China's emergence as a primary development partner in Africa has positioned state-led capitalism as a potent, albeit contested, alternative to the Washington Consensus. While the model's replicability is widely debated, the perspectives of international development practitioners who mediate between global norms and local policy remain largely overlooked. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with international development specialists, this study evaluates the perceived applicability and implications of the Chinese model through the lenses of developmental state, dependency, and norm localization theories. The findings reveal predominantly cautious optimism among respondents, with most expressing generally positive views about the potential of state capitalism. Participants identify weak state capacity and elite capture as primary structural barriers, reinforcing the developmental state theory's emphasis on bureaucratic autonomy as a precondition for success. The analysis reveals other constraints: African states face continued dependency on Western capital markets alongside emerging risks from Chinese lending. Ultimately, rather than direct replication, respondents advocate for context-sensitive hybridity. This suggests that the potential diffusion of state capitalism across Africa will likely result in localized variants rather than a wholesale institutional shift.
Jharkhand has long been a land of struggle and contestation for the Adivasi people. Their movements have taken different forms over time and have been understood in many ways. From the early days of British rule, the region saw strong opposition to colonial authority, and this spirit of resistance continued after Independence, though the focus of the struggle kept changing. The idea of a separate Jharkhand state first appeared in the early twentieth century and carried forward into post-colonial India, finally becoming a reality in 2000, though in a compromised existence. Yet, the central concerns that gave rise to the Jharkhand movement, both under colonial rule and in independent India, were never fully addressed. After 1947, with the push for developing the country and uplifting its impoverished population, large areas of land and displacements were taken over for industries and projects. These experiences often found expression in protests against outsiders and in the continuing demand for domicile policies. This paper explores how the idea of identity in Jharkhand has been shaped through the interaction between the state and the notion of indigeneity, tracing this relationship from the colonial period to post-colonial India.
We explore how the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) approaches climate change as ecocide. Premised upon a joined-up zemiological and social policy ('What's the Problem Represented to Be?') approach, our work undertakes a thematic analysis of CVF documents to unpack representations of climate change as ecocide and their links to the CVF's climate diplomacy. We differentiate between climate change as ecocide-as-law and climate change as ecocide-as-harm to capture both dimensions of the evolving scholarly debate on representations of climate change as ecocide and dissect the CVFs' climate priorities. Our findings show that the CVF approaches climate change mainly as ecocide-as-harm. The quest for climate justice lies at the center of CVF representations of climate change as ecocide, informing the CVF's climate diplomatic compass with funding to rectify loss and damage, technology and capacity transfer, ambition raising and a just transition emerging as fundamental means to redress this climate injustice. While climate change is associated with vulnerable states' breach of sovereignty and human rights, the CVF falls short of conceptualizing climate change as ecocide-as-law and advocating for a law of ecocide. Our work is the first to apply a criminological and social policy lens and conduct empirical research in the CVF climate diplomacy, thus adding to the breadth and depth of criminological and policy-focused climate change scholarship in the Global South and contributing fresh insights regarding the CVF's climate standing.
Metaphors are very common in the field of development. Some have to do with economic growth: most obviously, the concept of 'take-off', implying an analogy with an aeroplane rising into the sky. Some have to do with the distribution of economic benefits: the notorious 'trickle-down' effect, for example. In the field of development assistance, more specifically, there are several metaphors which imply that a small input by the aid donor will result in a disproportionate return: for example, the notion of a 'catalyst'. Metaphors such as these exert considerable power over the development discourse, and they have a real influence on policy. But they are misleading - because they are not well-founded in empirical experience. Worst of all is the core metaphor of 'development' itself, which implies that growth has no bounds. These metaphors all display unjustified optimism regarding the associated policy outcomes. I call this 'culpable optimism' because the outcomes are suffered not by the proponents of the policies but by others distant in space or time.
This article revisits the history of knowledge production in international rural development during the 1960s and 1970s. It contrasts desk-bound and field-based approaches to show, in historical perspective, how development knowledge was produced, contested, and shaped by shifting institutional and geopolitical contexts. Drawing on archival sources from the International Labor Organization, it traces how forms of knowledge emerging in this period connect with current decolonial and post-development thought. Specifically, the article examines technocratic, comparative surveys of rural organizations on a global scale alongside itinerant fieldwork conducted in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Both approaches faced bureaucratic inertia, political constraints, and the fragility of knowledge in the making. Moving beyond abstract critiques of Western epistemic dominance, the article foregrounds the material, improvised, and uneven character of development knowledge. The later turn of some researchers to what would now be called decolonial critique illustrates how development practitioners themselves began to question the foundations of their work. In doing so, the article offers a more grounded and historically situated account of rural development knowledge, unpacking the abstractions that both practitioners and scholars have often taken for granted.
To accomplish rapid economic growth, the Ethiopian government has prioritized industrial expansion, including the increase of cement factories across the country. Although these projects promise progress, they have also displaced smallholder farmers and placed several health and environmental burdens on nearby communities. This article explores the lived experiences of residents living near the Kuyu Cement Factory in Ethiopia's Oromia region, where persistent exposure to dust and industrial emissions put their health and environment at risk. Drawing on fieldwork in the Kuyu district, the study reveals how uncontrolled industrial operations have reduced agricultural yields, weakened livestock, depleted natural resources, and degraded the local environment. The study also explores how farmers who lost land responded to pollution through strategies of adaptation and resistance, highlighting their constrained agency in the face of state-led industrial development. By advancing the concept of accumulation by pollution, this article shows how industrial contamination functions as a mechanism of rural dispossession, reshaping land access, livelihoods, and health among smallholder farmers. The findings indicate that these impacts are not accidental but stem from development plans that prioritize economic growth over local well-being, public health, and ecological justice. By linking pollution directly to rural household experiences and constrained agency, this study contributes empirically and conceptually to debates on environmental justice in the Global South and underscores the need for development policies that protect both people and ecosystems they depend on.
This article examines how the current global strategic competition influences the role of Global South, particularly Africa and Latin America, in critical mineral supply chains for the energy transition. The article argues that, despite emerging upgrading strategies, particularly in parts of Latin America, geopolitical competition has not fundamentally altered the structural asymmetries shaping Africa's and Latin America's insertion into global mineral supply chains. This exploratory study adopts a qualitative methodological approach, using comparative case studies to examine both regions' positions, focusing on China's role in both territories. It draws on primary sources and secondary literature to evaluate patterns of insertion, domestic impacts, and geopolitical alignments. The article builds on critical International Relations concepts, such as dependency and neo-extractivism, combined with diversification and de-risking, to understand the structural asymmetries that persist in resource governance, along with more recent global dynamics.
Broadly stated, diversity has a double-edged effect on development, both hindering and facilitating. It hinders development due to problems of plurality, such as incompatibility of interests and policy disagreements. On the other hand, diverse views, values, and problem-solving methods can foster creativity and innovation. An inclusive institution that values diversity and transforms differences into an asset, and one that contributes to mutual thriving, is crucial for multiethnic settings. A system based on shared identity and complementarities can be instrumental for this purpose. The mounting ethnic hostilities among six ethnic groups in the Konso-Derashe-Alle area, caused mainly by resource and administrative issues, worsen an already poor socio-economic condition of the people in the area. Despite the growing enmity, the groups share vast sociocultural and economic values and complementarities on which a cooperative system can be built. While the shared identities include shared myth of origin, inter-ethnic clan identification, and transethnic common norms of governance among others, the complementarities include common local markets, specialization-based economic transactions, and common resource niches. Given these, the study concludes that the groups in the study area are tied through shared values, common fate, and economic interdependence. To this end, the study recommends a shared society system, an inclusive system that fosters shared and complementary spaces for the groups' mutual economic thriving and interdependence.
The demand for global governance is increasing, based on the growing global, indeed, planetary challenges we are facing. Two prominent challenges are climate change, inequality and underdevelopment. Neither the Paris Agreement nor the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are in the process of being successfully implemented according to plan. Those failures will generate fundamentally negative, if not catastrophic, consequences. It should not be explicitly stated that there is no progress at all, but progress in both global governance strategies is failing to reach their targets in time or at all. Adding to this challenge is the fact that the basis for global governance, multilateralism, faces increasing challenges; to what extent we are heading towards an international system characterised by bilateral relations centred on individual dominant states and where the perception of a global 'together' is replaced by a perception of national individualism, further increasing the pressure on developing countries as they attempt to address the challenges of development and climate change.
Following the 2023 war in Gaza, the humanitarian system became paralyzed in the face of unprecedented realities. This study aims to investigate the system-level causes that led to the failure of humanitarian action in Gaza amid the dominance of Western models over humanitarian space. By employing a qualitative methodology, the study is grounded in semi-structured interviews, and it draws analytically on Hugo Slim's model of humanitarian idealism and realism. It also engages with critical perspectives in the interpretation of the data, particularly those related to critical humanitarianism. The article suggests that the failure stems from a profound disjuncture between humanitarian system's ideals and crisis-related realities, rooted in power imbalances, un-humanitarian agendas and self-perception illusions of humanitarian actors, and dehumanization practices against Palestinians living in Gaza. The study concludes by summarizing the key findings and deliberating the implications for future research.
In this special issue introduction, we use the 2024 Indian national elections as our entry point for critically assessing the configuration and direction of Hindu nationalism as a hegemonic project under Modi 3.0 - a project that has forged an intimate connection between neoliberal accumulation strategies and 'Hindutva' as a vehicle for ideological legitimation. Rather than seeking to determine whether the elections mark a setback or a consolidation for Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), we ask how and to what effect they signal a more profound geographical and sociological relocation of the wider Hindu nationalist project. Working with the notion of 'relocations', we seek to capture the simultaneous yet uneven contraction and expansion of Hindutva's footprint across multiple geographies and demographic categories, both prior to and after 2024. Drawing on the granular state-level analyses contained in the contributions to this special issue, we argue that while contemporary Hindu nationalist politics displays a considerable degree of flux, fluidity, and in some cases even vulnerability, its unfolding relocations in crucial ways contribute to the continued reproduction of Hindu nationalist hegemony under Modi 3.0.
This paper examines the role of self-help groups (SHGs) in advancing local economic development (LED) in Ghana's informal settlements, using evidence from the Ghana federation of the urban poor/partners (GHAFUP). While SHGs have historically been associated with microfinance and savings, this study highlights their broader developmental contributions. Drawing on insights from forty-five (45) respondents, the findings reveal that SHGs foster social capital, promote skills development, create income-generating opportunities, and enhance economic empowerment, especially for women and marginalized groups. By situating SHGs within LED frameworks, the study underscores their potential as grassroots institutions that bridge community initiatives with broader development agendas. The paper concludes that SHGs are vital catalysts for inclusive, sustainable, and community-driven economic transformation.
This study critically examines the cost-efficiency of three cash transfer delivery models in Tanzania's Social Cash Transfer Programmes (SCTPs): the digital and physical payments in this context referred to as a mixed-method approach used by the government-run Productive Social Safety Net (PSSN) programme in an urban setting, and the community-led physical payment employed by the non-state Universal Pension Pilot (UPP) programme in rural areas. Using the Cost Transfer Ratio (CTR) as a measure of administrative efficiency, the analysis reveals that despite relying on low-tech physical payment, the UPP's community-led physical payment outperforms the PSSN's mixed approach. While electronic transfers under the PSSN account for only 5 per cent of administrative costs, their overall efficiency is weakened by the inclusion of physical payments, resulting in a combined CTR of 12 per cent. In contrast, UPP's streamlined physical payment achieves a lower CTR of 9.8 per cent, illustrating that locally adapted models can outperform mixed approaches in certain contexts. Furthermore, cost projections indicate that fully digitising payments in urban PSSN areas could generate substantial savings and expand programme coverage, suggesting that digital delivery mechanisms are most viable in settings with robust financial infrastructure and widespread digital access. This study contributes to the literature by demonstrating that delivery efficiency depends on contextual fit rather than on digitalisation alone.
This article explores the changing political dynamics of Karnataka following the 2024 general elections. In 2024, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coalition comprised of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal Secular party, which together represent the interest of the state's dominant caste groups including Brahmins, Lingayats and Vokkaligas. This was necessitated by the Indian National Congress' dominant showing in the 2023 state elections, attributed to its coalition of religious minorities, backward castes and Dalits. This paper will show that despite its success in the 2024 elections, the NDA coalition has not yet been fully consolidated. It further argues that the dynamics of contemporary politics in Karnataka may challenge its long-term sustainability. The article argues that to consolidate this coalition, caste-based campaigning will likely now dominate state-level politics centred around questions of welfare and affirmative action. Communal issues, which marked the previous BJP government's term in office, will be restricted to parts of the state where it remains socially and politically beneficial.
This paper analyses the growth-inequality-poverty nexus in Tanzania. We provide a unique long-term study covering six decades of Tanzanian independence and disentangle the competing narratives concerning growth, inequality, and poverty in the country. We do this by carefully assessing the existing - and at times contradictory - data on growth, inequality, and poverty and by introducing the inequality extraction ratio, which has so far received little attention in the development literature. Contrary to the popular belief that inequality is bad for growth, our analysis shows that the role of inequality in the development process is ambiguous. Observed levels of income inequality in developing country contexts are difficult to interpret and while income inequality in Tanzania was generally low, this was due limited inequality possibilities rooted in low levels of average incomes. Instead of relying on pre-determined assumptions concerning the interrelations between growth, inequality, and poverty, we point to the role of policy as the key element determining how these interrelations manifest.
This study aims to analyse the determinants of success and failure in the management of solar energy-based International Development (ID) projects. This article approaches the links among technical and social issues on the sustainability of the project. Incorporating concepts from the Capability Approach (CA), the article identifies the crucial conversion factors through which project components con-tribute to the achievement of capabilities and functionings, thereby fostering project success. Our findings suggest that social conversion factors are paramount in determining project success or failure and, crucially, its long-term sustainability. Furthermore, beneficiaries' expectations regarding the attainment of a broad set of capabilities emerge as a key success factor. This analysis offers valuable insights for enhancing project management, providing transferable lessons for their diagnosis, formulation, and evaluation.
The BJP successfully expanded its vote-share in Odisha by focusing on regional pride - a strategy successfully tested in Gujarat and elsewhere before. The broader promise of dignity within a Hindu nationalist framework was supplemented with a strong regional flavour under the banner of 'Odia pride'. In doing so, the BJP clearly benefitted from a gross misjudgment on the side of Naveen Patnaik, who presented an able, but non-Odia bureaucrat as his likely successor. This enabled the BJP to move beyond a reliance on 'Modi magic' alone to also forcefully exploit historically deep-rooted anti-southerner sentiments, branding Tamils as outsiders and evoking tropes from the heyday of Odia nationalism. The party presented itself as the true guardian of Jagannath and constantly referred to the Lord who, as a multivalent symbol, embodies a regional identity, but is also deeply entrenched in the Hindu pantheon and has well-known Adivasi roots. Rather than foregrounding Lord Ram as is so often done in north Indian contexts, in Odisha, the party embraced Lord Jagannath and continues to do so post-elections. Given the diverse composition of Odishan society and the many different interests at work, the party also skillfully drafted strategies that addressed issues such as women's empowerment and the symbolic recognition of Adivasi communities. And, post-election the BJP offered leading government positions to members of ST communities to further cultivate this constituency. This simultaneous and successful appeal to the pride of Hindus, Odias and Adivasis was of key importance to the strong performance of the BJP.
The complex interplay of geography, ethnicity, and power dynamics in diverse societies often leads to the marginalization of certain groups, impacting overall social and economic development. This study aims to analyse the socio-political exclusion of Gujjar and Pahari communities in Jammu and Kashmir, examining how affirmative action policies like Scheduled Tribe status impact inter-group relations and overall social equity. The research employs a comparative case study approach, utilizing census data, field surveys, and qualitative interviews to assess the multidimensional marginalization of these communities. The study reveals that geographic isolation, economic exploitation, and limited access to education and healthcare perpetuate the marginalization of both Gujjar and Pahari communities. The quest for Scheduled Tribe status has paradoxically intensified inter-group conflicts, highlighting the complexities of recognition-based identity politics. Affirmative action policies need to be redesigned with a nuanced, evidence-based approach that considers unique historical, cultural, and geographical contexts. Comprehensive strategies addressing spatial, economic, and cultural dimensions of exclusion are necessary for genuine inclusion and equitable development.
The Maharashtra 2024 Lok Sabha election was in sync with the national verdict. This result was shaped by national issues, such as the BJP's communal rhetoric, which targeted Muslims, and its 'hidden agenda' of changing the Indian constitution, effectively countered by MVA with the slogan 'save the constitution.' Along with this, local issues were crucial in deciding the outcomes of these elections. BJP had been instrumental in engineering a split in two regional parties - Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party. The elite Marathas supporting MVA joined hands not just to maintain their dominance; they also threw their weight behind the Dalit candidates. The inability of the Mahayuti government to fulfil the demand of Maratha reservation also turned Marathas against the NDA. However, the consolidation of the Marathas could not have brought victory to MVA without the Dalit, Muslim, and Tribal support. The export duty levied on onions, land acquisition for various infrastructure development projects, inflation, and unemployment were some of the material issues that turned the electorate against Mahayuti. However, six months later, the Mahayuti made a forceful comeback by successfully mobilising OBCs and neutralising the Marathas' unrest and by implementing a welfare scheme of financial assistance to women. Political analysts also argued that there was a dent in the Muslim support for MVA, which had been overwhelming in the Lok Sabha elections. All in all, the BJP and its allies were back in the game and formed the government in Maharashtra.
