Brian Levy

Working with the Grain (eBook, ePUB)

Integrating Governance and Growth in Development Strategies

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

The development discourse has long been dominated by best practices prescriptions for reform, but these are not a useful way of responding to the governance ambiguities of the early 21st century. Working with the Grain draws on both innovative scholarship and Brian Levy's quarter century of experience at the World Bank to lay out an alternative-a practical, analytically grounded, "with-the-grain" approach to reducing poverty and addressing weaknesses in governance. Best practice prescriptions confuse the goals of development with the journey of getting from here to there. A strong rule of law, capable and accountable governments, and a flexible, level playing field business environment are indeed desirable end points. But the ability to describe well-governed states does not conjure them into existence. If the only available actions are all or nothing, then efforts at change will almost certainly fall short, leading to disillusion and despair. By contrast, this book takes as its point of departure the realities of a country's economy, polity and society, and directs attention towards the challenges of initiating and sustaining forward development momentum. The book: -- distinguishes among four broad groups of countries, according to whether polities are dominant or competitive, and whether institutions are personalized or impersonal -- identifies alternative options for governance and policy reform-top down options which endeavor to strengthen formal institutions, and options supporting the emergence of "islands of effectiveness" -- explores how to identify entry points for change where there is a good fit between divergent country contexts and alternative options for reform. Sometimes the binding constraint to forward movement can be institutional, making governance reform the priority; at other times, the priority can better be on inclusive growth. Taking the decade-or-so time horizon of practitioners, the aim is to nudge things along-seeking gains that initially may seem quite modest but sometimes can give rise to a cascading sequence of change for the better.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Oxford University Press
• Seitenzahl: 272
• Erscheinungstermin: 28. August 2014
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9780190206864
• Artikelnr.: 44768555

Autorenporträt

Brian Levy has a sustained track record of both thought leadership and hands-on experience. At the World Bank (where he worked for over two decades), he led the program to scale up support for public sector reform in Africa, and subsequently co-led the effort to mainstream governance and anti-corruption into the organization's operational programs. He has published widely on the interactions between institutions, political economy and development policy. He received his Ph.D in economics from Harvard University in 1983. He currently is on the faculties of the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Cape Town.

Inhaltsangabe

Acknowledgements
Prelude
Part I: Concepts - a Dynamic Typology
Chapter 1: The Search for a Useful Development Paradigm
Chapter 2: Constructing a Typology
Chapter 3: The Edge of Chaos
Part II: Countries - the Typology in Action
Chapter 4: The Dominant Trajectory in Action
Chapter 5: Personalized Competition in Action
Chapter 6: Virtuous Circles in Action
Chapter 7: Patterns of Governance and Growth
Part III: Addressing Governance Constraints
Chapter 8: Function versus Form in Public Sector Reform
Chapter 9: Transparency and Participation - Getting the Fit Right
Chapter 10: Multi-Stakeholder Governance and the Private Sector
Part IV: Development Strategies - The Governance Dimension
Chapter 11: Governance and Development - Deconstructing the Discourse
Chapter 12: Navigating the Development Knife-Edge
Bibliography
Index