Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast In Pursuit of Development
| Titre | Date | Durée | |
|---|---|---|---|
| From crisis to possibility | Dan Banik | 13 Oct 2025 | 00:17:08 | |
In the first episode of In Pursuit of Development Season 6, host Dan Banik returns after an unexpected year-and-a-half hiatus following a serious health emergency. Dan examines how the world has entered a period of profound flux. The once-stable liberal international order is giving way to a more fragmented and contested multipolar reality. He explores how trade wars, weakening multilateral institutions, debt crises, environmental stress, and disruptive technologies are reshaping global politics and development. However, amidst this turbulence, he identifies a powerful countercurrent — the growing visibility and influence of the Global South. Dan unpacks how countries across Asia, Africa, and Latin America are asserting new forms of leadership and cooperation — through the G20, BRICS, and South–South partnerships — and how this shift is transforming debates on trade, climate justice, technology, and governance. The episode also reflects on the challenges within the Global South itself, including internal inequalities, differing national interests, and the risk of reproducing old hierarchies in new ways. Despite the uncertainty of this “interregnum” moment, Dan closes with a message of cautious optimism — a politics of hope grounded in evidence. He highlights global progress in health, education, poverty reduction, and renewable energy, emphasizing that crises often generate creativity and collaboration. The episode sets the stage for a new season of conversations with scholars, activists, and policymakers who will explore how the Global South’s choices — and the world’s response — will shape the future of global development. Host: Centre for Global Sustainability, University of Oslo Subscribe: | |||
| Empowering Bureaucrats for Better Government Performance — Dan Honig | 13 Jul 2024 | 00:54:07 | |
Season finale! It is my great pleasure to welcome back a person I have very much enjoyed speaking with earlier— Dan Honig, an Associate Professor of Public Policy at University College London and Georgetown McCourt School of Public Policy (@rambletastic). His latest book is Mission Driven Bureaucrats: Empowering People To Help Government Do Better. Mission-driven bureaucrats, according to Dan, are individuals who work within the bureaucracy with a genuine desire to serve their organization's mission of helping citizens. They perform their jobs out of a strong belief in their purpose, rather than being driven by a set of rules or incentives that compel them to act in specific ways. But what are the historical roots of the term "mission," and how can mission-driven bureaucrats thrive? The book argues that the key to better government lies in empowerment and trust, rather than stricter controls and more rigorous oversight. Key highlights
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| Empowering Change: Leadership's Role in Global Development — Willem Fourie | 20 Mar 2024 | 00:45:53 | |
Effective leadership is characterized by its ability to inspire collective action, foster inclusivity, and navigate the intricate dynamics of political, economic, and cultural landscapes to drive meaningful change. The challenge of leadership in the context of development is further complicated by the need for adaptability and resilience. Leaders must be capable of steering their communities through uncertainties and crises, demonstrating a commitment to long-term goals while addressing immediate needs. This balance requires a nuanced approach that values empathy, ethical governance, and the empowerment of local voices, ensuring that development initiatives are both participatory and reflective of the communities they aim to serve. In an era where global challenges are increasingly complex, the role of leadership in development extends beyond immediate problem-solving to envisioning a sustainable future. Willem Fourie is an Associate Professor at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. He has a joint appointment in the Stellenbosch Business School and in the School for Data Science and Computational Thinking. In Why Leaders Fail and What it Teaches Us About Leadership he delves into the critical factors that lead to leadership failure. These include a lack of awareness of one’s own shortcomings, excessive belief in one’s ability to sway others, harmful favoritism towards one’s own group, a bad fit in an organization, and poor assessment of risks. @_Willem_Fourie
Key highlights
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| Population and development: Risks and opportunities — Lauren Johnston | 07 Apr 2021 | 00:57:26 | |
An article in The Economist magazine in September 2018 argued that high birth rates is one of the main culprits for pervasive poverty on the African continent. The article, in particular, cited the example of Tanzania, where the then President John Magufuli did not apparently see the point with birth control, having announced in 2016 that women could throw away their contraceptives as state schools will be free. President Magufuli subsequently claimed that a major consequence of widespread contraception is a shrinking labour force, which in turn is bad for development. But others, including the Gates Foundation, have pointed to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria, which are projected to witness massive increases in their populations in the next few decades. And such rapid population growth can potentially pose major challenges for government policies aimed at promoting the well-being of citizens. So, what is the link between population and development and are there some lessons that the world can learn from China’s attempts at controlling population growth in recent decades? Lauren Johnston is a research associate at SOAS China Institute, and currently a World Bank consultant for a population ageing and China research project. She holds a PhD in Economics from Peking University and is widely published on topics relating to China’s economy with respect to demographics and economic ties with Africa.
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| Imperialism and the developing world — Atul Kohli | 31 Mar 2021 | 01:02:58 | |
Western imperialism has fundamentally shaped the developing world. In particular, Great Britain and the United States – the dominant capitalist powers of the 19th and 20th centuries, respectively, have played a major role in this historical process. But why did they pursue imperialism? And what effects did such imperial practices have on the developing world? These are the key questions that Atul Kohli examines in his brilliant new book, Imperialism and the Developing World: How Britain and the U.S. Shaped the Global Periphery (Oxford University Press, 2020). Kohli meticulously examines both the causes and consequences of modern imperialism. He finds that the impact of imperialism on the developing world has been primarily negative. Indeed, the key argument in the book is that there is an inverse relationship between imperialism and development, i.e., the less control a state has over its own affairs, the less likely it is that the people of the state will experience steady and inclusive economic progress. Atul Kohli is the David K.E. Bruce Professor of International Affairs at Princeton University and one of the world’s leading experts in comparative political economy with a focus on developing countries.
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| Summit diplomacy and African agency — Folashadé Soulé | 24 Mar 2021 | 01:03:34 | |
Several countries are vying for the African continent’s attention. While there has been considerable attention on China’s and India’s motives and interests, Russia, Germany, France, the UK, Turkey, Japan, South Korea and Middle Eastern countries are all trying to increase their footprint on the continent. An important first step for many of these countries is to organize a summit – a major gathering of leaders and other high-level officials to discuss how African countries can further strengthen trade and diplomatic relations with this one country hosting the summit. The goal of these events is basically to promote the idea of achieving win-win outcomes for all involved parties. This growth in so-called Africa plus 1 summit diplomacy has generated renewed interest in better understanding the growing competition among major world powers on the continent. But in trying to explain this growing interest in strengthening relations with African countries, there is often a tendency to downplay the role and influence of African countries in setting the agenda of these high-profile events, and how African leaders articulate their needs and interests. My guest this week argues that we really need to better understand the motives behind the increased engagement in ‘Africa + 1’ summitry by African politicians and bureaucrats.Indeed, rather than viewing these individuals as passive participants, we must recognize the numerous ways in which such summits and other high-level platforms that involve the continent, offer opportunities for African leaders to express and exert agency in both symbolic and substantial ways. Dr Folashadé Soulé is a Senior Research Associate at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford. She studies agency in Africa’s international relations and the politics of South-South cooperation. She is also the initiator of the Africa-China negotiation workshop series, which brings together African negotiators and senior policymakers to exchange and build better negotiation practices when dealing with China.
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| India-Africa relations — Renu Modi | 17 Mar 2021 | 01:07:45 | |
While a considerable amount of world attention is focused on China’s commanding presence on the African continent and the impact of Beijing’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, India’s activities in Africa have received limited attention. This is indeed surprising because India has an over 2000-year presence on the continent and India-Africa relations have witnessed a major upsurge in recent years. In its relations with African countries, India frequently highlights the economic and philanthropic contributions of the Indian diaspora, Indo-African partnership in the post-colonial period, and solidarity with and support for the Non-Aligned Movement and the fight against racism. It also often highlights Mahatma Gandhi’s role in fighting oppression in South Africa and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s active international lobbying efforts for African independence. Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit in 2018, New Delhi signed numerous bilateral agreements and outlined ten guiding principles for a renewed engagement with African countries. New Delhi has also, in recent years, stepped up its diplomatic presence and outreach in Africa by announcing new missions and is prioritizing the training of its foreign services personnel in French and Portuguese. India’s diverse and deep historical footprint in Africa has been somewhat different to that of other powers and only in recent decades has the country moved from idealism to pragmatism and the explicit pursuit of commercial interests. Renu Modi is a Professor at the University of Mumbai and Director of the University’s Centre for African Studies.
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| Corruption and political settlements — Mushtaq Khan | 10 Mar 2021 | 01:10:49 | |
One of the dominant explanations for elusive development in many parts of the world is the negative role played by corruption in the development process. And many national and local governments as well as international aid agencies have spent considerable time and resources trying to come up with plans to combat the corruption menace. But anti-corruption policy has often been difficult to implement and many well-intentioned efforts have had limited impact. Despite the challenges associated with researching the phenomenon, corruption has attracted considerable academic interest over the years. And one of the leading thinkers on anti-corruption, governance and economic development is my guest this week. Mushtaq Khan is a professor of economics at SOAS, University of London where he directs the Anti-Corruption Research Consortium (ACE).
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| The impact of the sustainable development concept — Frank Biermann | 03 Mar 2021 | 01:05:18 | |
Since its inception in the international development discourse in the late 1980s, sustainable development has often been celebrated for its rhetorical appeal to political correctness. But is it a useful tool for global development? The idea of “sustainable development” has not only acquired new layers of meaning over the years but has in many ways witnessed a rejuvenation since 2015 following the adoption by world leaders of the 2030 Agenda and its accompanying 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs – grouped under overarching themes of people, planet, dignity, prosperity, justice and partnership – have been widely praised for a strong articulation of an environmental dimension, in addition to breaking new ground with global goals on inequality, economic growth, energy, and peace. Despite being imperfect and highly ambitious, the SDGs are the result of a comprehensive participatory process, unparalleled in the history of global development. Indeed, while its predecessor – the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – focused exclusively on low-income countries, the SDGs encompass a much broader agenda that applies to all countries. By closely linking “sustainability” with “development” through the principles of “universality”, “integration” and “leave no one behind”, the 2030 Agenda has been much celebrated in activist, business and policy circles as a means to stimulate a radical shift in world affairs. But the SDGs have also been criticized for their unrealistic ambitions and lack of focus. The world was already off-track in achieving many of the SDGs before Covid struck. And now there are major concerns over the extent to which these ambitious global goals can be achieved in the next 9 years. Frank Biermann is a professor of Global Sustainability Governance at Utrecht University’s Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development. Frank is a leading scholar of global institutions and organizations in the sustainability domain. In addition to being a prolific writer, he pioneered the ‘earth system’ governance paradigm in 2005 and was the founder and first chair (2008-2018) of the Earth System Governance Project, a leading global transdisciplinary research network of sustainability scholars.
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| The future of aid — Jonathan Glennie | 24 Feb 2021 | 01:02:16 | |
International public finance, that is required to address global challenges in the decades to come, is woefully inadequate. And rather than aid, which offers an obsolete approach, we should be talking about joint investments – or as my guest this week puts it, Global Public Investment (GPI). In his recent book, The Future of Aid: Global Public Investment, Jonathan Glennie urges us to move away from the patronizing and outdated aid narrative. For starters, he points to the ambitious SDGs and the need for more money to achieve these goals in the years ahead. Domestic resources, he argues, is insufficient to address the challenges the world currently faces and will face in the years ahead. What we must do, he argues, is to turn around the donor-recipient relationship and encourage even the poorest countries to contribute 0.7 % of their GNI to international development. This would in turn require a transformational governance structure where everyone sits around the table – a structure that mitigates the fact that some countries have more money and contribute more than others. Jonathan Glennie is a writer and campaigner on human rights, international cooperation, sustainable development and poverty.
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| Vaccine nationalism and vaccine equity — Antoine de Bengy Puyvallée | 20 Feb 2021 | 00:30:08 | |
I was recently made aware of the fact that 10 wealthy countries have monopolized 75% of all vaccinations delivered worldwide. This has led the United Nations to sharply criticize the world’s wealthy countries for hogging Covid vaccines. In light of growing vaccine nationalism, many voices have for long been calling for global sharing of vaccines. But it turns out 130 countries have not received a single dose of a Covid vaccine. Thus, we are at a critical moment when vaccine equity appears to be the biggest moral test before the global community. Indeed, numerous recent opinion pieces in the media have highlighted how vaccine nationalism – driven by power and competition between states aimed at protecting the national interest – has several negative consequences for low-income countries. A few days ago, Kenya petitioned the UN Security Council to urge wealthy countries not to hoard surplus Covid-19 vaccine supplies, adding its voice to calls for global production to be shared more equally. Without equal access to vaccines, public-health experts have warned that the pandemic could continue to live on residually for years on end, resulting in more deaths and further economic collapse. When the virus remains endemic somewhere, it will continue to pose a threat everywhere. But there are also some promising initiatives currently underway. One of these is the COVAX Initiative – the drive to ensure that vaccines reach low-income countries – which the World Health Organization and countries like Norway have been promoting as the fastest way to end the pandemic. But how effective has it been thus far? And are countries being generous in allocating resources to this Initiative? To discuss vaccine nationalism, the merits of the COVAX Initiative and vaccine diplomacy being carried out by China and India, I am joined by Antoine de Bengy Puyvallée, who is working on a PhD in political science and is based at the Centre for Development and the Environment at the University of Oslo. Over the years, he has worked extensively on global health governance and global cooperation to manage dangerous disease outbreaks such as Ebola. He has been particularly active in the media of late in pointing out the dangers of vaccine nationalism.
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| Knowledge production and network-building in China’s foreign relations — Lina Benabdallah | 17 Feb 2021 | 01:00:04 | |
Within international relations theory and foreign policy circles, there is considerable interest in understanding China’s rise to power. In an exciting new book, my guest argues that China’s various types of encounters with countries in the Global South are very different from the behaviour and investment strategies of the US and European countries. In Shaping the future of power: Knowledge Production and network-building in China-Africa Relations, Lina Benabdallah explores the integrated roles of social relations, knowledge production and power in China’s foreign relations. She argues that it is simply not enough to look at the amount of loans, aid and foreign direct investments originating from China. While these material factors are important, we mustn’t ignore the investments made in people-to-people relations and human resource development in China-Africa relations. Indeed, relations and relationality are central to China’s foreign policy and diplomatic conduct. In the book, Lina examines how China deploys social capital and relational productive power on the African continent through knowledge production via human resource development and professionalization programs. Chinese investments in human resource development, she argues, expand Beijing’s network of connections with military officers, civil servants, journalists and regular citizens. They also act as spaces for expert knowledge production, and norm diffusion. Lina Benabdallah is an assistant professor of politics and international affairs at Wake Forest University in the United States. We discussed how China brands its model of development in Africa, the broad categories of knowledge production and network building activities, and whether African countries have much say in how these relations are conducted.
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| How to distribute a Covid-19 vaccine ethically — Aksel Braanen Sterri | 13 Feb 2021 | 00:36:30 | |
As Covid vaccines become available, health officials, policymakers, philanthropic organizations and people like you and me are being confronted with numerous ethical challenges and moral dilemmas. Who should get the vaccines first and how long should others wait? What about the inequality of access to vaccines between countries? Some of us may agree that rich countries have a moral responsibility to subsidize vaccination programs around the world. But how best can this be achieved? And what types of principles such as fairness, equity, effectiveness and reciprocity should we apply? To discuss these issues, I am joined by Aksel Braanen Sterri, a Norwegian political scientist and philosopher who has recently argued that Norway should donate all its vaccines to low-income countries, and that Norway should be at the back of the vaccine queue rather than being in front. He also claims that helping these more needy countries ought to be viewed as an investment in our common future rather than an act of charity. Aksel recently completed a PhD in philosophy and teaches applied ethics at the University of Oslo. In addition to being a postdoctoral fellow, he writes a column in an influential Norwegian daily and is a regular contributor to the Norwegian public debate on a wide range of social and political issues. We discussed the role of philosophers in addressing current global challenges, the various proposals currently doing the rounds on how best the world can distribute Covid vaccines, why Norway and other rich countries ought to subsidise or donate vaccines to more needy countries and groups and what constitutes vaccine justice.
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| Cityscapes and Sanctuaries: Exploring the Socio-Spatial and Religious Dynamics of Johannesburg and Lagos — Obvious Katsaura | 13 Mar 2024 | 00:47:47 | |
The African continent is projected to have the fastest urban growth rate in the world: by 2050, Africa’s cities will be home to an additional 950 million people. While this surge presents urban centers with a wealth of opportunities such as a larger workforce, increased consumer markets, and greater potential for cultural exchange, it also brings forth substantial challenges. The rapid population growth can exacerbate existing problems such as inadequate infrastructure, housing shortages, and environmental concerns. African cities with their unique history and socio-economic landscape, must navigate these complexities while harnessing the potential for innovation and economic diversification that a growing populace brings. Obvious Katsaura is a senior lecturer in sociology at the University of the Witwatersrand. His research interests are in, and at the intersections of, the fields of transnational urbanism, transnational religiosity, religious urbanism, urban politics and urban violence.
Key highlights
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| How India became the "pharmacy of the world" — Rory Horner | 10 Feb 2021 | 00:53:37 | |
One of the many ways in which India has expanded its influence in global affairs relates to pharmaceutical products. The Indian pharmaceutical sector has enthusiastically highlighted its ability to develop Triple A technology (affordable, available, adaptable). By encouraging research hubs and offering a steady supply of affordable drugs to many countries, including the United States, India has rapidly moved from being a pharmacy for low-income countries to becoming the “pharmacy of the world”. The country’s rapidly growing economy has been a major beneficiary of the astonishing rise of the domestic pharmaceutical industry. In becoming a powerhouse on low-cost generic drugs, India contributes actively to meeting global demands for vaccines, Over the Counter (OTC) medicines and patented drugs. An important factor that has contributed to enhancing the reputation and profitability of Indian pharmaceutical companies abroad has been the government’s tough policy on patents, which has enabled Indian firms to manufacture generic versions of drugs that are much more expensive in countries where they were originally developed. But Indian companies also face numerous challenges in the export market. There is a growing demand to reduce costs even further. And several countries in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia are trying to protect and promote their domestic industries by introducing new regulations that make Indian imports more expensive. There are also concerns that India has become increasingly dependent on imports from China for so-called “active pharmaceutical ingredients” required for making both advanced and essential medicines. To discuss India’s huge and thriving pharmaceutical industry and the country’s ability to supply affordable vaccines and generic drugs to low-income countries, I am joined by Rory Horner. He is a Senior Lecturer in Globalisation and Political Economy in the Global Development Institute at the University of Manchester. We began by discussing the role and impact of the pharmaceutical industry in global development.
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| Political violence and development — Patricia Justino | 02 Feb 2021 | 00:55:27 | |
People living in areas prone to, or affected by, conflict tend to suffer from many types of deprivation. Some scholars argue that conflict is an important driver of severe food crises and famines, and that undernutrition worsens in situations of prolonged conflicts and in countries and regions with weak institutional capacity. In recent years, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, South Sudan and Ethiopia are just some of the examples that have been used in the literature to illustrate the close linkages between social and political unrest on the one hand and poverty and hunger on the other. But is there a clear-cut relationship between poverty and violent conflict? There appear to be numerous drivers of violence. These often include political, economic, social and environmental issues. While socio-economic inequalities can be a major cause of violence, other causes could include human rights abuses, perceived injustice, systemic corruption, and disagreements over the distribution of natural resources and who gets to benefit from such resources. To discuss some of these issues, I am joined by Patricia Justino who is a development economist and a leading expert on political violence and development. She is the co-founder and co-director of the Households in Conflict Network and is currently a Senior Research Fellow at UNU-WIDER and Professorial Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) in Brighton, UK. We discussed the relationship between poverty and violent conflict, the work of the World Food Programme which received the Nobel Peace Prize last year, and the political economy of war zones. We also discussed how the state or armed groups behave in predatory or conciliatory ways towards local populations, how civilians respond to these strategies, and how reports on political violence are produced and disseminated on social media.
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| Gro Harlem Brundtland on sustainable development, global responses to COVID-19 and the role of the WHO | 26 Jan 2021 | 00:46:25 | |
Our guest this week is Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, the former prime minister of Norway and former head of the World Health Organization. Gro has had an illustrious career in Norway and abroad. In addition to becoming the first female head of the Norwegian Labor party, she became the first female prime minister of Norway in February 1981. And during her second stint as Prime Minister in 1986, her cabinet made world news headlines when she appointed 8 female ministers in a cabinet of 18. In addition to being widely regarded as the most influential Norwegian politician of all time, Gro is also widely known for having chaired the World Commission on Environment and Development, popularly referred to as the Brundtland Commission. The Commission’s influential 1987 report, Our Common Future, popularized and defined the term “sustainable development”. She is also known for her work as Director General of the World Health Organization between 1998 and 2003, during which time she and the WHO coordinated a rapid worldwide response to stem outbreaks of SARS. We discussed the world response to Covid, multilateralism and the role of UN agencies such as the WHO and the current status of the sustainable development discourse. A full transcript of our conversation is available.
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| Political development and political decay — Francis Fukuyama | 19 Jan 2021 | 00:57:58 | |
Welcome to season 2 of the show! Our first guest this season is Francis Fukuyama, one of the most influential political thinkers of our time and someone who has written extensively on international politics and issues of development. He is a senior fellow at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies(FSI) and the director of the institute’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL),. This conversation was recorded in mid-December 2020 at the height of the controversies surrounding the US presidential election and President Trump’s refusal to acknowledge defeat. And while a new president will shortly be sworn in on the 20th of January, deep political divisions remain. It is therefore particularly useful and timely to revisit Fukuyama’s major two-volume work on the origins of political order and political decay. In these two fascinating books published in 2011 and 2014, he provides an account of how societies develop strong, impersonal, and accountable political institutions. We also discussed his first book, The End of History and the Last Man (1992) and his latest, Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment (2018).
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| Simmering political tensions and civil war in Ethiopia — Kjetil Tronvoll | 18 Nov 2020 | 01:06:37 | |
The focus of this final episode of season 1 is Ethiopia, where the ongoing conflict between the federal government in Addis and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front that controls the Tigray region, is making daily news headlines. Ever since becoming the Prime Minister of Ethiopia in 2018, Abiy Ahmed has undertaken several bold reforms. He has also appointed women in key official positions and freed political prisoners. His efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular his efforts to resolve the border conflict with neighboring Eritrea resulted in him being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019. But there have also been critical voices within the country that have warned against an over-reliance on charisma and announcing major initiatives without adequate preparation and anticipation of potential consequences. Thus, despite the frenetic pace of change the country has witnessed since 2018, many Ethiopians have remained worried over growing income inequality, high levels of youth unemployment, and simmering tensions and factional battles within the ruling coalition. Ethiopia has been one of Africa’s fastest growing economies for the past decade and a half and there has been considerable talk of the country’s rise as potentially the only true “developmental state” in Africa. In addition to rapid economic growth, signature development projects such as the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam have given rise to comparisons with East Asian successes such as South Korea and Taiwan. A country that typically made world headlines for abject poverty and sensational famines, is now considered to be one of the most promising economies on the continent. Ethiopia is also a major contributor to UN peacekeeping operations, which has strengthened its identity as an important security provider externally while at the same time guaranteeing peace and stability for international investors within the country. But the country has also continued to face major obstacles such as its conflict with Egypt over water-sharing agreements, the viability of democratic reforms, and the future of its federal political setup. And now there are widespread fears that a civil war will not only spread and exacerbate ethnic tensions within the country but also destabilise the Horn of Africa. My guest on the show today is Kjetil Tronvoll, who is a well-known Ethiopia expert and is a professor of Peace and Conflict studies at Bjorknes University College in Norway. He has undertaken long-term fieldwork in Eritrea, Ethiopia and Zanzibar, in addition to shorter field studies many countries on the African continent. In addition to publishing extensively on human rights, transitional justice, elections and peace, reconciliation and conflict, Kjetil has served as an advisor to political reconciliation processes and international peace meditating initiatives. He has also participated in election observer missions in several African countries.
Resources:
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| Economic boom, poverty reduction and corruption in China — Yuen Yuen Ang | 11 Nov 2020 | 01:02:08 | |
China has not only achieved impressive economic growth in recent decades, but has also managed to lift hundreds of millions people out of poverty. How was this possible? What role did Chinese institutions, leaders and bureaucrats play in achieving this impressive result? And how and why China has managed to grow so fast for so long despite pervasive corruption? Yuen Yuen Ang is a professor of political science and an expert on China at the University of Michigan. She has written two award-winning books. In her first book, How China Escaped the Poverty Trap (2016), she explains how policymakers in China were able to design national reform packages and were thus able to create an adaptive environment around the bureaucracy. Local governments also played a key role in achieving poverty reduction. Yuen argues that China’s rise was not the result of top-down control, but rather of so-called “directed improvisation” within a single-party regime. Yuen's most recent book is China’s Gilded Age: the Paradox of Economic Boom & Vast Corruption (2020), where she challenges the conventional wisdom that rich countries became rich by first eradicating corruption. She argues that dominant type of corruption in China is not petty bribery or outright looting but access money – that is elite exchanges of power and wealth.
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| The impact of democracy on economic growth — Carl Henrik Knutsen | 04 Nov 2020 | 00:55:48 | |
Some of the most interesting debates on development include the role of democracy in promoting economic growth and then distributing the benefits of growth to achieve poverty reduction. Indeed, some of the questions that have attracted considerably scholarly attention in recent decades include the following: Are certain regimes better able and equipped than others to achieve economic growth? Does democracy work for the poor? Despite considerable research on the topic, the results of the democracy-growth relationship are not always very clear. But there does appear to be stronger linkages between democracy and certain types of development outcomes, including literacy and infant mortality. Guest: Carl Henrik Knutsen is a professor of political science at the University of Oslo. He has for many years studied the democracy-growth linkage and has published extensively on this subject. In a recent piece called the “Business case for democracy”, he argues that democracy works as a safety-net for avoiding the worst possible economic outcomes. And in relation to economic growth, he argues that autocracies have more variation — over countries and across time. Resources:
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| Global inequality and the future of capitalism — Branko Milanovic | 28 Oct 2020 | 01:04:53 | |
Income inequality has received considerable attention in recent years. Very few would have predicted that a very thick academic book on wealth and income inequality in Europe and the United States since the 18th century would go on to become an international bestseller. I am of course referring to Capital in the Twenty-First Century– the book published by the French economist Thomas Piketty in 2013. Income inequality was rising in many countries before the pandemic, and recent reports suggest that the Covid crisis is widening inequalities globally. Indeed, the global economy, according to the International Monetary Fund, is expected to contract 4.4 percent cent in 2020. This is bad news for the world’s poor, whose numbers are expected to sharply increase. But Covid has also made the world’s richest even richer. A recent analysis by UBS concludes that the world’s billionaires have grown wealthier in 2020 compared with 2019. And this is not just in the United States or Germany but also in Brazil and China. Thus, the pandemic will most likely deepen inequalities of various kinds. To discuss how global income inequality looks like today, I am joined by Branko Milanovic, one of the world’s most well-known scholars on inequality. He is a visiting presidential professor at The Graduate Center at the City University of New York, and a senior scholar at the University’s Stone Center on Socio-economic Inequality. Professor Milanovic has published extensively on income inequality, in individual countries and globally, including in preindustrial societies. For almost two decades, he served as the lead economist in the World Bank’s Research Department. We discussed income inequality within specific countries and whether the gains of the emerging global middle class in Asia are responsible for the losses of the lower middle class of the rich world. We also spoke about Branko’s latest book, Capitalism Alone: The Future of the System That Rules the World (2019), in which he argues that for the first time in human history, the globe is dominated by one economic system – capitalism. So, what are the prospects for a fairer world now that capitalism is the only game in town?
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| China-Africa relations — Eric Olander | 21 Oct 2020 | 01:02:32 | |
This show has been regularly discussing Beijing’s support for sustainable development initiatives, its provision of aid, technical expertise and finance to developing counties under the South-South Cooperation umbrella, and the numerous infrastructure projects that China is undertaking in Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia as part of the Belt and Road Initiative. A common goal in several of the episodes in this season of the podcast has been to nuance the understanding of China’s recent activities, better understand its motives and reflect on its future strategies and actions. Much of the recent focus in Western media reports on China has focused on the damage that Covid has done to Beijing’s reputation abroad. There have also been growing concerns on how Beijing will react to certain countries defaulting on the huge loans that it has provided for infrastructure construction. But not everyone shares such concerns. And indeed there are numerous voices that have highlighted Beijing’s support for multilateral institutions and its ability to finance and undertake major development projects that the West has long neglected. Guest: Eric Olander is the co-founder of the China Africa project, an independent multimedia organization that explores China’s engagement with Africa. He is a journalist with over three decades of experience reporting, producing and managing newsrooms for some of the world’s leading media organizations including CNN, and the BBC World Service. Eric speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese and has a Master’s degree in International Public Affairs with a focus on Chinese foreign policy from the University of Hong Kong. He also hosts a very popular weekly China in Africa podcast.
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| Food insecurity and the Nobel Peace Prize 2020 — Ida Rudolfsen | 17 Oct 2020 | 00:34:43 | |
The Nobel Peace Prize this year was awarded to the World Food Program (WFP). In its announcement, the Norwegian Nobel committee emphasized that “providing assistance to increase food security not only prevents hunger, but can also help to improve prospects for stability and peace”. The WPF indeed appears to be a worthy winner of this prestigious award. It is the world’s largest humanitarian agency, and currently assists over 100 million people in 88 countries. It is also the frontline UN agency responding to emergencies caused by conflict, climate shocks, pandemics and other disasters. And currently it is involved in addressing ongoing emergencies in 20 countries or regions, the majority of these emergencies have been fuelled by conflict. It has also in recent months warned the international community that acute hunger in the 88 countries in which it operates could reach 270 million people by the end of the year — an 82 percent increase on 2019. For many years, world hunger was on the decline. More food was being produced around the world and access was gradually improving. But since 2014, the number of undernourished people or people facing chronic food deprivation, has been on the rise. Latest estimates from the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the UN suggest that 9.7 percent of the world population (or slightly less than 750 million people) was exposed to severe levels of food insecurity in 2019. Indeed, in all regions of the world except Northern America and Europe, the prevalence of severe food insecurity has increased from 2014 to 2019. But even this is only a part of the story, because an additional 16 percent of the world population, or more than 1.25 billion people, experience food insecurity at moderate levels. And this group, which is moderately food insecure, does not have regular access to nutritious and sufficient food, even if they are not necessarily suffering from hunger. Some countries, such as Yemen, are on the edge of famine and Covid is making hunger even more acute in large parts of the world. So, the scale of the problem of world hunger is enormous, which makes this year’s Nobel Peace Prize even more relevant and timely. According to several studies, conflict is an important driver of severe food crisis and famines, and undernutrition is particularly a major problem in situations of prolonged conflicts and in countries and regions with weak institutional capacity. Guest: Ida Rudolfsen is a PhD student at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University. She is also affiliated with the Peace Research Institute in Oslo (PRIO). Resources:
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| Voices and Votes: Shaping the Democratic Landscape in Africa — Boniface Dulani | 06 Mar 2024 | 01:00:04 | |
The landscape of democracy in Africa is characterized by a dynamic interplay between achievements and obstacles, particularly as the continent approaches a pivotal year with numerous elections scheduled in 2024. Countries such as South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique, and Senegal are preparing for electoral contests, underscoring a persistent belief in the electoral system as a legitimate means to select leaders and representatives. Despite this faith in democracy, there is widespread disenchantment with the efficacy and fairness of the electoral process, highlighted by incidents of voter fraud and judicial rulings overturning elections. Concerns about democracy also extend to the debate on presidential term limits and the apparent unwillingness of some incumbents to vacate office. Insights from Afrobarometer surveys reveal the African public’s priorities and concerns, emphasizing issues like unemployment, economic stewardship, and healthcare. These survey findings illustrate a clear demand for democratic governance amidst dissatisfaction with how democracy currently operates, particularly in relation to corruption. Yet, amidst these challenges, there exists a sense of optimism about the future of democracy in Africa. This optimism is fueled by the continent's resilient civil society, the transformative potential of its young population, and examples of successful democratic transitions, suggesting a pathway towards more effective and representative governance. Boniface Dulani is an Associate Professor of Political science at the University of Malawi. He is also the Director of Surveys for the Afrobarometer, a pan African network of researchers who conduct surveys on governance, economy, and livelihoods. @IPORMalawi Resources:
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| Why democracy will prevail in the contest against authoritarian alternatives — Larry Diamond | 14 Oct 2020 | 00:57:54 | |
In his recent book – ll Winds: Saving Democracy from Russian Rage, Chinese Ambition, and American Complacency (Penguin 2019) – Larry Diamond analyzes the challenges confronting liberal democracy in the United States and around the world at this potential “hinge in history”. The book outlines an agenda for strengthening and defending democracy at home in the US as well as abroad. Larry Diamond is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) at Stanford University. He is also a professor by courtesy of Political Science and Sociology at Stanford. Professor Diamond has made numerous contributions to topics such as democratic development and regime change; U.S. foreign policy affecting democracy abroad; comparative trends in the quality and stability of democracy in developing countries and post-communist states; and public opinion in new democracies. In addition to serving as advisor to numerous governmental and international organizations throughout his glittering career, Prof. Diamond is also the founding co-editor of the hugely influential Journal of Democracy .
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| What the West does not understand about China — Liu Baocheng | 10 Oct 2020 | 00:51:02 | |
Much of the discourse in the Western media in recent months has highlighted the rising tensions between the United States and China and the growing assertiveness of Chinese diplomats on social media and in other international forums, where they have passionately defended their country’s response to the Covid outbreak. There has also been a growing interest in trying to decode how Beijing is reconfiguring its aid and investment policies and how and to what extent it will offer debt relief to developing countries. There are numerous media reports questioning the real motives behind Beijing’s attempts to further strengthen diplomatic ties with countries in all corners of the world and push the narrative that as the good brother, friend and partner, China is concerned with upholding the principle of building itself up while also supporting other countries at the same time. And then there is all of this talk about a potential Covid vaccine, which when developed by the Chinese, could potentially be made available for free or at a subsidized price to countries that Beijing considers its friends. But the perspectives of Chinese scholars and commentators on these matters do not receive the kind of attention they deserve. Liu Baocheng is a professor at the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) and Director of the University’s Center for International Business Ethics. I have collaborated with Prof. Liu for the past few years on a project that explored corporate strategies to promote sustainable development in China. Prof. Liu frequently appears as a news commentator on CCTV International. Twitter: @danbanik @GlobalDevPod Website: https://in-pursuit-of-development.simplecast.com/
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| China’s Belt and Road Initiative and infrastructure development in Africa — Gyude Moore | 07 Oct 2020 | 01:02:12 | |
A couple of months ago, Liberia’s former minister of public works, Gyude Moore argued in a popular Tweet that Western critiques of Beijing’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) will ring hollow in the absence of viable and state-led alternatives from the West. He claimed that the West can easily match, if not exceed China's BRI if it wanted to. But he also wondered whether the West wants to do this. He remains unconvinced because he thinks the West is satisfied with "virtue signalling when it comes to Africa’s prosperity". And so he went on to argue that it should not come as a surprise when African governments do their best to avoid being drawn into any rivalry between the United States and China and prefer to rather maintain a broad coalition of partners. But most importantly, he pointed out, “If China has built more infrastructure in Africa in two decades than the West has in centuries, China is also our friend". In addition to previously serving as Liberia’s minister of public works (2014-2018) with oversight over the construction and maintenance of public infrastructure, Gyude Moore has also been the deputy chief of staff to former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. He is currently a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development in Washington, DC. Resources:
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| Dam diplomacy and water sharing agreements in the Nile basin — Ashok Swain | 30 Sep 2020 | 01:01:50 | |
The growing tensions between the Nile Basin countries – Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan – over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam has made news headlines in recent months. Egypt and Ethiopia have for many years been at loggerheads over Ethiopia’s plan to dam the Nile River and this conflict has resulted in steadily deteriorating relations between some of Africa’s biggest countries. Numerous attempts to negotiate a deal have failed and the livelihoods of millions of people who depend on the smooth flow of the Nile are at stake. In 2011, Ethiopia began construction of the GERD, a $4.6 billion hydroelectric project, on the headwaters of the Blue Nile, near the border between Ethiopia and Sudan. For Ethiopia, the dam offers an opportunity to finally take advantage of the world’s longest river in stimulating economic growth and generate much-needed electricity for itself as well as for its neighbours. But the construction of this dam has resulted in a highly polarized discourse. Some have argued that GERD, in addition to its obvious benefits for Ethiopia, could even foster new and productive forms of regional cooperation. But others worry over Ethiopia’s growing muscle and its motives, and its commitment to respect water-sharing agreements at the cost of other countries that depend on the Nile. In addition to the Nile river basin conflict, we also discuss in this episode the longstanding water sharing agreements and disputes between India and Bangladesh and the impact of India’s construction of the Farakka Barrage on the Ganges river in the 1970s. Are there certain lessons from this dispute that could explain the current dispute in the Nile basin? Guest: Ashok Swain is a professor of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University, Sweden. He is also the UNESCO Chair of International Water Cooperation and the Director of Uppsala University’s Research School of International Water Cooperation. Resources:
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| Legislative development in Africa — Ken Ochieng' Opalo | 23 Sep 2020 | 01:03:46 | |
Studying the role of institutions and their evolution often helps us better understand political and economic development in countries all over the world. And one such key institution is the legislature, which plays a critical role in democratic consolidation by providing a stable system of horizontal accountability. Legislatures craft legislation, pass laws, exercise oversight of the executive branch and thereby provide the institutional mechanism which allows societies to perform representative governance on a daily basis. Individual legislators articulate competing interests and try to influence the policymaking process. They also perform an important function – that of constituency service, i.e. they may regularly visit their constituencies and meet their constituents and address local needs and may even be involved in providing various types of public goods to their constituents through development projects. The extent of legislative capacity and power, of course, varies greatly from country to country. In some countries, the legislature remains relatively weak despite multiparty politics, regular elections and even when ruling parties lose elections. But in other countries, the legislature has functioned effectively as a check on the executive branch of government as well as provided important contributions to the policymaking and policy implementation processes. But legislatures and legislative capacity in developing countries have not received the kind of scholarly attention that they deserve. This is indeed surprising. In his brilliant book, Legislative Development in Africa: Politics and Postcolonial Legacies, published in 2019 by Cambridge University Press, Ken explores how the adaptation of inherited colonial legislative institutional forms and practices continue to structure and influence contemporary politics and policy outcomes in Africa. He contrasts the records of legislative performance and discusses why the legislatures in some emerging democracies have enhanced their capacity and power while those in others have not. Ken finds that the introduction of competitive multiparty electoral institutions strengthened the Kenyan legislature but not the Zambian one. He also examines how and under what conditions democratic legislatures emerge in countries that have had strong autocratic foundations. Ken’s book thus makes a strong case for strengthening legislatures in emerging democracies. He argues that attempts to strengthen legislatures in emerging democracies should not just be limited to technical assistance and organizational capacity building but also include the political empowerment of legislators. Ken Ochieng’ Opalo is an Assistant Professor in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. His research interests include legislative politics, subnational administration and local government, electoral politics, and the political economy of development in Africa. Ken’s current research projects include studies of the politics of service provision and accountability under devolved government in Kenya, education sector reforms in Tanzania, inter-state relations in Africa, and executive-legislative relations in Kenya. His works have been published in the British Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Democracy, the Journal of Eastern African Studies, and Governance. He is a member of EGAP (Evidence in Governance and Politics), gui2de (Georgetown University Initiative on Innovation, Development, and Evaluation) and a non-resident fellow at Brookings Institution and the Center for Global Development. His research has been funded by the Luminate Group, the Susan Ford Dorsey Fellowship, and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID). Ken earned his BA from Yale University and PhD from Stanford University. Resources:
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| Why AIDS interventions in Africa often fail — Kim Yi Dionne | 16 Sep 2020 | 01:04:46 | |
As the international community addresses numerous development challenges, we must often pause, reflect, and ask: Do good intentions lead to good results? If so, when? And how? There are innumerable development agendas and a multitude of stakeholders involved in saving lives as well as promoting long-term development in many developing countries. What really is the impact of their activities? Are such activities well-coordinated? How effectively can external actors make a meaningful contribution to alleviating local problems? And most importantly, whose priorities do such interventions address, and to what extent are the so-called “beneficiaries” consulted? Guest: Kim Yi Dionne, associate professor of political science, University of California, Riverside. Dr. Dionne also edits The Monkey Cage, a blog on politics and political science at The Washington Post. Resources:
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| India’s development and the political economy of growth — Kunal Sen | 09 Sep 2020 | 01:02:17 | |
With the phenomenal growth of its economy in recent years and its longstanding democratic record, India — the world's largest democracy — has emerged as a major global power. Not only has democracy survived in India, but in recent decades the country has also established itself as a beacon of hope for other developing countries striving to achieve a similar combination of democracy, development, and the rule of law. India’s management of the COVID pandemic, however, has made news headlines in recent weeks not just because of the massive spike in COVID cases but also because the country’s GDP plunged by 23.9 per cent in the period April – June 2020 – the biggest contraction of any major Asian country. And then there are rising tensions with China. As India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi put it recently, India is fighting on many fronts. But some of India’s problems began in a pre-COVID era. There were signs that economic growth was slowing and unemployment was on the rise. Guest: Professor Kunal Sen, Director of UNU-WIDER and professor of development economics at the Global Development Institute at the University of Manchester. Topics discussed:
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| Globalization, the Nordic model and the economics of belonging — Martin Sandbu | 02 Sep 2020 | 00:57:34 | |
Martin Sandbu has an exciting new book, The Economics of Belonging: A Radical Plan to Win Back the Left Behind and Achieve Prosperity for All (Princeton University Press). Martin argues that the western social order has rested on three crucial pillars. First, political principles centered on individual rights, equality before the law, robust and independent institutions and regular, free and meaningful elections. The second pillar consists of a social market economy, that is a capitalist system in which prosperity is broadly shared. And the third pillar is economic and political openness to the outside world for the joint realization of this social order. Much of the political debate in recent years, especially in the United States and in parts of Europe, has questioned the purpose and value of this western economic and political order that has been in place since 1945. This has been in part been fueled by widening income inequality, growing political polarization, and the rise of populist leaders. Some have also blamed globalization for such discontentment. But Martin argues that it is not globalization that is to blame for many of our current problems, but rather technological change and flawed domestic policies that have made it difficult for some groups in society to particulate fully and justly in the economy. The real problem, he writes, is that “The western social order no longer fulfills its promise of an economy that provides a good place for everyone." Martin Sandbu is the European Economics Commentator for the Financial Times. He also writes Free Lunch, the FT's weekly newsletter on the global economic policy debate. Host: Centre for Global Sustainability, University of Oslo Subscribe: | |||
| The historic court ruling in Malawi annulling the 2019 presidential elections — Edge Kanyongolo | 26 Aug 2020 | 00:53:09 | |
In a landmark ruling in February of this year, Malawi’s High Court concluded that the country’s president Peter Mutharika was “not duly elected”. The Court thus annulled the May 2019 elections in Malawi citing massive irregularities. It ordered new elections within five months and concluded that the Malawi Electoral Commission had failed to carry out its responsibilities according to the constitution and electoral law. The lengthy, meticulously detailed, and unanimous ruling by the five judges has attracted widespread international acclaim. The court ruling followed numerous protests organized throughout the country after the May 2019 elections. Edge Kanyongolo is an Associate professor at the Department of Law at Chancellor College, University of Malawi. Resources:
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| The need to politicize development economics — Ingrid Harvold Kvangraven | 19 Aug 2020 | 00:57:07 | |
Ingrid Harvold Kvangraven's research focuses on the role of finance in development, structural features of underdevelopment, the political economy of development (including the role of international institutions), and critically assessing the economics field. Dr. Kvangraven is currently an Assistant Professor in International Development at the University of York’s Department of Politics. She is the founder and editor of Developing Economics and founder and steering group member of Diversifying and Decolonising Economics (D-Econ). Resources
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| Democracy in the Balance: Navigating Latin America's Political Landscape — Gerardo Munck | 28 Feb 2024 | 00:45:06 | |
The political landscape of Latin America has undergone major transformation since the democratization wave of the 1980s and 1990s. During this time, most democracies in the region have managed to persist, albeit with a few notable exceptions. However, the quality of these democracies has often been questioned. Guillermo O’Donnell's characterization of Latin American democracies as "strange and flawed yet surviving" aptly captures this scenario. In Latin American Politics and Society: A Comparative and Historical Analysis, Gerardo Munck and Juan Pablo Luna argue that while Latin American countries have stabilized democratic systems, the journey towards a fully democratized society remains incomplete, as evidenced by the breakdown of democracy in some parts of the region. Various factors have contributed to the state of democracy in contemporary Latin America. The challenges facing democracy in the region range from the impact of neoliberal economic policies to the influence of external powers like the United States, the role of dominant elites, political culture, state weakness, and corruption. The growing phenomenon of populist leaders such as Nayib Bukele in El Salvador and Javier Milei in Argentina forms a crucial part of our discussion. While scrutinizing the policies of these leaders and their implications for democracy, we also examine the complexities of political inclusion in Latin American societies, including the role of women, indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants, and ordinary citizens in Latin American democracies. As scholars often point to the persistent crisis of representation in Latin American politics, it is important to explore the relationship between citizens and politicians, and the role of the judiciary in this dynamic. And although there are major shortcomings in providing equal access to political office for all societal groups, there has also been progress in some areas such as the introduction of gender quotas. A particularly important ongoing debate relates to what is considered the most effective development models for the region. Gerardo Munck is a professor of political science and international relations at the University of Southern California. His research focuses on democracy and democratization, state capacity, Latin America, and methodology. He has also worked on the evolution of social science knowledge. @GerardoMunck
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| Pakistan's healthcare system and its recent success in fighting Covid — Usman Mushtaq | 12 Aug 2020 | 00:58:32 | |
As the Covid pandemic continues to dominate world headlines, there is growing interest in better understanding how some low and middle-income countries have achieved considerable success in responding to this global crisis. Vietnam is one such country that has been successful in combating Covid. Another is Cuba. And the state of Kerala in India has also received much praise for its handling of the pandemic. But for the past few weeks a rather unlikely, success story has emerged. It is that of Pakistan, which has been branded as a bright spot, having achieved remarkable progress despite numerous predictions, including one study from June, which had warned of millions of infections and at least a hundred thousand deaths. But Pakistan appears to have, at least for the time being, defied these odds and the Covid curve appears to be flattening. And although experts say it is too early to claim victory over the virus, Pakistan’s somewhat unheralded achievement merits closer attention, especially given the long history of its dysfunctional and fragmented healthcare system. Dr Usman Mushtaq is a Norwegian-Pakistani medical doctor who for the past year or so has been working as an advisor for Pakistan’s Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination. It was Dr Zafar Mirza, until recently Pakistan’s Minister of Health, who asked Dr Mushtaq to join his team in Pakistan. Dr Mushtaq is a member of the Board of Trustees of EAT Foundation and has previously been a member of the EAT Advisory Board and Director of Policy and Global Strategy for EAT. He is also a member of the Norwegian Labour Party. Questions, comments and suggestions: InPursuitOfDevelopment@gmail.com
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| How Black Lives Matter is also a reckoning for foreign aid and international NGOs — Degan Ali | 05 Aug 2020 | 01:06:26 | |
Many have highlighted the need for equity and justice in the field of foreign aid and humanitarian assistance. Local civil society organizations (CSOs) or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are the frontline workers, risking their lives to access areas that well-funded international NGOs or even UN agencies cannot access. However, critics of the current system claim that the local NGO is often the sub-contractor and not a real partner that is allowed to contribute to the design of the project. If something goes wrong in the process, that local NGO is blacklisted, not the UN agency or the international NGO that received the funding. There are also other concerns. For example, the local NGO rarely receives a decent overhead rate or adequate funds to cover operational expenses. Local NGO staff are also often poached by multilateral institutions and international NGOs. All of this, some claim, results in a serious and systematic erosion of capacity in the Global South. And local knowledge and organizational capacity are often undervalued. Degan Ali is the Executive Director of Adeso, an organization that has been a leader globally and in Somalia for its work on cash transfers and environmental justice. She has been a passionate advocate at the global level on the mainstreaming of cash as the primary response mechanism to humanitarian crises Resources
Questions, comments and suggestions: InPursuitOfDevelopment@gmail.com
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| How is India handling the pandemic? A conversation with Tathagata Satpathy | 29 Jul 2020 | 01:33:02 | |
Although India faces numerous challenges – a huge population, rising unemployment, growing environmental vulnerabilities – there is general agreement that, despite many odds, democracy has not only survived but is now firmly entrenched in the social and political fabric of the country. In recent months, however, the country has been rocked by nationwide protests following the enactment of the Citizen Amendment Act in December 2019. And then Covid struck. On the 24th of March, Prime Minister Modi announced that the country was going into a three-week lockdown. The sheer scale of this nationwide lockdown affecting 1.3 billion people, was unprecedented. In subsequently extending the lockdown beyond the initial 3 weeks, the Prime Minister noted: “India didn’t wait for the problem to escalate. Instead, as soon as the problem appeared, we tried to stop it by making swift decisions. I can’t imagine what the situation would have been had such quick decisions not been taken”. In the initial weeks and months, the lockdown appeared to be working well but once it was gradually lifted, there was a surge in Covid cases. And many within India remain worried that the country’s healthcare system may not be able to tackle a crisis of such magnitude. But there is also growing evidence of how India has radically stepped up its Covid-testing capacity. And last year, an ambitious new health insurance plan was launched – the Ayushman Bharat Yojana, which aims to provide free health coverage to large groups in the country, Joining me to discuss India’s Covid response, health insurance policies, center-state relations in the country’s federal set-up, the role of political parties in promoting development and reducing poverty, and much much more is Mr. Tathagata Sathpathy. Tathagata Satpathy served four terms as Member of Parliament, representing the Dhenkanal constituency of the state of Orissa (also known as Odisha). Until recently, he was a member of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) political party and was the party’s chief whip in the Lok Sabha – the lower house of the Indian parliament. In addition to being a politician, Mr. Satpathy is the owner and editor of the daily Odia newspaper, Dharitri, and the English daily, Orissa Post.
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| The relevance of foreign aid — Bård Vegar Solhjell | 22 Jul 2020 | 01:25:36 | |
For decades, the mantra of globalization supported increased foreign aid to, and trade with, low-income countries. The proclaimed goal was to reduce poverty and promote economic growth and development. But aid policies have increasingly become both complex and fragmented. Some argue that there is an unprecedented international policy overload when it comes to aid and development. Indeed, some even claim that we are witnessing aid fatigue. Many traditional donors are also revisiting the role and impact of aid. In a world which was already struggling to cope with numerous crises even before the Covid pandemic struck – inadequate finance, food insecurity, climate change – the pattern and flow of aid to low-income countries in the near future is potentially going to change in fundamental ways. Bård Vegar Solhjell is Director General of the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad). He has substantial political experience having served as a member of Parliament and Party Secretary for the Socialist left Party in Norway and subsequently also as Norway’s Minister of Education and Minister of Environment. He was also CEO of WWF Norway. Resources
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| Chinese aid and South-South Cooperation — Marina Rudyak | 08 Jul 2020 | 01:01:04 | |
China is on everyone’s mind these days. It is not just related to the origins of Covid. There is considerable global attention on Beijing’s tense relations with Washington, Ottawa, New Delhi, Tokyo, and even many European capitals. But China wields great influence in large parts of the world, including in low and medium incomes countries, through its investments and aid. And in recent years, Beijing has steadily expanded its global influence through its signature foreign policy project – The Belt and Road Initiative – which is a long-term plan to undertake a series of large investments in roads, bridges, gas pipelines, railways, ports and power plants in over 70 countries. Joining me today to discuss the role and impact of China’s aid and investments around the world is Marina Rudyak. Marina is an assistant lecturer at the Institute of Chinese Studies at Heidelberg University in Germany. She studied Modern and Classical Chinese Studies and Public Law at Heidelberg University and Shanghai International Studies University. In her recently completed Ph.D. dissertation, Marina focuses on Chinese foreign aid policies and Beijing’s evolving role in international development. Before re-joining Heidelberg University in 2014, Marina was a policy advisor with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) in Beijing where she managed a multi-country project on regional economic cooperation. Resources:
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| State capacity in Latin America — Benedicte Bull | 01 Jul 2020 | 01:05:08 | |
There have been numerous news reports in recent weeks pointing to how Covid will damage Latin America more severely than many other world regions. Several commentators and scholars have argued that the pandemic will wipe out several decades of social progress, pushing millions back into poverty. To discuss economic growth and poverty and inequality reduction in Latin America both before and after Covid, in addition to key political trends in the region, I am joined by my colleague Benedicte Bull. Benedicte Bull is a professor of political science and head of the Norwegian Latin America Research Network (NorLARNet) at the Centre for Development and the Environment at the University of Oslo. Her research has focused on the relationship between politics, state building and development, and how international relations influence the possibilities for establishing good institutions that can produce positive societal change. Resources:
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| Erik Solheim on sustainable development | 24 Jun 2020 | 01:20:21 | |
Our world is facing considerable challenges, not just in relation to the Covid crisis, but also in terms of our desire to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger and address the adverse impacts caused by climate disruption. Despite such challenges, we cannot underestimate the numerous developmental successes that the world has witnessed in recent decades. In relation to health, prosperity, safety, peace, and happiness, humanity is much better off today than ever before in history. And although such achievements have not been equally replicated in all arenas (e.g. the environment), this should deter us from asking what “success” means in practice, and how such ideas can be mobilized by national governments and the international community in pursuit of sustainable development. To discuss the relationship between development and the environment, the need to change consumer behavior and the future role of China, India, aid and the United Nations in a post-Covid world is my guest this week – Erik Solheim – a veteran Norwegian diplomat, who has previously served as the leader of Norway’s Socialist Left Party (1987-1997) and was Norway’s Minister for International Development and Minister of Environment (2005-2012). He also served as Chair of the OECD's Development Assistance Committee (DAC) (2013-2016) and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (2016-2018). Resources:
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| Democracy, development and Covid response in Africa — Boniface Dulani | 17 Jun 2020 | 01:19:18 | |
Malawi is my second home. Every year, for the past fifteen years, I have made numerous trips from Norway to this beautiful country in Southern Africa to conduct research and to teach at the University of Malawi’s Chancellor College. During this time, I have been privileged to strike up many friendships with Malawians from all walks of life. I miss my friends. With borders closed all over the world, I worry that I may not be able to return to this beautiful country for a very long time. My initial interest in Malawi was spurred by two Masters students of political science at the University of Oslo who were studying health policy and local perceptions of the impact of democracy in Malawi in 2004-2005. While supervising these students, I began to learn about a country that did not normally elicit much international attention. The more I read, the more intrigued I became. The narrative then, as is also often the case now, was of Malawi struggling to achieve economic growth and address poverty reduction while undergoing democratic consolidation. The social science literature on Malawi then was limited. And the few good books that offered nuanced analyses explaining Malawi’s underdevelopment highlighted a dysfunctional political system, pervasive corruption, and the general lack of trust in democratic institutions. Hence, many questioned the added value of democracy and whether hard fought democratic freedoms have provided citizens with improved livelihoods. Many of these issues remain as relevant today as they were fifteen years ago. I have tried to decode the “Malawi paradox” – i.e. despite peace, political stability and consistent support for democracy, most Malawians have not witnessed radical improvement in their living standards and the country continues to perform poorly on most development indicators. And high levels of corruption, administrative inefficiency and political inaction and the lack of foresightedness continue to dominate the development landscape. Malawi lags behind its neighbours, and hence the international development discourse is frequently characterised by the perception that “there are developing countries, and then there is Malawi”. Such statements imply a sense of hopelessness about the country’s development trajectory. We address many of these issues in a book that I edited with Professor Blessings Chinsinga in 2016 entitled Political Transition and Inclusive Development in Malawi: The Democratic Dividend (open access). In this book, we concluded that democracy does not necessarily always foster or guarantee development when the desire to win the support of the electorate results in the adoption of populist policies. Indeed, although the overarching policy goals of the various governments in Malawi since 1994 have been poverty alleviation, the empirical evidence suggests that the impact of democracy on poverty reduction and socio-economic development has been negligible. Will the upcoming elections usher in a new age for Malawi? Only time will tell. My guest in this episode is Dr. Boniface Dulani, who studied at York and Sussex universities in the UK and has a doctorate in political science from Michigan State University in the United States. He is the Director of Survey at Afrobarometer – a non-partisan, pan-African research institution conducting public attitude surveys on democracy, governance, the economy and society in over 30 countries on the African continent. Dr. Dulani is senior lecturer at the Department of Political and Administrative Studies at Chancellor College, University of Malawi. Host: Centre for Global Sustainability, University of Oslo Subscribe: | |||
| The population question | 08 Jun 2020 | 00:30:16 | |
Much of Africa is experiencing high birth rates and certain countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria are projected to witness massive increases in their populations in the next few decades. An explosive growth in population will in turn pose major challenges for government policies aimed at promoting development and well-being of citizens. Are governments reluctant to talk about birth control. If so, why? And what can policymakers learn from the Indian and Chinese experiences? The current discourse on birth control is polarized. Some scholars argue that despite its adverse impacts on the climate, the population question is largely neglected by the climate community. Others highlight the importance of better protecting reproductive rights, improved access to contraceptives, strengthening gender equality, improved educational opportunities and increasing the living standards of the world’s poorest people. Still others believe that people in rich countries should reduce their consumption levels in order to protect the environment. Blog: Follow me on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/danbanik Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dan.banik.official Please send me your questions, comments and suggestions by e-mail: InPursuitOfDevelopment@gmail.com Host: Centre for Global Sustainability, University of Oslo Subscribe: | |||
| Dreaming of electricity | 08 Jun 2020 | 00:27:02 | |
In this episode, I begin by discussing India's achievements in improving access to electricity before providing a brief overview of electricity access at the global level. I then go on to identify some of the major challenges that hundreds of millions of people on the African continent face in trying to access electricity. Most countries on the continent are struggling to promote clean and renewal forms of energy, but there are certain exceptions, such as Rwanda and Ethiopia. And then there are countries like Kenya and Malawi who have pinned their hopes on highly polluting coal-fired power plants. What type of strategy should policymakers in these countries pursue to generate clean energy and increase access to electricity, especially in rural areas? Blog: Follow me on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/danbanik Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dan.banik.official Please send me your questions, comments and suggestions by e-mail: InPursuitOfDevelopment@gmail.com Host: Centre for Global Sustainability, University of Oslo Subscribe: | |||
| The Globalization of Finance and Its Impact on State Building — Didac Queralt | 21 Feb 2024 | 00:50:20 | |
An increasing number of countries are struggling with rising debt and facing defaults. A recent World Bank report revealed that developing countries paid a record $443.5 billion in 2022 to service their public debts, a situation exacerbated by surging global interest rates and a strong U.S. dollar. This debt servicing cost represents a 5% increase from the previous year, with warnings of more challenges ahead for the world’s poorest nations. Therefore, it is crucial to gain a deeper understanding of which forms of globalized finance are more effective in fostering development. This episode focuses on the prize-winning book Pawned States: State Building in the Era of International Finance, which examines the consequences of early access to external finance for long-term state capacity. In the 19th century, developing countries frequently sought loans from European credit houses to manage their finances and cope with war. While this external financing provided opportunities for growth, it often allowed leaders of these borrower states to skip essential steps in developing institutions and making political systems more inclusive. "Pawned States" illustrates how this reliance on early foreign loans has resulted in persistent fiscal instability and diminished governmental effectiveness in the developing world. Didac Queralt is an assistant professor of political science at Yale University, who studies historical causes of modern-day fiscal institutions. @DidacQueralt Key highlights
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| Crises and leadership | 08 Jun 2020 | 00:27:07 | |
Covid-19 has confronted leaders with a crisis that they probably never expected in their lifetime. With the growing demand for, and resistance against, strict quarantines and national lockdowns, which entail severe restrictions on the freedom of movement and assembly of citizens, democracies as well as non-democracies around the world are being tested. There is also growing frustration, especially among the youth in Africa on the inability of the current political system to provide them with better representation and a stronger say in how their countries are governed. Many of Africa’s leaders are also accused of not adequately adapting to the demands of the global economy and largely ignoring the adverse impacts of climate change within their borders. A crisis tends to get citizens to rally around their leaders and their governments. But good leaders are not just effective during crises, they are also effective in non-crisis times. Blog: Follow me on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/danbanik Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dan.banik.official Please send me your questions, comments and suggestions by e-mail: InPursuitOfDevelopment@gmail.com Host: Centre for Global Sustainability, University of Oslo Subscribe: | |||
| China in a post-Covid world | 08 Jun 2020 | 00:36:31 | |
In this episode, I discuss why China’s role and influence will continue to expand in a post Covid-19 world. In the initial months of the crisis in early 2020, the main narrative coming from China was very much inward-looking in that Beijing was projecting for its citizens as well as to the world that it could control the outbreak and that no other country would be able to perform better on this matter that it was already doing. Gradually, however, the narrative began to shift to one where Beijing has pursued a more aggressive public relations campaign. A key question is: Who will risk discontinuing their already deep ties with, and dependency on, China? While the United States is gradually withdrawing from the international arena, China appears well-placed to reap the benefits of its development diplomacy, the ambitious Belt and Road Initiative and the growing global interest in sustainable development which appeals to a growing number of countries around the world.
Follow me on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/danbanik Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dan.banik.official Please send me your questions, comments and suggestions by e-mail: InPursuitOfDevelopment@gmail.com Host: Centre for Global Sustainability, University of Oslo Subscribe: | |||
| Introducing: In Pursuit of Development | 08 Jun 2020 | 00:03:09 | |
Hi everyone, I’m Dan Banik. And welcome to the In Pursuit of Development podcast. I am a professor of political science at the University of Oslo, where I also direct the Oslo SDG Initiative on Sustainable Development. For the past couple of decades, I have been conducting research on the politics of poverty. Some of the countries I have been studying include China, India, Malawi, Kenya and Rwanda. So, if you are interested in democracy, poverty eradication, and climate change, this is your go-to podcast for a deeper understanding of the politics of global development. Many recent global discussions have highlighted the double challenge facing our world: to eradicate hunger and poverty and to stabilize the global climate before it is too late. We are also being constantly warned that as the negative impacts of climate change will only worsen soon, we must redouble our focus and energy in promoting a sustainable development agenda. Many thus urge us to transform our policies and practices related to economic growth, food and agriculture, and our everyday consumption patterns. But how can we achieve such ambitious transformations, and what are the main challenges ahead? In each episode, I will discuss the experiences of developing and “emerging economies” in Africa, Asia and Latin America. While some episodes or seasons will feature monologues, in others I will interview politicians, civil servants, activists, media personalities and fellow academics on a range of issues such as governance, corruption, foreign aid, gender equality, policies on healthcare, education, agriculture, food, and energy, in addition to economic growth and inequality, and climate change. While I will examine major global challenges and highlight various “problems”, I will also highlight “solutions” and “what works” on the ground. This podcast will thus enable you to examine development interventions critically. It will also help you better understand how “promising” policies, programs, and practices can be deployed in a range of international contexts. Follow me on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/danbanik Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dan.banik.official Please send me your questions, comments and suggestions by e-mail: InPursuitOfDevelopment@gmail.com Host: Centre for Global Sustainability, University of Oslo Subscribe: | |||