Thought Provokers

Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few

Two of the prominent front runners of the US presidential election positions themselves as “anti-establishment” and campaigned to take away the power of the elites and return that power to the people. Reich’s recent book “Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few” (2015) took on many of the issues; essentially questions about democracy, power, […]

Tags: #Capitalism #Elite #Politics #Power #Rules of the Game

Thought Provokers Jan 25

Orientalism

Few books have been as widely read and cited as Orientalism (1978) by Edward Said. Reading Orientalism now, it is hard to understand its importance because so many of Said’s ideas have become part of a broader cultural and post-colonial critiques. Despite its influence, in a 2003 Preface, the author writes: “The disheartening part is […]

Tags: #Authority #Orientalism #Power #Representation #Responsibility

Thought Provokers Jan 21

Q-Squared

Random control trials and ethnographic studies use very different approaches to answer research questions. Often the underlying epistemological foundations differ, the means of measurement differ, and the process of understanding causation differ. But, does it matter? It one approach more accurate than another? Do qualitative and quantitative studies arrive at similar conclusions? These questions are […]

Tags: #Mixed methods #Poverty analysis #Q-squared #Qualitative #Quantitative

Thought Provokers Jan 17

How Change Happens

Governments, activists, NGOs, politicians and development programs all want change. It is why donor dollars are raised and people protest in the streets. But, how much do we actually know, or reflect upon, how change actually happens – and to what extent is that embedded within how development works? “How Change Happens” (2016) by Duncan Green, […]

Tags: #Civil society #Development Studies #Duncan Green #How change happens #International development

Thought Provokers Dec 15

Adventures in Aidland

Before picking up David Mosse’s “Adventures in Aidland: The Anthropology of Professionals in International Development” (2011), I had read one chapter and had high expectations that it would be an interesting read. I felt the book was torn between two topics that made it less cohesive, and some chapters felt revised to suit a new […]

Tags: #Aidland #Anthropology #Development Studies #Ethnography #International development

Thought Provokers Nov 19

Pathologies of Power

Paul Farmer’s (2005) “Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor” is a “physician-anthropologist’s effort to reveal the ways in which the most basic right – the right to survive – is trampled in an age of great affluence” (p. 6). However, Farmer covers much more than the right to […]

Tags: #Anthropology #Human Rights #Paul Farmer #Power #Social Justice

Thought Provokers Nov 14

Silent Violence: Food, Famine & Peasantry

I enjoy reading books in the international development sphere than are dated. Sometimes it is encouraging to see how far the sector has come, and at other times it is depressing how little has changed. These books are often sources of inspiration for ideas, while at the same time provide a better grounding on where […]

Tags: #Famine #Food Security #Food systems #Nigeria #Poverty

Thought Provokers Nov 9

Putting the Last First

In 1983 Robert Chambers published “Rural Development: Putting the Last First.” If you have not come across this book, it is well worth finding a copy. As a book written more than three decades ago, it offers some perspective on what lessons have been learned. However, this book is particularly challenging to read as you […]

Tags: #Academia #Bias #Development Studies #International development #Rural Development

Thought Provokers Nov 5

The Politics of Evidence

Evidence is important. We want to know what we are doing works (or doesn’t work). But, what happens when particular types of evidence are required to get funding, and what impact does this have on the types of work that is supported by donors? These questions are engaged with in the edited volume “The Politics […]

Tags: #Cost effectiveness #Evidence #Politics #Social Justice #Value for Money

Thought Provokers Nov 1

Poverty & the MDGs

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were widely touted as having broad positive impact, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) continue the general, expanded, trajectory. With these high level, long-term agendas it is important to, on occasion, take ten steps back and reflect. Critical reflection may identify design challenges and structural flaws that can better inform, […]

Tags: #MDGs #Millennium Development Goals #Poverty #SDGs #Sustainable Development Goals

Thought Provokers Oct 28

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About me

Logan Cochrane

Associate Professor at HBKU in the College of Public Policy. He is an Associate Fellow of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences and an Adjunct Professor at Hawassa University (Institute for Policy and Development Research). Over the last fifteen years, he has worked in Afghanistan, Benin, Burundi, Canada, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Logan acts as a consultant for governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations, seeking to create bridges between research and practice.

Logan Cochrane