Paradox of public sector capacity building: Lessons from MATT2 UK–Bangladesh co‐operation

This study focuses on the Government of Bangladesh and the UK Department for International Development (DFID) public sector capacity‐building project under collaborative public governance. It examines the efficiency and effectiveness of a foreign‐funded and multistakeholder‐led public sector capacity‐development initiative dubbed Managing at the Top Stage 2 (MATT2) project, and how it contributed to the human resource capacity development in Bangladesh. A combination of data from Government sources, in‐depth interviews, focus group discussions, participant observation and author analysis was adopted. The results showed the project to have been largely successful, despite some challenges.     

Political‐Economy Analysis,Aid Effectiveness and the Art of Development Management

Recognising that aid effectiveness critically depends upon the quality of host‐country institutions and policies, international aid agencies have sought to inform their activities through more systematic political‐economy analysis (PEA). In this article, three analytical frameworks for PEA are compared, contrasted and critically appraised in the light of reflections by PEA practitioners and recent theoretical debate about development management. The article finds that the potential of PEA to improve development effectiveness depends on how far it addresses the micro as well as macro politics of aid and permits a finer‐grained engagement between analysis and action. This requires more reflexivity on the part of those who commission and produce PEA, and further movement from intervention to interaction modalities for aid delivery.     

Donor co‐ordination or donor confusion? How disputed facts and problem framing affect the prospects for aid harmonization

A declared commitment in international development assistance is to promote donor co‐ordination. Yet, how this objective plays out in practice, or how feasible and realistic it is, have rarely been evaluated. Using the fisheries sector as a critical case, this article explores whether two major international actors, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Bank, meet the demands of policy harmonization as spelled out in the Paris Declaration on aid effectiveness. Through a systematic qualitative analysis, the article investigates whether the policies of these actors are complementary or contradictory. It also assesses how the potential challenges to harmonization can be understood and what the broader implications for aid and development policies in general might be.     

Rethinking Trade Preferences for Sub‐Saharan Africa: How Can Trade in Tasks Be the Potential Lifeline?

Policy‐related discussion on assisting countries to make use of trade preferences tends to focus on the provision of hard infrastructure to facilitate external economies from modern‐sector exports. This is as opposed to harnessing potential knowledge spillovers. This omission is emblematic of tensions within new trade/new growth theory. Using two country case studies in Asia – Bangladesh and Cambodia – this article shows how different approaches towards making use of trade preferences have resulted in divergent industrial structures and firm‐level technological capability indicators. Less stringent rules of origin requirements may offer new opportunities for late industrialisers in sub‐Saharan Africa to tap into the modern export sector, but a more interventionist approach towards harnessing knowledge spillovers may also be necessary.     

Who Is Poorest? An Asset‐based Analysis of Multidimensional Wellbeing

Recent studies have endorsed asset‐based approaches as a strategy for attaining the Millennium Development Goals. This article discusses asset indices as a diagnostic tool for these policies, systematically breaking them down into separate dimensions of private household wealth and basic public‐goods access and discussing how shortfalls in public‐goods supply can be related to deprivations in basic human capabilities under the asset framework. It then illustrates how asset indices can be used for the targeting of public infrastructure investments and private asset‐accumulation policies, with the help of a detailed case study of deprivations in household wealth and public‐service supply in Madagascar.     

A state of limbo: the politics of waiting in neo‐liberal Latvia

This article presents an ethnographic study of politics of waiting in a post‐Soviet context. While activation has been explored in sociological and anthropological literature as a neo‐liberal governmental technology and its application in post‐socialist context has also been compellingly documented, waiting as a political artefact has only recently been receiving increased scholarly attention. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork at a state‐run unemployment office in Riga, this article shows how, alongside activation, state welfare policies also produce passivity and waiting. Engaging with the small but developing field of sociological literature on the politics of waiting, I argue that, rather than interpreting it as a clash between ‘neo‐liberal’ and ‘Soviet’ regimes, we should understand the double‐move of activation and imposition of waiting as a key mechanism of neo‐liberal biopolitics. This article thus extends the existing theorizations of the temporal politics of neo‐liberalism.     

Multi‐stakeholder Groups for Better Sector Performance: A Key to Fighting Corruption in Natural‐Resource Governance?

Multi‐stakeholder groups – involving representatives from civil society, government and the private sector — are increasingly seen as a means of promoting improved service delivery and operational performance in natural‐resource sectors. Although the intention is to promote dialogue, learning and collaboration towards agreed goals and the implementation of standards for better sector governance and performance, the impact of these initiatives will be shaped by members' incentives and external constraints. This article describes how incentive incompatibilities will prevent the group from effectively addressing fundamental problems in the sectors, such as corruption. Multi‐stakeholder groups can be a viable forum for debate, but should not be expected to perform a role in fighting corruption in natural‐resource management.     

Global Governance,neoliberalism and national responses: The case of Bangladesh’s ready‐made garment (RMG) sector

This article on the ready‐made garment (RMG) sector of Bangladesh shows how over‐reliance on foreign capital for development financing and deregulated investment—a hallmark of neoliberal economic arrangements—undermines the incorporation of SDGs’ and INGOs’ equity principles, contributing to biased policy responses yielding unequal outcomes. The article cautions that while countries prioritize economic growth over social and environmental nourishment and continue to adopt neoliberal economic policies to promote economic growth, inequity is unavoidable, if not inevitable. Thus, the way forward may be to shift the focus of ‘development’ from the economy to society, to building ‘good societies’ where institutions and strategies, including those that contribute to economic growth, are organized such that these complement not compromise the evolution of such societies.     

Antagonistic governance in South African fruit global production networks: a neo‐Gramscian perspective

Governance is a core focus of the global value chain (GVC) and global production network (GPN) literatures. Recent research claims ‘complementary’ or ‘synergistic’ governance, achieved through the confluence of private, public and civil society actors, is required for sustainable social gains. While moving beyond a narrow focus on economic coordination, such analysis lacks a sufficiently nuanced examination of power relations. In this article, I draw on neo‐Gramscian perspectives to account for ongoing contestation, positing that governance needs to be understood in the context of a broader hegemonic project. ‘Antagonistic governance’ is proposed to conceptualize contestation within and across diverse initiatives, which forge, challenge and transform hegemonic stability in GVC/GPNs. I explore this through the South African fruit sector, in particular, a labour crisis in 2012/13. I argue that we need to move beyond apolitical readings of governance to account for the material and discursive practices through which contestation gets played out, compromises are forged, and hegemonic order is maintained.     

Analysing local perceptions of post‐conflict and post‐floods livelihood interventions in Swat,Pakistan

The Swat valley in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province was affected by a protracted conflict and super flood between 2007 and 2010. This article explores local perceptions of the Swat response, which presented complex challenges for rehabilitation and livelihood recovery of affected communities. This study examines local perceptions of how non‐governmental organizations (NGOs) and government response addressed livelihood revival needs, considers questions relating to the nature and dynamics of the conflict and floods and reflects on the issues and lessons of post‐disaster relief and development. The qualitative case study was conducted between September 2010 and February 2011. Primary data were collected in 11 villages and localities from beneficiaries and non‐beneficiaries, government representatives, community leaders and programme officials involved in livelihood interventions. This article identifies the shortcomings associated with the targeted response, as well as the types of response offered in the form of beneficiary selection and elite co‐opting of aid. The response was affected by a lack of relief, recovery and development programme co‐ordination, weak institutional support and non‐prioritization of local needs. The article recommends that for effective development policy and practice, local ownership of response and recovery programmes needs to be promoted.     

Technical and vocational education and training in Uganda: A critical analysis

This article undertakes a diagnostic study of the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sub‐sector in Uganda, with a view to characterizing the sub‐sector and identifying its potential strengths and weakness. We undertook a cross‐sectional pre‐survey of purposively selected key stakeholders in the TVET sub‐sector. We selected performance indicators following their importance in influencing the TVET reform process. Both qualitative and quantitative data was solicited from the stakeholders. Quantitative data was collected through stakeholder‐specific structured questionnaires, whilst qualitative data was collected through desk review and field visits, individual focused interviews and focus group discussions. Our findings indicate that financing and planning constraints have resulted in poor quality equipment, under‐ and ill‐trained staff, limited adoption of a competence‐based education and training (CBET) curriculum, not to mention the supervision inadequacies of TVET institutions. Besides, the limited TVET sub‐sector interaction with the private sector has incapacitated TVET curriculum development to nurture skills demanded by the private sector. Furthermore, backward technology use in the private sector has equally inhibited the success of student attachment programmes. Finally, legal ambiguities have perpetuated a qualification jungle and overlapping curricula.     

From Schism to Synthesis: The Off‐Centre Radical‐Reformist Role of Development Management

In a wide range of issues such as aid effectiveness, poverty reduction and planning, development management has witnessed a schism between reformists and radicals. This article traces the ‘schism’ between reformist and radical views, critiques their unnecessary dichotomization and proposes an epistemologically‐grounded metaphor for managing divergent ideas. Moving beyond the schism, the article examines current conceptions from Gulrajani that the synthesis should be at the ‘centre’ of the spectrum between radical and reformist frames. The article then proposes an ‘off‐centre’ radical‐reformist synthesis with a less apologetic acceptance of reformist or ‘managerialist’ approaches.     

Understanding the Role of National Development Experts in Development Ethnography

International aid architecture has created a space for development experts to operationalise development policies in various capacity. A growing body of literature highlights the agency of this group through an ethnographic lens for deepening the understanding of development practice. However, this article reveals that there is a gap in the existing literature as the roles of national development experts (NDEs) remain rather unexplored in development. This article aims to bridge this gap by introducing the NDEs as an unexplored actor in development and setting an agenda for further research. Drawing on a Bangladesh case this article argues that not only will the accounts of NDEs deepen the existing scholarship but also without their reflections we will only have partial development ethnographies.     

A Story of Post‐Fordist Exploitation: Financialization and Small‐Scale Maize Farmers in Turkey

After the implementation of economic restructuring policies in Turkish agriculture, farming communities experienced significant changes in the patterns of agricultural production over the last decade. The dramatic shift from labor‐intensive field crops to maize farming represents such a change, particularly for small‐scale farmers, since high‐yield maize farming is driven by private agrifood corporate demand. In this article, I explore how this shift influences the relations of production in agriculture through a commodity‐system analysis of the maize sector in Turkey. Through the qualitative analysis of the semistructured in‐depth interviews and secondary data, I find that small‐scale farmers are able to participate in maize farming, even as their dependence on production credits to participate in industrial maize farming crucially reduces their bargaining power with private industry. I argue that the traditional Marxist approach, accumulation by dispossession, is not sufficient to explain the participation of small‐scale farmers. Instead, I propose a new concept, entrepreneurial exploitation, to describe the participation of small‐scale investors in the post‐Fordist regime. Thereby, I point to the important role of expansion of credit markets as a consequence of financialization.     

‘A Blinding Lack of Progress’: Management Rhetoric and Affirmative Action

In this study we explore how versions of organizational reality and gender are constructed in management discourse and whether such patterns change over time. Specifically, we examine management explanations and accounts of the gendered nature of their organizations through their commentaries on their affirmative action programmes. In Australia private sector organizations with 100 or more employees are required to report to government on their affirmative action programmes for women. In these documents, management representatives outline objectives for the coming year and report on their progress in reducing employment‐related barriers for women. In doing so they account for the ‘problem’ of gender‐based discrimination that affirmative action is designed to address, justify their actions (or lack of action) and reproduce versions of gendered identity. Thus we use affirmative action reporting as cases of management rhetoric to explore how aspects of gender and organization are constructed, taken for granted, challenged or problematized. Comparing reports from the hospitality sector over a 14‐year period, we explore whether there is any evidence of discursive change in management accounts of the gendered nature of their organizations.     

Professionals' Accounts for Work‐related Deceptions

Using interview and observational data, this article analyzes how private detectives account for using work‐related deceptions, I place special emphasis on how practitioners' accounts draw on professional affiliations and organizational resources that are less available to individuals in their private lives. These affiliations and resources include economic and demographic characteristics of employers, practitioners, clients and investigative targets, state licensing, the profession's social repute, and asymmetries in specialized knowledge between practitioners and laypersons. The conclusion addresses how accounts for work‐related deceptions benefit professionals through advantaging them over targets, obscuring harmful consequences of work, and helping them and their clients to avoid negative labeling. If you call someone up and say, “Hi, would you mind telling me where your brother is, so that I can put his ass in jail for the next five years,” you won't last too long in the private detective business. —Anonymous private detective     

The role of evidence in nutrition policy‐making in Ethiopia: Institutional structures and issue framing

Malnutrition is the single greatest contributor to the global burden of morbidity and mortality, with most cases arising in low‐ and middle‐income countries. However, the multi‐sectoral nature of nutrition policy‐making adds considerable complexity to the implementation of effective programmes. This raises questions about why or how relevant policy change can come about within different country settings. This article examines multi‐sectoral nutrition policy‐making from the health sector perspective, specifically focusing on different sectoral perspectives and the role and use of evidence within this. Ethiopia provides a unique example of the challenging nature of multi‐sectoral nutrition policy‐making, even with a strong co‐ordinating infrastructure. In December 2014 we undertook 23 in‐depth semi‐structured interviews with stakeholders from key health sector organizations, along with a related documentary analysis. Participants represented a diverse range of perspectives, including government representatives, policy stakeholders, aid providers from multi‐lateral organizations and academic researchers. Our respondents described how nutrition framing in Ethiopia is changing, with greater consideration of overweight, obesity and non‐communicable diseases, as well as undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies. However, overweight‐ and obesity‐related concerns are still less evident in key documents. Some health actors described the challenge of enacting structural policy changes when doing so requires engagement from the agriculture sector. While multi‐sectoral plans and infrastructure to address malnutrition are in place, respondents suggested that the mandate for addressing nutrition resting with the health sector was reinforced by the nature of evidence collected. This study of nutrition policy‐making in Ethiopia highlights the complex interaction of evidence within different conceptualisations of policy problems and responses. Despite Ethiopia's strategic framework and its progress in achieving terms of nutrition targets, it shares the challenge of countries elsewhere in addressing nutrition as a multi‐sectoral issue.     

Management of the international development aid system: The Case of Tanzania

This article tries to clarify Government behaviours as to how to manage aid in Tanzania. Contrary to the Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC) donor intentions, the development aid structure, carefully constructed under the poverty reduction regime in Tanzania, has led to Tanzanian‐owned initiatives toward a national development plan (NDP). Furthermore, this article shows that, in the process of creating an international development aid system, the Tanzanian Government has learned to manage aid in a recipient‐driven manner not only from DAC donors, but also from China.     

Supporting the Posts in Development Discourse: Under‐development,Over‐development,Post‐development

This article seeks to introduce scholars outside of development studies to post‐development thought, and to restate its relevance and value to those working within the development field. It begins with an overview of post‐development thought and its critique of the post‐World War Two development project. Following this, specific critiques levelled at post‐development thought and various responses to these are considered. In the last section, the possibility or desirability of raising the living standards of Third World people to a level comparable to those of the First World through economically based development strategies is questioned. The article concludes by drawing attention to First World overdevelopment and the continued value of post‐development thinking in unsettling the development trajectory for either the First or Third World.