In Pursuit of Development

In many parts of the African continent, there are so many roadblocks that it is indeed very hard to find a road that does not  have one. But what is the point of having so many roadblocks that are often viewed by travellers to cause considerable inconvenience? In a brilliant new book —  Roadblock Politics: The Origins of Violence in Central Africa –  Peer Schouten maps over a thousand roadblocks i...

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has already caused untold suffering to millions of people and upended the global order as we know it. The international community, apart from a few exceptions, has been largely united in its condemnation of this attack on a sovereign country’s ability to decide its own future. And several sanctions have thus far been imposed on Russia, many of which also target Preside...

In global development, ideas have power and some ideas or concepts such as social capital, human development, the informal sector, and sustainable development have been highly influential. The development agenda also includes metaphors that can shape how we think and hence how we act.  Professor Desmond James McNeill has worked extensively on issues related to global governance, aid, and sustainab...

There is a great deal of attention these days on the backlash against democracy around the world. In a forthcoming book, Democratic Backsliding in Africa? Autocratization, Resilience, and Contention , my guest Lise Rakner and her two co-authors (Leonardo R. Arriola and Nicolas van de Walle) conclude that the African continent’s democratic experience over the past two decades largely reflects statu...

Pranab Bardhan is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. He has undertaken pioneering research on international trade, the political economy of development policies, decentralised governance, and the political economy of development in China and India. His latest book, A World of Insecurity: Democratic Disenchantment in Rich and Poor Countries ,...

Joseph S. Nye  is the University Distinguished Service Professor, Emeritus and former Dean of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He is the author of numerous highly influential books, including:  Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics  (2004) The Powers to Lead   (2008) The Future of Power  (2011) Is the American Century Over?  (2015) Do Morals Matter? Presidents a...

As India’s stature across the globe increases, there is considerable interest in better understanding how its foreign policy is likely to evolve. In a new book – India and Asian Geopolitics: The Past, Present – Shivshankar Menon examines India’s foreign and security policy choices through history, with a particular focus on India’s responses to the rise of China and other regional powers.  Shivsha...

Ine Eriksen Søreide served as Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2017 to 2021 – the first woman in the country’s history to hold the position. She represents the Conservative Party and is the current Chair of the Norwegian Parliament’s  Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence . Between 2013 and 2017, she served as Minister of Defense.  Ine's official Facebook page Norway’s Role an...

Jeffrey D. Sachs is University Professor at Columbia University in New York. He was the Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University (2002-2016) and currently heads the Center for Sustainable Development . He is a commissioner of the UN Broadband Commission for Development, an SDG Advocate for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions...

Vijaya Ramachandran argues that blanket bans on fossil-fuel funds will entrench poverty. By pushing a renewables only model on developing countries, and expressing fear about the future emissions of these countries, including those on the African continent, rich countries such as Norway are promoting  colonialism in green.  Vijaya is an economist with extensive experience in public policy and acad...

Nic Cheeseman is Professor of Democracy at the University of Birmingham and was formerly the Director of the African Studies Centre at the University of Oxford. He works on democracy, elections and development, including election rigging, political campaigning, corruption, “fake news” and executive-legislative relations. Nic is the author or editor of ten books, including Democracy in Africa (2015...

This year’s Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov for their courageous fight for freedom of expression in the Philippines and Russia. While announcing the award, the Norwegian Nobel Committee highlighted the efforts of these two extraordinary journalists to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace. Henrik Urdal is the d...

Nanjala Nyabola , the Kenya-based writer, advocate, activist and political analyst has written a wonderful new book titled "Travelling While Black: Essays Inspired by a life on the move”. She explore show travel and migration reveal numerous aspects of race, identity politics and culture and why the world order has become hostile to human mobility. In this beautifully written book, Nanjala tackles...

Justin Yifu Lin is the  former Chief Economist of the World Bank. He is one of China’s leading economists and has worked extensively on the industrialization policies of rapidly developing countries. Justin is currently the Dean of the Institute of New Structural Economics at Peking University. At the same university, he is also the Dean of the Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development...

Bangladesh has witnessed a remarkable turnaround in recent decades. From being termed as a “basket case” by the American Under Secretary of Political Affairs in 1971, it is now frequently talked of a development success, having achieved fast economic growth and considerable poverty reduction. While Bangladesh’s per capita GDP was the tenth lowest in the world upon independence in 1971 and by 2015,...

Simone Dietrich is an Associate Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Geneva. Her research interests are in International Development, international and comparative political economy and democratization. She is a member of the EGAP network that promotes rigorous knowledge accumulation, innovation, and evidence-based policy across development domains. Prior...

Achim Steiner is UNDP Administrator. He has served across the United Nations system. He was the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Nairobi and between 2006-2016 he led the United Nations Environment Programme, where he prioritized investments in clean technologies and renewable energy. Achim has also held other notable positions including Director General of the International Union f...

Guests : Raya Ahmed is a climate justice defender from Lamu. She holds Bachelor of Science in Development Studies and is the founder of Lamu Women Alliance which is a consortium organizations under Save Lamu , championing climate justice and women’s rights. In 2019, she was awarded the Lamu County Mashujaa by Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyata,and the Shujaa Female Activist of the Year Award by MUHURI...

Tony Addison is a Professor of Economics, University of Copenhagen in the Development Economics Research Group . He was a Chief Economist and Deputy Director of UNU-WIDER in Helsinki, Finland . He was previously Professor of Development Studies, University of Manchester; Executive Director of the Brooks World Poverty Institute (BWPI), University of Manchester (from 2006-2009); and Associate Direct...

Dr. Elizabeth Chatterjee is an assistant professor of environmental history at the University of Chicago . Her research explores how non-Western energy histories disrupt conventional understandings of capitalist development, the social dynamics of climate change, and green political thought. "India and the 1.5°C warning: The power of political targets" ( The Asia Dialogue ) "The Asian Anthropocene...

Xu Qinduo is a political analyst, news columnist and an adjunct professor at Renmin University’s School of Journalism and Communication. He is also a senior fellow at the Pangoal Foundation and host of the talk show “ Dialogue Weekend ” at China Global Television Network, CGTN. He was previously posted as China Radio International’s chief correspondent in Washington, DC. Why the US and the West ar...

Katerini Storeng is an associate professor at the Centre for Development and the Environment at the University of Oslo.  She directs the interdisciplinary  Global Health Politics research group and is the Deputy Director of the Independent Panel on Global Governance for Health , an initiative to follow up the Lancet-University of Oslo Commission's agenda on the political determinants of health ine...

Welcome to season 3! Our first guest this season is Sir Paul Collier , Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government and a Professorial Fellow of St Antony’s College, University of Oxford. In 2014, Professor Collier received a knighthood for services to promoting research and policy change in Africa. Sir Paul's research covers the causes and consequences of civil w...

Welcome to the final episode of season 2. We’ve had some great guests this season and the show has attracted thousands of new listeners in large parts of the world. Thank you all for listening and for all the positive and most encouraging feedback that we have received this year. Our guest this week is Emma Mawdsley , who is a reader in human geography at Newnham College and Director of the Margar...

Many of you may have heard about instances of local communities mobilising against the construction of dams in various parts of the world. But it turns out that not all communities are able to collectively resist dam-building. So, what explains the varying degrees of community resistance against large dams? Kyungmee Kim tackles this question in a doctoral thesis that she successfully defended rece...