“It seems very hard to stop this now, but I think we all just have to believe that it is possible.” (Norwegian epidemiologist, p. xvii) Within development studies literature there is a sub-genre of memoires, biographies and dairies. Some are troubling to read. Not all are well written. Some are extremely informative. Most present […]
Tags: #Development #Ebola #Humanitarian #Learning #Public Health
Cochrane, L. (2019) Review: Can We Know Better? Reflections for Development. Progress in Development Studies 19: 84-86. Starting in the 1980s, there have been regular publications of books that invite critical self-reflection in development study and practice: Rural Development: Putting the Last First (1983), Challenging the Professions (1993), Whose Reality Counts? (1997), Participatory Workshops (2002), […]
Tags: #Can We Know Better #Development #Development Studies #Reflections for Development #Robert Chambers
Crises call for action. Bosnia, Somalia, Rwanda, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Yemen… The international community has responded to countries experiencing crisis in a range of ways, from heavy-handed military action to neglect. Have the activities achieved their objective? And, if not, what might be do differently in responding to crises in the future? This is the […]
Tags: #Development #Humanitarian #International community #Intervention
“Imagine a pauper who turns to two finance gurus for advice. Not only is he broke, this pauper is poorly educated and lives in a rough neighborhood. The first guru urges, “Earn your first paycheck. Once you start making money, your circumstances will improve, and you will eventually escape poverty.” The second guru counsels differently: […]
Tags: #Best practices #China #Development #Development Studies #Parable of the pauper
Civil society is said to provide “the agents of change that will cure a range of social and economic ills left by failures of government and the marketplace: autocracy, poverty, disenfranchisement, oppression, social malaise. Cornucopian expectations for social change have been heaped on this idea and, indeed, for some Northern donors in particular (both official […]
Joseph Stiglitz and Andrew Charlton wade through the debates and evidence in “Fair Trade for All: How Trade Can Promote Development” (2005). The book aims to “describe how trade policies can be designed in the future with a view to helping the developing countries” including that “liberalization needs to be managed carefully – the task […]
Tags: #Comparative advantage #Development #Policy #Sustainable development #Trade
“Civil society has established itself at the beginning of the twenty-first century as a significant, even paradigmatic concept in the field of development policy and practice” wrote Jude Howell and Jenny Pearce in their 2001 book “Civil Society and Development: A Critical Exploration” (p. 1). Yet, how do donors conceptualize, fund and engage with civil […]
Tags: #Civil society #Civil society and development #Democracy #Development #social capital
Every few months the question is asked: Does aid work? Sebastian Edwards, professor and former World Banker, wrote “Toxic Aid: Economic Collapse and Recovery in Tanzania” (2014) to help wade through the an answer. In short, he concludes “aid affects economic performance in a highly complex way, and through multiple and changing channels. It also […]
Tags: #Development #Foreign assistance #International development #Tanzania #Toxic Aid
Open doors or build walls? Immigration is one of the most politicized issues. Thus, the value of the book by Goldin, Cameron and Balarajan (2011): “Exceptional People – How Migration Shaped Our World and Will Define Our Future”. Before delving into the detail, this book was likely written for an undergraduate audience – those moderately […]
Tags: #Citizenship #Development #Exceptional People #Immigration #Migration #Policy
Open doors or build walls? Immigration is one of the most politicized issues. Thus, the value of the book by Goldin, Cameron and Balarajan (2011): “Exceptional People – How Migration Shaped Our World and Will Define Our Future”. Before delving into the detail, this book was likely written for an undergraduate audience – those moderately […]
Tags: #Citizenship #Development #Exceptional People #Immigration #Migration #Policy