Konference: Politisk økonomi og udvikling i Afrika

TIME: Friday, 30 March, 9.00-16.30

VENUE: Danish Institute for International Studies, Main Auditorium, Strandgade 71, ground floor, Christianshavn, 1401 Copenhagen K

There is a growing consensus that politics shape the incentives that drive or hinder sustainable growth and poverty alleviation in developing countries.

TIME: Friday, 30 March, 9.00-16.30

VENUE: Danish Institute for International Studies, Main Auditorium, Strandgade 71, ground floor, Christianshavn, 1401 Copenhagen K

There is a growing consensus that politics shape the incentives that drive or hinder sustainable growth and poverty alleviation in developing countries.

However, ‘politics’ involves more than governments, parties and elections. It depends both on the formal and informal institutions and on the specific contexts in which political ambitions are shaped and policy choices are made.

Five major European research programmes aim to improve the understanding of such politics of development by opening the black box of ‘political will’. Although they have used a variety of approaches and empirical material, they have strongly convergent research findings and agree on some major policy implications of their work.

These will be presented at the conference (together with some of the issues which remain unresolved or controversial).

The programmes will be addressing the following important political economy questions:

· Why have sub-Saharan countries developed much slower than Southeast Asian countries in the past half century? (TD – Tracking Development, hosted by the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies, Holland; www.trackingdevelopment.net)

· How does emerging democratic politics affect policies for agricultural development? (PEAP – Political Economy of Agricultural Policy Project of FAC, hosted by the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS); www.future-agricultures.org)

· What motivates ruling elites to support productive sectors with well-implemented government initiatives? (EPP – Elites, Production and Poverty, hosted by the Danish Institute for International Studies; www.diis.dk/epp)

· What is the role of developmental leadership and coalitions in development? (DLP – Developmental Leadership Programme, hosted by the Department of Politics, University of York; www.dlprog.org)

· What ways of exercising power and doing politics work for development? (APPP – Africa Power and Politics Programme, hosted by ODI; www.institutions-africa.org)

Speakers:

David Henley, Professor, Leiden University
Colin Poulton, Research Fellow, SOAS
Ole Therkildsen, Senior Researcher, DIIS
Stephen Ndegwa, Advisor, World Bank
Roger Koranteng, Advisor, Governance and Institutional Development Division, Commonwealth Secretariat
Adrian Leftwich, Honorary Fellow, University of York
David Booth, Research Fellow, Overseas Development Institute (ODI)
Tove Degnbol, Head of Department, DANIDA, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark
Anders Östman, Senior Programme Manager, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA)

More details about the conference and programme are available on the website.

The conference will be held in English.

Participation is free of charge, but registration is required. Use the online registration form from the website no later than Wednesday, 28 March at 12.00 noon.

Please await confirmation by e-mail from DIIS for participation.