democracy in Africa - an interview with Danielle Resnick

    UNU-WIDER Fellow and ReCom programme Governance and Fragility theme leader Danielle Resnick explains the logic and findings of the research project 'Foreign Aid and Democracy in Africa'.

    Video
    Foreign aid, fragility, and governance

    Fragile states—which have low state capacity and often high levels of poverty—are home to one-third of the world’s poor.

    Video
    New landscape of poverty

    The global landscape of poverty has been changing quite dramatically during recent years.

    Video
    WIDER Annual Lecture 17

    The 17th WIDER Annual Lecture was held on 19 September in Helsinki, Finland. The lecture was delivered by President and Nobel Laureate Martti Ahtisaari who explored the role egalitarian principles can play in conflict resolution, peace building and development.

    Journal Article
    The World Bank's Health Projects in Timor-Leste

    Part of Journal Special Issue Development Assistance for Peacebuilding

    Journal Article
    Education from the Bottom Up

    Part of Journal Special Issue Development Assistance for Peacebuilding

    Journal Article
    Impact Assessment of the Facilitadores Judiciales Programme in Nicaragua

    Part of Journal Special Issue Development Assistance for Peacebuilding

    Journal Article
    Liberia's Gender-Sensitive Police Reform

    Part of Journal Special Issue Development Assistance for Peacebuilding

    Journal Article
    ‘Embedded’ Assistance

    Part of Journal Special Issue Development Assistance for Peacebuilding

    Journal Article
    Substantial but Uneven Achievement

    Part of Journal Special Issue Development Assistance for Peacebuilding

    Journal Article
    The Yemen Social Fund for Development

    Part of Journal Special Issue Development Assistance for Peacebuilding

    Journal Article
    The National Solidarity Programme

    Part of Journal Special Issue Development Assistance for Peacebuilding

    Journal Article
    Good Aid in Hard Places

    Part of Journal Special Issue Development Assistance for Peacebuilding

    Journal Special Issue
    Development Assistance for Peacebuilding

    Development assistance to fragile states and conflict-affected areas can be a core component of peacebuilding, providing support for the restoration of government functions, delivery of basic services, the rule of law and economic revitalization...

    Journal Article
    Experimental and Non-Experimental Methods in Development Economics

    Part of Journal Special Issue Experiments in Development Economics

    Journal Article
    What Can Experiments Tell Us About How to Improve Government Performance?

    Part of Journal Special Issue Experiments in Development Economics

    Journal Article
    Evaluating Antipoverty Transfer Programmes in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa

    Part of Journal Special Issue Experiments in Development Economics

    Journal Special Issue
    Experiments in Development Economics

    In recent years, experimental methods have been both highly celebrated, and roundly criticized, as a means of addressing core questions in the social sciences. They have received particular attention in the analysis of development interventions. The...

    Journal Article
    Ancillary Studies of Experiments

    Part of Journal Special Issue Experiments in Development Economics

    Journal Article
    Reflections on the Ethics of Social Experimentation

    Part of Journal Special Issue Experiments in Development Economics

    Journal Article
    A Graphical Approximation to Generalization

    Part of Journal Special Issue Experiments in Development Economics

    Working Paper
    ‘Embedded’ Assistance

    Donors face distinct challenges in operating in fragile states and supporting the building of state capacity. This paper explores one type of assistance – the ‘embedding’ of highly-skilled staff members within local government agencies – through a...

    Working Paper
    Reflections on the Ethics of Social Experimentation

    Social scientists are increasingly engaging in experimental research projects of importance for public policy in developing areas. While this research holds the possibility of producing major social benefits, it may also involve manipulating...

    Journal Article
    International Aid to Southern Europe in the Early Postwar Period

    Part of Journal Special Issue Aid and Institution-Building in Fragile States

    Journal Article
    Aid and Institution-Building in Fragile States

    Part of Journal Special Issue Aid and Institution-Building in Fragile States

    Journal Article
    Aid and Governance in Vulnerable States

    Part of Journal Special Issue Aid and Institution-Building in Fragile States

    Journal Article
    U.S. Aid and Uneven Development in East Asia

    Part of Journal Special Issue Aid and Institution-Building in Fragile States

    Journal Article
    Kosovo and Timor-Leste

    Part of Journal Special Issue Aid and Institution-Building in Fragile States

    Journal Article
    Consociational Settlements and Reconstruction

    Part of Journal Special Issue Aid and Institution-Building in Fragile States

    Journal Special Issue
    Aid and Institution-Building in Fragile States

    Why and how some states transition successfully from fragile to more robust—and some do not—are both topical and age-old questions. This volume of The ANNALS addresses these questions with particular attention to the role of foreign aid, offering new...

    Journal Article
    Foreign Aid, Resource Rents, and State Fragility in Mozambique and Angola

    Part of Journal Special Issue Aid and Institution-Building in Fragile States

    Journal Article
    Intervention and State-Building

    Part of Journal Special Issue Aid and Institution-Building in Fragile States

    Journal Article
    State Failure, State-Building, and Prospects for a “Functional Failed State” in Somalia

    Part of Journal Special Issue Aid and Institution-Building in Fragile States

    Journal Article
    Transition Regimes and Security Sector Reforms in Sierra Leone and Liberia

    Part of Journal Special Issue Aid and Institution-Building in Fragile States

    Working Paper
    Local Agency, Development Assistance and the Legacies of Rebellion in Burundi and Rwanda

    Rwanda and Burundi have both emerged from civil wars over the past 20 years and foreign donors have provided significant contributions to post-conflict reconstruction and development in the two countries. Yet although Rwanda and Burundi share several...

    Research Brief
    Successes and Challenges of Public Financial Management in Sierra Leone

    Fragile and conflict-affected states, like Sierra Leone, can maintain a strong public financial management structure if they are able to find foreign support for administrative capacity and sufficient domestic political and executive support. PFM...

    Journal Special Issue
    Aiding Government Effectiveness in Developing Countries

    For more than two decades, addressing constraints to better governance in developing countries has been a priority issue for the international donor community. Recent changes to aid modalities have further prioritized the need for improving...

    Journal Article
    Foreign Aid and Decentralization

    Part of Journal Special Issue Aiding Government Effectiveness in Developing Countries

    Journal Article
    Designing Effective Civil Service Reform Lessons from Past Experience

    Part of Journal Special Issue Aiding Government Effectiveness in Developing Countries

    Journal Article
    The Impact of Adult Civic Education Programmes in Developing Democracies

    Part of Journal Special Issue Aiding Government Effectiveness in Developing Countries

    Journal Article
    Styles of Policing and Economic Development in African States

    Part of Journal Special Issue Aiding Government Effectiveness in Developing Countries

    Journal Article
    Aiding Government Effectiveness in Developing Countries

    Part of Journal Special Issue Aiding Government Effectiveness in Developing Countries

    Journal Article
    Assessing the Impact of Regulatory Reform in Developing Countries

    Part of Journal Special Issue Aiding Government Effectiveness in Developing Countries

    Journal Article
    Tax and Development

    Part of Journal Special Issue Aiding Government Effectiveness in Developing Countries

    Research Brief
    The Impact of Civic Education Programmes on Political Participation

    Civic education programmes can have meaningful and relatively long-lasting effects in terms of increasing political information, feelings of empowerment, and mobilizing individuals to engage in political participation. Civic education programmes are...

    Journal Article
    Developing and Evaluating Governance Indexes

    Recent years have seen a proliferation of composite indicators or indexes of governance and their use in research and policy-making. This article proposes a framework of 10 questions to guide both the development and evaluation of such indexes. In...

    Journal Article
    Urban Service Delivery in Africa and the Role of International Assistance

    Part of Journal Special Issue Urban Governance and Service Delivery in sub-Saharan Africa

    Journal Article
    Strategies of Subversion in Vertically-Divided Contexts

    Part of Journal Special Issue Urban Governance and Service Delivery in sub-Saharan Africa

    Journal Article
    Opposition Politics and Urban Service Delivery in Kampala, Uganda

    Part of Journal Special Issue Urban Governance and Service Delivery in sub-Saharan Africa

    Journal Article
    Vertical Decentralisation and Urban Service Delivery in South Africa

    Part of Journal Special Issue Urban Governance and Service Delivery in sub-Saharan Africa

    Journal Article
    Urban Governance and Service Delivery in African Cities

    Part of Journal Special Issue Urban Governance and Service Delivery in sub-Saharan Africa

    Working Paper
    Engaging with Fragile and Conflict-Affected States

    The coherence and effectiveness of engagement with the world’s ‘fragile and conflict-affected states’—beyond ethical imperatives and geo-strategic considerations—turns on answers to two vexing questions. First, on what defensible basis is any given...

    Working Paper
    Can One Retell a Mozambican Reform Story Through Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation?

    Many public sector reforms in developing countries fail to make governments more functional. This is typically because reforms introduce new solutions that do not fit the contexts in which they are being placed. This situation reflects what has...

    Journal Special Issue
    Urban Governance and Service Delivery in sub-Saharan Africa

    This special issue comprises UNU-WIDER research focusing on key governance challenges related to addressing gaps in urban service delivery in sub-Saharan Africa. First, due to decentralisation policies in much of Africa, the provision of services is...

    Research Brief
    How Effectively Were the Paris Principles Applied to State-Building in South Sudan?

    The five Paris principles of effective aid were only nominally successfully implemented in the state-building process of South Sudan. While the importance of the first principle, ownership, was highlighted in development plans in Southern Sudan...

    Research Brief
    Lessons from the National Solidarity Programme in Afghanistan

    The National Solidarity Programme (NSP) serves as a success story that has improved many Afghan lives and laid the groundwork for potential longer-term development. The NSP had a positive effect on access to drinking water and electricity, acceptance...

    Research Brief
    Aid Failures in Haiti

    Aid to Haiti has not been effective due to failure of the country’s political and economic elites to participate and assist in the development process. US foreign policy has in some cases reinforced the tendency for elites to personally profit from...

    Working Paper
    Cambodia’s Land Management and Administration Project

    This paper presents the case of World Bank support to the mass titling component of the Cambodia Land Management and Administration Project. This was a project for which there was clear national demand, as evidenced by the fact that the Cambodian...

    Journal Article
    Paired Comparison and Theory Development

    Despite the widespread use of paired comparisons, we lack clear guidance about how to use this research strategy in practice, particularly in case selection. The literature tends to assume that cases are systematically selected from a known...

    Working Paper
    Success When Stars Align

    Since the end of the civil war, the Government of Sierra Leone has made substantial progress in strengthening public financial management. Improvements have been achieved across all aspects of the budget cycle and are particularly notable with regard...

    Position Paper
    Aid, Governance and Fragility

    This position paper on Aid, Governance, and Fragility was prepared by UNUWIDER under the ReCom programme of Research (Re) and Communication (Com) on foreign aid. It aims to provide an up-to-date overview and guide to two topics of central importance...

    Working Paper
    The Risks to Education Systems from Design Mismatch and Global Isomorphism

    The incredibly low levels of learning and the generally dysfunctional public sector schooling systems in many (though not all) developing countries are the result of a capability trap (Pritchett et al. 2010). Two phenomena reinforce persistent...

    Working Paper
    Does Successful Governance Require Heroes? The Case of Sergio Fajardo and the City of Medellín

    The city of Medellín, Colombia was a cauldron of violence with 185 homicides per 100,000 people in 2002. By 2006, this rate had declined to 32.5. Such successful transformation was termed the ‘Medellín miracle’ and credited to policies of the city’s...

    Research Brief
    Foreign Aid and Malian Democracy

    In Mali aid has had a positive impact on some areas of democratic consolidation such as strengthening the economy and civil society, election support and conflict resolution. Three significant structural problems were not addressed properly by donors...

    Research Brief
    Aid to Mozambique

    In Mozambique donors have shifted focus from project aid to budget support in an effort to reform the public sector and ‘justice, legality and public order’. While budget support has increased state capacity and helped Mozambique’s donor community...

    Research Brief
    Divided Authority in Kampala, Uganda

    Favouritism of government controlled councils is most distinct through interference in local politics rather than through funding mechanisms. The motivation of central government intervention in land deals is two-fold - their actions can be...

    Working Paper
    Aid and Policy Preference in Oil-Rich Countries

    This paper analyses the role of foreign aid to assist development in two oil-rich countries: Indonesia and Nigeria. This paper seeks to understand the way foreign aid provided assistance to transform Indonesia from a ‘fragile’ state in the 1960s into...

    Working Paper
    Foreign Aid Effectiveness in African Economies

    The aid-growth literature has been explored using a wide range of econometric methodologies. The evidence of the effectiveness of aid to promote economic growth is mixed, suggesting that the link between aid and growth is complex and may not be well...

    Working Paper
    Transition Regimes and Security Sector Reforms in Sierra Leone and Liberia

    Why are some countries more successful at carrying out post-conflict reconstruction programmes than others? Why has Sierra Leone been more successful in the reform of its armed forces than Liberia has after the end of the Mano River Basin wars? This...

    Working Paper
    Aid and Institution-Building in Fragile States

    Institution-building in Somalia has met with high levels of failure for two decades. But successes have occurred in other Somali-inhabited regions of the eastern Horn, and have been especially present at the local and municipal level. The most...

    Project meeting
    Good aid in hard places: Learning from what has worked in fragile contexts

    Governance & Fragility Governance has become a major concern for both donors and aid recipient countries since the late 1980s. Very poor quality governance is also one of the defining characteristics of state fragility, and social unrest and violence...

    Thu, 12 December 2013 – Fri, 13 December 2013
    UNU-WIDER, Katajanokanlaituri 6 B, Helsinki, Finland
    Past event
    Blog
    Goodbye and hello ReCom!
    Placeholder

    The research programme ReCom – Research and communication on foreign aid – is ending this year. There is a large and unique collection of research...

    Research Brief
    Zambia – Foreign Aid and Democratic Consolidation

    Democracy assistance and donor support have been key in fostering a new type of civil society, dominated by NGOs, the legal community and churches. The bulk of donor funding to Zambia is channelled to the executive through budget support, this has...

    Research Brief
    Africa’s Democratic Trajectory

    Development aid was effective in promoting democratic transitions during the 1990s in African countries beset by economic crisis domestic discontent, and a high dependency on aid. Development aid also influenced democratic transition indirectly...

    Displaying 96 of 239 results

    Context

    Main subject

    This project is part of ReCom - research and communication on foreign aid

    Theme: Past, 2010-11

    Keywords