ROCKING OUR PRIORS

Why did South American countries become more authoritarian in the 1960s and 70s? Professor Kurt Weyland explains macro-level political change by drawing on cognitive psychology! This interview draws on his new book: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/revolution-and-reaction/B03FF36F959ADBB0A5E7B0D80AF4FC5A To learn more about Professor Weyland, click here: https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/government/faculty/weylandk

Do global buyers reward labour compliance in their supply chains? If not, why not. Join me as I discuss a new paper by Matt Amengual and Greg Distelhorst. Paper here: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/51cb32a4e4b07cb3e84fc963/t/5c730a91eef1a1a6b0dd09ec/1551043218939/Amengual_Distelhorst_Missing_Middle20190116.pdf Matt Amengual is an Associate Professor at the University of Oxford: https://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/about-us/people/matthew-amengual

Why are some (but not other) African countries democratising? Why have we overlooked legislatures in African politics? How can they be strengthened? What can you do if gatekeepers dismiss your topic? To discuss these questions, I'm joined by Dr Ken Opalo (Assistant Professor at Georgetown University). You can pre-order his book here: https://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/african-government-politics-and-policy/legislative-development-africa-politics-and-post-colonial-legacies?format=HB

What is behavioural development economics? How does it help us resolve key puzzles, and tackle urgent problems? My guest is Dr Gautam Rao, Assistant Professor in Economics at Harvard We discuss his chapter, which you can read here: https://economics.mit.edu/files/16499 To learn more about his research, click here: https://gautam-rao.com/

Professor Sunil Amrith (at Harvard) shares insights from his fascinating new book: "Unruly Waters". Together we discuss: Is geography destiny? How important has mastery over water been to econ development in Asia? Why have activists been unsuccessful, in pushing for environ regulation? How are Asian govs trying to mitigate climate breakdown? What are their priorities? To learn more about the book, click here: https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/sunil-amrith/unruly-waters/9780465097739/ To learn more about Professor Amrith, click here: https://history.fas.harvard.edu/people/sunil-amrith

In "Navigation by Judgment", Dr Dan Honig demonstrates that greater autonomy for front-line staff improves performance in aid agencies. In this podcast, Dan provides practical "how to" guidance for aid agencies looking to encourage and enable local autonomy. He suggests - Learning from front line staff, understanding their constraints; - Recognising that within the formal rules, there is still room for manoeuvre; - Celebrating good practices (of navigation by judgement); - Start talking to bosses, they may actually be really supportive; - Trust your staff. In short, "there's a lot of wiggle room, start wiggling!". We do hope you enjoy this episode. To get in touch, email dhonig@jhu.edu, danhonig.info/

Why is the Brazilian state able to collect taxes & provide services, but fails to enforce law & order, or abate homicides? What explains high state capacity in some domains, and low state capacity in others? And why has state capacity to provide public security worsened over recent decades - notwithstanding democratisation and economic growth? Professor Anthony Pereira draws on his decades of research in Brazil to explain this conundrum. You can read more about his work here: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/did/People/Academic-staff/Anthony-Pereira/index.aspx

I buy Fairtrade bananas, assuming farmers are getting a better deal. But a new systematic review finds that agricultural certification only results in a marginally higher price for producers, does not improve household incomes, and negatively affects farm workers' wages. Why is this? And how should we respond? You can read the World Development paper here, by CarlosOya, Florian Schaefer, & DafniSkalidou https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305750X18303012 Ungated summary: http://www.3ieimpact.org/media/filer_public/2017/06/07/srs9-agricuture-certification-scehmes.pdf

Professor Joseph Wong argues that Asian authoritarian regimes conceded multi-party elections, in order to thrive, presuming they would win. Curious? I have a few questions. How do we know this? Is it contingent on growth, or wider international pressure for democracy? Why doesn't China concede democracy? And does this theory also explain democratic backsliding? Listen, and read the link below. Share your comments. We'd love to hear from you. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/strength-to-concede-ruling-parties-and-democratization-in-developmental-asia/567D16100F26FB97866BEFA9A63357DE

Corporate codes of conduct have become the only game in town. The global economy is governed through private regulation. Companies contract auditors to monitor labour and environmental practices in their supply chains. In his new book, Professor Tim Bartley explores 3 questions: - How did we get here? What's the political economy behind industry self-regulation? - Does it work? Does it improve labour and environmental practices? - Why does it only enable marginal improvements? - What's the alternative? How could we improve upon rules without rights? Together, we discuss these four questions. Check out the book: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/rules-without-rights-9780198794332 And learn more about Professor Bartley's research: https://sociology.wustl.edu/people/timothy-bartley