If Politics is the Problem, How Can External Actors be Part of the Solution?

Abstract

The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.

Why does local agency matter? Ownership, partnership, and decision spaces in foreign aid

“…These arrangements can mean that donors find themselves in the position of the 'principal' to the 'agent' of the aid-receiving government or other implementing agencies (Barder, 2009a;Martens et al, 2002;Ostrom, 2002). This is in contrast to focusing on the (collective) principal-agent relationships between citizens and politicians (Devarajan and Khemani, 2016;Ferejohn, 1986;Page and Pande, 2018;World Bank, 2016. This struggle between competing principals is linked to the dual accountability -or dual responsivenessframework shown earlier.…”

“…It appears to be very difficult to induce 'political will', which is often seen as a black box (Hudson et al, 2018). For example, policy conditionality has been extensively criticised for poor results, skewed incentives and isomorphic mimicry (Babb and Carruthers, 2008;Collier et al, 1997;Commission on State Fragility, Growth and Development, 2018;Devarajan and Khemani, 2016;DFID, 2013;Kentikelenis et al, 2016;Pritchett et al, 2010). It has also been noted for its limited success in changing policy (Killick, 1997), due to factors such as backsliding and reversals, and weak impact due to donor credibility problems (Svensson, 2003).…”

“…Once decisions have been made, a third key benefit of leader agency is accountability for those decisions. Accountability strengthens the principal-agent relationships between leaders and society (Devarajan and Khemani, 2016;Page and Pande, 2018;World Bank, 2016.…”

“…Green says that the "second current within the pessimistic camp focuses on supporting an 'enabling environment' of transparency and access to information, rather than engaging with particular political processes", and is illustrated by the argument of Devarajan and Khemani (2016), who say that:…”

Civil Society and Civic Engagement in a Time of Change

“…According to the World Bank, the key to achieving good governance is first to obtain 'good governments', which are led by effective political leaders. Thus, civil society and the development sector should concentrate their efforts on enabling environments that promote the selection of good political leadership at all administrative levels, by providing the public with specific, reliable and impartial information on the performance of leaders (Devarajan and Khemani 2016). This 'technical' fix is clearly not enough, however, given that politics is, by definition, political.…”