Problem-driven political economy analysis holds considerable promise to help development practitioners identify what policies and strategies are most likely to succeed in addressing difficult and persistent development challenges. This volume is the result of a systematic effort to take stock of what the World Bank has learned from efforts to mainstream this approach. The eight cases presented here are good practice examples that illustrate and reflect on what the Bank has been able to achieve in this area so far. Each chapter begins with a discussion of the specific development challenge that
The evolution of the telecommunications sector is of keen interest from both a development and a political economy perspective. Telecommunications is critical to economic dynamics, to the quality of life, to social service provision, and to citizen engagement. This paper explores the political economy of telecommunications in three middle income countries - Mexico, South Africa, and Turkey. It undertakes an interpretation of the processes at work through the lens of these comparative cases. It is also intended as a case study of a set of broader questions over the development process, as this is shaped by the central nexus of relations between business and state actors. The paper is specifically concerned with the following questions: how does policy change in real polities, in terms of both policy design and implementation?; how is this shaped by the underlying nature of business-state relations, and to the overall political settlement in a country?; is there a tendency for economic entrenchment in typical middle income countries?; by this the authors mean consolidation of economic activities in ways that support sustained economic rents, underpinned by various mixes of regulatory capture and market power. And what countervailing forces are there to support a more dynamic and competitive equilibrium?; how is the state understood in the context of these business-state relations?; how is it useful to deconstruct the state, and in particular, do checks and balances institutions have the autonomy to provide a check on entrenchment?; and how do these processes interact with technological change? These questions relate to the broader issue of whether governance arrangements can countervail unequal political and economic power in ways that foster inclusive development.
In a dramatic few years, South Africa shifted from being trapped in an apparently intractable conflict between a dominant white minority and an oppressed black majority to being a democratic state with an outstanding progressive liberal constitution. It moved from being the epitome of racial conflict to a model of peaceful transition. And yet, twenty years later, the cracks in the settlement are all too clear and the risks of internal conflict are growing. The transition is truncated. ; The paper was prepared under the umbrella of the DFID-funded and University of Manchester-led global comparative Effective States and Inclusive Development (ESID) research program – South Africa is one of the countries targeted for comparative ESID research -- as an analytical platform for more in-depth, targeted research. The ESID program has provided funding for in-depth research on the politics and governance of basic education in South Africa, and for research on business-state relations in South Africa (both part of a broader multi-country comparative study); and for some initial case studies on the politics and governance of infrastructural state-owned enterprises. We thank Anthony Black, Dave Kaplan and Nicoli Nattrass for their helpful comments.
Uses cutting edge and multidisciplinary approaches to analyse the politics of service provision and serves as a model for how similar research can be conducted in other countries and sectors - An in-depth, microlevel analysis that develops the high-profile South African discourse on the interaction between governance and policy - Systematically anchored in innovative thinking on how to achieve gains in politically complex settings
Uses cutting edge and multidisciplinary approaches to analyse the politics of service provision and serves as a model for how similar research can be conducted in other countries and sectors - An in-depth, microlevel analysis that develops the high-profile South African discourse on the interaction between governance and policy - Systematically anchored in innovative thinking on how to achieve gains in politically complex settings.
This paper synthesises the findings of research on the politics and governance in South Africa, undertaken at multiple levels, and using multiple methods. The research explored two core questions: how politics and background institutions influence educational bureaucracies; and the relative merits of hierarchical and horizontal governance. South Africa's institutional arrangements provide a 'natural experiment' for analysing these questions. While policymaking, the regulatory framework and resourcing are uniform nationally, responsibility for implementation is delegated to the country's nine provinces, which differ substantially from one another, both politically and institutionally. The Western Cape emerges as a strong performer relative to other South African provinces. However, econometric analysis confirms that, notwithstanding strong bureaucracy and abundant resources, its outcomes were below those achieved in Kenya. The institutional arrangements also assign substantial responsibilities 'horizontally' to school governing bodies, where parents are in the majority. School-level case studies detail how in the Western Cape a combination of strong bureaucracy and weak horizontal governance can result in unstable patterns of internal governance, and sometimes a low-level equilibrium of mediocrity. In the Eastern Cape, pro-active engagement on the part of communities and parents sometimes serves as a partial institutional substitute – supporting school-level performance even where the broader governance environment is dysfunctional.
This book brings together scholars from multiple disciplines to explore how political and institutional context influences the governance of basic education in South Africa at national, provincial, and school levels. A specific goal is to contribute to the crucial, ongoing challenge of improving educational outcomes in South Africa. A broader goal is to illustrate the value of an approach to the analysis of public bureaucracies, and of participatory approaches to service provision which puts politics and institutions at centre stage. Stark differences between the Eastern Cape and Western Cape provinces offer something of a natural experiment for exploring the influence of context. The Eastern Cape's socio-economic, political, and institutional legacy resulted in a low-level equilibrium trap in which incentives transmitted from the political to the bureaucratic levels reinforced factionalized loyalty within multiple patronage networks, and which is difficult to escape. The Western Cape, by contrast, enjoyed a more supportive environment for the operation of public bureaucracy. However, bureaucracy need not be destiny. The research also shows that strong hierarchy can result in 'isomorphic mimicry'—a combination of formal compliance and a low-level equilibrium of mediocrity. Participatory school-level governance potentially can improve outcomes—as a complement to strong bureaucracies, or as a partial institutional substitute where bureaucracies are weak. Whether this potential is realized depends on the relative strength of developmentally oriented and predatory actors, with the outcomes not fore-ordained by local context, but contingent and cumulative—with individual agency by stakeholders playing a significant role.
Few concepts have captured the imagination of the conflict and development communities in recent years as powerfully as the idea of a 'political settlement'. At its most ambitious, 'political settlements analysis' (PSA) promises to explain why conflicts occur and states collapse, the conditions for their successful rehabilitation, different developmental pathways from peace, and how to better fit development policy to country context. Yet despite the meteoric rise of the term and its tremendous promise, not all is well in the world of PSA. Rival definitions of the concept abound; there are disagreements about its scope and the way it should be used; a growing schism between conflict specialists and economists; basic concepts are ambiguous; and little progress has been made on measurement. This book consequently has three main aims. The first is to argue for a revised definition of a political settlement, capable of unifying its diverse strands. The second is to put the concept on a more solid theoretical and scientific footing, providing a method for measuring and categorizing political settlements, using both qualitative case studies and a large-n statistical analysis to illustrate its potential. And the third is to examine the implications of the findings for mainstream social science analysis and for policymakers.
