Blog

by Lant Pritchett August 2021

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...

• Problem Driven Iterative Adaption
• State capacity

Policy Brief

• Conflict management
• Foreign aid
• Economic development

Book Chapter

Part of Book Building State Capability

Book Chapter

Part of Book Building State Capability

Book

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...

• Development
• Problem Driven Iterative Adaption

Policy Brief

• Experiments
• Economic Policy and Good Governance

Policy Brief

• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Education
• Planning

Journal Article

Part of Journal Special Issue Aid for Gender Equality and Development

• Democracy
• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Justice, Administration of

Journal Article

Part of Journal Special Issue Aid, Social Policy and Development

• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Religion

Journal Article

Part of Journal Special Issue Aid, Social Policy and Development

• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Financial institutions, International
• Millennium Development Goals

Journal Special Issue

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...

• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Millennium Development Goals
• Sustainable development

Journal Article

Part of Journal Special Issue Development Assistance for Peacebuilding

• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Health
• International agencies

Journal Article

Part of Journal Special Issue Development Assistance for Peacebuilding

• Aggregation operators
• Conflict management
• Education

Journal Article

Part of Journal Special Issue Development Assistance for Peacebuilding

• Conflict management
• Justice, Administration of

Journal Article

Part of Journal Special Issue Development Assistance for Peacebuilding

• Aeronautics
• Conflict management
• Economic assistance and foreign aid

Journal Article

Part of Journal Special Issue Development Assistance for Peacebuilding

• Conflict management
• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Human rights

Journal Article

Part of Journal Special Issue Development Assistance for Peacebuilding

• Conflict management
• Economic development
• Macroeconomics

Journal Article

Part of Journal Special Issue Development Assistance for Peacebuilding

• Conflict management
• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Economic development projects

Journal Article

Part of Journal Special Issue Development Assistance for Peacebuilding

• Economic development

Journal Article

Part of Journal Special Issue Development Assistance for Peacebuilding

• Conflict management
• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Economic development

Journal Special Issue

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...

• Conflict management
• Economic development
• Economic assistance

Journal Article

Part of Journal Special Issue Experiments in Development Economics

• Economic development
• Qualitative research methodology
• Regression analysis

Journal Article

Part of Journal Special Issue Experiments in Development Economics

• Public (Decision making)
• Economic development
• Corruption

Journal Article

Part of Journal Special Issue Experiments in Development Economics

• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Economic development projects
• Poverty measurement

Journal Special Issue

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...

• Corporate governance
• Economic development
• Field experiments

Journal Article

Part of Journal Special Issue Experiments in Development Economics

• Qualitative research methodology

Journal Article

Part of Journal Special Issue Experiments in Development Economics

• Methodology (Economics)
• Experimental design
• Field experiments

Journal Article

Part of Journal Special Issue Experiments in Development Economics

• Mathematical economics
• Quantitative research methodology

Working Paper

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...

• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Human rights
• Local government

Working Paper

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...

• Methodology (Economics)
• Experimental design
• Qualitative research

Journal Article

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

• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Economic development

Journal Article

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

• Comparative economics
• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Economic development

Journal Article

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

• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Informal sector

Journal Article

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

• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Economic development
• International economic relations

Journal Article

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

• Economic development

Journal Article

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

• Democratization
• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Decision making (Public administration)

Journal Special Issue

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...

• Comparative economics
• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Economic development

Journal Article

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

• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Public finance
• Natural resources

Journal Article

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

• Democratization
• International relations

Journal Article

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

• Economic development
• Economic policy
• International agencies

Journal Article

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

• Conflict management
• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Local government

Working Paper

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...

• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Economic development
• Social conflict

Research Brief

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...

• Conflict management
• Economic policy
• Fiscal policy

Journal Special Issue

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...

• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Education
• Planning

Journal Article

Part of Journal Special Issue Aiding Government Effectiveness in Developing Countries

• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Economic development
• Economic development projects

Journal Article

Part of Journal Special Issue Aiding Government Effectiveness in Developing Countries

• International agencies
• Corruption
• Public administration

Journal Article

Part of Journal Special Issue Aiding Government Effectiveness in Developing Countries

• Democratization
• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Education

Journal Article

Part of Journal Special Issue Aiding Government Effectiveness in Developing Countries

• Democracy
• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Economic development

Journal Article

Part of Journal Special Issue Aiding Government Effectiveness in Developing Countries

• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Government accountability
• Local government

Journal Article

Part of Journal Special Issue Aiding Government Effectiveness in Developing Countries

• Economic policy
• Public administration

Journal Article

Part of Journal Special Issue Aiding Government Effectiveness in Developing Countries

• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Economic development
• Taxation

Research Brief

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...

• Democratization
• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Education

Journal Article

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...

• Index numbers (Economics)
• Public administration
• Qualitative research methodology

Journal Article

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

• Local government
• Urban planning
• Urbanization

Journal Article

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

• Government accountability
• Political science
• Urbanization

Journal Article

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

• Central planning
• Economic policy
• Local government

Journal Article

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

• Fiscal policy
• Intergovernmental fiscal relations
• State governments

Journal Article

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

• Delivery of goods
• Policy sciences
• Public goods

Working Paper

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...

• Conflict management

Working Paper

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...

• Government accountability
• Government spending policy

Journal Special Issue

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...

• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Decision making (Public administration)
• Public goods

Research Brief

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...

• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Economic development

Research Brief

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...

• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Economic development projects
• Public goods

Research Brief

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...

• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Natural disasters

Working Paper

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...

• Agriculture
• Land tenure
• Laws and legislation (Land use)

Journal Article

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...

• Political science

Working Paper

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...

• Conflict management
• Public (Decision making)
• Economic policy

Position Paper

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...

• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Institutional economics
• Social conflict

Working Paper

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...

• Education
• Public administration

Working Paper

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...

• Government employees
• Political science
• Economic power

Research Brief

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...

• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Equality and inequality
• Social conflict

Research Brief

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...

• Budget
• Democracy
• Economic assistance and foreign aid

Research Brief

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...

• Central planning
• Economic policy
• Local government

Working Paper

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...

• Public debt
• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Economic development

Working Paper

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...

• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Economic development
• Economic policy

Working Paper

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...

• Conflict management
• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Local government

Working Paper

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...

• Economic development
• Economic policy
• International agencies

Blog

by Carl-Gustav Lindén December 2013

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

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...

• Democracy
• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Government accountability

Research Brief

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...

• Democratization
• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Government accountability

Blog

by Annett Victorero December 2013

13 December 2013 Annett Victorero The effects of development aid are not straightforward, and often have unintended consequences. An inflow of money...

• Budget
• Democracy
• Economic assistance and foreign aid

Working Paper

During Sudan’s ‘interim period’ from the end of civil war in January 2005 until South Sudan’s independence in July 2011, foreign development agencies provided extensive support and billions of dollars in aid—for which institutional development and...

• Cost effectiveness
• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Economic development

Blog

by Carl-Gustav Lindén November 2013

Over the last decade there has been increasing demand to make research more useful and applicable for policy-making. And that is also very true within...

Journal Article

Many development initiatives fail to improve performance because they promote isomorphic mimicry—governments change what they look like, not what they do. This article proposes a new approach to doing development, Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation...

• Economic development
• Economic policy
• Public administration

Working Paper

The failure of the Somali state from 1993 to 2012 represents one of the world’s most profound and prolonged cases of state collapse. Initially, education and other government services came to a standstill. With the halt of fighting in some areas...

• Children
• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Economic development projects

Working Paper

Why do some states, with foreign assistance, transition from ‘fragile’ to ‘robust?’ Scholars in state-building have argued that neotrusteeship is an effective strategy by which external organizations might build post-conflict states. This working...

• Conflict management
• Crime
• Economic assistance and foreign aid

Working Paper

Bangladesh and Pakistan had very divergent experiences with aid after 1971. Politics in Pakistan was less inclusive in terms of opportunities for intermediate class political entrepreneurs. In this context, the significant role of military aid to...

• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Informal sector

Working Paper

This paper examines the questions of why and how foreign assistance was utilized successfully in South Korea but less so in Ghana, with a focus on the role of aid in the process of state building and state transition in these two countries. Before...

• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Economic development

Working Paper

The prevailing aid orthodoxy works well enough in stable environments, but is ill-equipped to navigate contexts of volatility and fragility. The orthodox approach is adept at solving straightforward technical or logistical problems (paving roads...

• Economic development
• Industrial organization (Economic theory)

Blog

by Carl-Gustav Lindén October 2013

One of the more difficult issues aid organizations are facing is how to plan and conduct interventions in fragile situations where armed conflict is...

Policy Brief

When, why and how has foreign aid facilitated, or hindered, democracy in recipient countries? Focusing on sub-Saharan Africa, this policy brief examines the impact of foreign aid on supporting transitions from one-party to multiparty regimes...

• Democracy
• Economic assistance and foreign aid