Global Development Institute podcast

We have been taught to understand aid as a temporary injection of support for struggling countries. This is wrong. It should be seen as a permanent fixture, as part of continued investment in global public goods and internationally agreed objectives. This realisation will have major implications for how we raise and manage funds, and how we communicate to different audiences. Find out more about the Global Development Institute: Website Blog BlueSky LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Newsletter Intro music Anna Banana by Eaters

Dr Yuen Yuen Ang, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan delivers the Adrian Leftwich Memorial Lecture. For decades, Western policymakers and observers assumed that as China’s economy prospers, it will eventually and inescapably democratize. Today, however, the West is alarmed that not only does China appear more authoritarian than before, the new leadership is perceived to harbor ambitions to compete with Western powers for world dominance. This turn of events has triggered fear around the world. Today, the so-called “China model” is seen as a fundamental threat to liberal-democratic values.How did the West get China wrong? Yuen Yuen Ang argues that many observers have misunderstood the political foundation underlying China’s rise. Her research reveals that since market opening, China has in fact pursued significant political reforms, just not in the manner that Western observers expected. Instead of introducing multiparty elections, the reformist leadership realized some of the key benefits of democratization through bureaucratic reforms, thereby creating a unique political hybrid: autocracy with democratic characteristics. In other words, it is not autocracy but rather the injection of democratic, adaptive qualities into a single-party regime that drives China’s economic dynamism. But, Ang cautions, bureaucratic reforms cannot substitute for political reforms forever. Going forward, China must release and channel the immense creative potential of civil society, which would necessitate greater freedom of expression, more public participation, and less state intervention. Find out more about the Global Development Institute: Website Blog BlueSky LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Newsletter Intro music Anna Banana by Eaters

The Global Development Institute Lecture Series is pleased to present Dr Emma Mawdsley, Reader in Human Geography and Fellow of Newnham College to discuss "The Southernisation of Development? Who has 'socialised' who in the new millennium?"A more polycentric global development landscape has emerged over the past decade or so, rupturing the formerly dominant North-South axis of power and knowledge. This can be traced through more diversified development norms, institutions, imaginaries and actors. This paper looks at one trend within this turbulent field: namely, the ways in which ‘Northern’ donors appear to be increasingly adopting some of the narratives and practices associated with ‘Southern’ development partners. This direction of travel stands in sharp contrast to expectations in the early new millennium that the (so-called) ‘traditional’ donors would ‘socialise’ the ‘rising powers’ to become ‘responsible donors’. After outlining important caveats about using such cardinal terms, the paper explores three aspects of this ‘North’ to ‘South’ movement. These are (a) the stronger and more explicit claim to ‘win-win’ development ethics and outcomes; (b) the (re)turn from ‘poverty reduction’ to ‘economic growth’ growth as the central analytic of development; and related to both, the explicit and deepening blurring and blending of development finances and agendas with trade and investment. Find out more about the Global Development Institute: Website Blog BlueSky LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Newsletter Intro music Anna Banana by Eaters

Contrary to what is commonly believed, authoritarian leaders who agree to hold elections are generally able to remain in power longer than autocrats who refuse to allow the populace to vote.Calling upon first-hand experiences, hundreds of interviews and election reports from Kenya, India, Nigeria, Russia, the United States, Zimbabwe and more, Professor Cheeseman discusses the limitations of national elections as a means of promoting democratisation, revealing the six essential strategies that dictators use to undermine the electoral process in an attempt to guarantee victory. How to Rig an Election has been described as “essential reading for everyone who wants to get democracy right again” by A.C. Grayling, “clear, punchy and potentially revolutionary” by Michela Wrong and the “one of the books of the year” by the Centre for Global Development. Find out more about the Global Development Institute: Website Blog BlueSky LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Newsletter Intro music Anna Banana by Eaters

The Global Development Institute is pleased to present Dr Indrajit Roy, Department of Politics, the University of York to discuss "Dignifying development: Democratic deepening in an Indian State."The lecture draws on Indrajit’s prior work on poor people’s negotiations with democratic institutions and public policy as well as their ideas about citizenship and membership in its political community. It also signals his future research plans of investigating the intersections of democracy and development in the Rising Powers and other emerging markets. Find out more about the Global Development Institute: Website Blog BlueSky LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Newsletter Intro music Anna Banana by Eaters

As the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly convenes to review the world's three year progress against the Sustainable Development Goals, Jennifer O'Brien, Director of Social Responsibility for the School of Environment, Education and Development talks to Prof David Hulme, Executive Director of GDI. Find out more about the Global Development Institute: Website Blog BlueSky LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Newsletter Intro music Anna Banana by Eaters

Phil Woodhouse and Dan Brockington discuss their research project Studying African Farmer-led Irrigation.The project brings together social science researchers from the UK and irrigation scientists from the Netherlands to work with African researchers in Mozambique and Tanzania.Find out more about the project: http://www.safi-research.org Find out more about the Global Development Institute: Website Blog BlueSky LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Newsletter Intro music Anna Banana by Eaters

Stephen Sackur speaks to Global Development Institute academics and other leading thinkers about the state of the BRIC economies today and the issues and challenges facing these emerging powers Find out more about the Global Development Institute: Website Blog BlueSky LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Newsletter Intro music Anna Banana by Eaters

To celebrate the end of the academic year we brought together leading academics from the Global Development Institute in a lively session. Fielding questions from the class of 17-18 our academics answer questions on the reality of development theory vs practice, the future of disruptive tech and ICT4D, and the concept of inequality.The session was compared by Dr Pablo Yanguas and features Prof Diana Mitlin, Prof David Hulme, Prof Richard Heeks, Prof Khalid Nadvi and Dr Helen Underhill. Find out more about the Global Development Institute: Website Blog BlueSky LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Newsletter Intro music Anna Banana by Eaters

This week BBC Hardtalk’s Stephen Sackur interviews leading Russian economist Sergei Guriev, for the latest in the Rising Powers and Interdependent Futures podcast series.They talk about the problem that Russian economy is facing with corruption and the need for deep structural reform, alongside the potential Russia has given its educated citizens and natural resources. Find out more about the Global Development Institute: Website Blog BlueSky LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Newsletter Intro music Anna Banana by Eaters