Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)

Controlling groundwater use has become one of the most urgent and difficult issues in common-pool resource governance. This article analyses an aquifer contract in Morocco as an innovative, participatory approach to the problem. Cleaver’s concept of institutional bricolage allows us to understand how its implementation affected and interacted with existing social institutional arrangements for water use. The findings confirm that an awareness of insufficient rules is a precondition for new governance arrangements. They reveal how power relations and social institutions influenced the implementation of the aquifer contract. Finally, they show how social and cultural affiliations shape the implementation.

The rising importance of cities, states and regions, firms, investors, and other subnational and non-state actors in global and national responses to climate change raises a critical question: to what extent does this climate action deliver results? This article introduces a conceptual framework that researchers and practitioners can use as a template to assess the progress, implementation, and impact of climate action by sub- and non-state actors. This framework is used to review existing studies that track progress, implementation, and achievement of such climate action between 2014 and mid-2019. While researchers have made important advances in assessing the scope and future potential of sub- and non-state climate action, we find knowledge gaps around ex-post achievement of results, indirect impacts, and climate action beyond the realm of greenhouse gas reductions. Key policy insights • While we increasingly understand the scale, scope, and potential of climate action by sub- and non-state actors, we lack rigorous evidence regarding the results achieved and their broader impacts. • More information on progress and impact is essential for the credibility of sub- and non-state climate action. Policymakers need to understand which approaches are working and which are not, promoting the diffusion of best practice and creating conditions for stronger action in the future. • The proposed conceptual framework can be tailored and applied to a wide range of initiatives that target mitigation, adaptation, and other spheres of climate action. By providing a template to identify key elements of progress tracking and evaluation, the framework can help align both research and practitioner communities around the data and metrics required to understand the overall impact of climate action.

Motivation The question of industrial policy has gained prominence in the policy agenda over the last decade, despite its persistently ambiguous and incomplete definition. The lack of a firm definition is problematic because it prevents scholars and policy‐makers from comparing and monitoring the impact of industrial policy across developing countries. This vague definition also fails to account for issues that are relevant to the impact and usefulness of industrial policy in the process of economic development. Research Question What is the effect of an inadequate definition and implementation of industrial policy for structural transformation in underdeveloped economies? Methods We undertake both a critical literature review of industrial policy and a policy review, and use insights from 86 structured interviews with manufacturing businesses and government officials in Ethiopia, to illustrate how industrial policy could be more effective. Findings The article finds that there is no clear and exhaustive understanding of what the definition of industrial policy entails. In part this is also a result of a limited and incoherent use of the concept of structural transformation in the definition and policy formulation of industrial policy. Conclusions Using a case study of Ethiopia, we show how an inadequate and incoherent definition and implementation of industrial policy can lead to limited upgrading, learning and innovation in an underdeveloped economy. Policy Implications For Ethiopia, and for other underdeveloped economies, the findings imply a reconfiguration of industrial policy, rather than more industrial policy.

Motivation Close to 15 years have passed since the adoption of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, which generated unprecedented efforts to advance effective development co‐operation with a central focus on developing country ownership. Under today’s international development co‐operation realities, involving inclusive agendas, strategic divergence and increasing competition, discussions on ownership, harmonization and alignment have lost traction. Yet the practices of development co‐operation relationships show strong continuities. Purpose This special issue examines how the principle of ownership may be understood and advanced under these new conditions. National ownership is prioritized in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development yet has so far been marginalized by a predominantly piecemeal response and by the rise of “mutual benefit” co‐operation. Approach and Methods This special issue takes an inductive approach to studying specific cases and actors bearing on the challenge of understanding and advancing ownership today, in order to inform future policy and research. The contributions to this special issue mainly draw from qualitative research designs that present detailed research inquiries into specific country and actor cases, drawing from interviews, structured desk reviews of policy documents and the rich body of literature on development effectiveness. They are complemented by two contributions that respectively present quantitative research and probe the critical and post‐development literature for additional insights. Findings Findings point to an increasing prevalence of pragmatism and self‐interest among all actors, to the detriment of national ownership. Broad co‐operation agendas, a sense of urgency interpreted as a search for quick results, and more diverse, interest‐ and outcome‐driven forms of multi‐stakeholder partnerships all entail a more assertive and proactive approach on the part of external actors. Under these conditions, local initiative may either become stifled or be reasoned away. Given this, today’s dominant approaches to co‐operation raise concerns about their ethics and sustainability. Policy implications Ownership remains both a requirement and a desired outcome of international co‐operation and is key to the effective use of public funding. A key requirement to revitalizing the debate on and practice of ownership is to gather better evidence as the basis for informed scrutiny. To this end, policy‐makers need to reprioritize independent evaluation at both the individual and collective level.

Contesting schools of literature argue that trade policy issues are either highly salient or nonsalient to perspective voters. These divergent views obfuscate the fact that trade salience varies significantly over time. This study focuses on the role of citizens’ perceptions of their economic performance relative to national economic trends by combining individual pocketbook perceptions and individual sociotropic considerations of national economic performance to analyze the conditions that cause trade policy to become salient to voters. Using cross-sectional data from multiple waves of the American National Election Studies survey (1992–2012), this study shows that voters are more likely to voice an opinion on trade if they perceive their economic situation to be worse off than the national average.

This article compares UN and EU mediation practice in the Kosovo-Serbia conflict. It proposes a conceptual framework to analyze mediation effectiveness and its conditions and applies it to the UN-led Kosovo Status Talks in Vienna (2006-2007) and the ongoing EU-facilitated dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina (since 2011). The EU's relatively high degree of effectiveness compared to the UN effort can be partly explained by the application of a strategy of manipulation, drawing on the EU's strong leverage vis-à-vis both sides; partly by pointing to the conflict context which has been more favorable to mediation since 2011. At the same time, the analysis reveals that EU mediation has not led to any changes concerning Serbia's stance toward the recognition of Kosovo's independence. The continuing non-resolution of the conflict demonstrates the limits of the EU's manipulative mediation approach and points to a substantial dilemma of EU mediation.

One major objective of the German G20 presidency in 2016/17 was to promote the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are essential to addressing the collective challenges faced by the world. Without G20 countries, these challenges cannot be tackled effectively. Putting the spotlight on the 2030 Agenda in the G20 can generate peer pressure among the world’s major economies, initiate fruitful learning processes and contribute to keeping the momentum for transformative change, and achieving the SDGs as well as promoting policy coherence for sustainable development. It is, therefore, commendable that the G20 members, with the adoption of their Action Plan during the Chinese G20 Presidency, are committed to the 2030 Agenda. In this article, we analyse to what extent the German G20 Presidency, building on the achievements of the 2016 Hangzhou Summit, has been successful in leveraging the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and in which ways the G20 was able to make a difference for enhanced global cooperation. The assessment of the German G20 presidency shows that the outcome of the 2017 Hamburg Summit can hardly be considered as a great breakthrough for sustainable development. Yet the Summit does offer opportunities for real progress to promote the implementation of the 2030 Agenda if further action is taken by Member States and the follow-up G20 presidencies on the Hamburg commitments.

With the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has come a renewed global interest in ending hunger, achieving food security and preventing natural resource degradation. Despite this renewed interest and increased commitments to invest in agricultural development, there is an ongoing debate over the pathways to sustainability. The debate centres on sustainable agricultural intensification (SAI) and agroecological intensification (AEI) pathways to agricultural sustainability. Using a systematic literature review approach, this study examines the debate over AEI and SAI. This study employs a theoretical framework based on the economic, social, and ecological dimensions of sustainable agriculture within a policy and institutional space. Based on the sustainability dimensions, a discourse analytical technique is applied to unravel the debate. The results reveal that proponents of the SAI pathway are predominantly private sector actors, while support for the AEI pathway comes mainly from international donors, NGOs and civil society actors. Both pathways aim to promote food security; however, the actors differ on discourse relating to the concept of farming, the role of GMOs, the scale of operation, and land use, as well as views on the social, economic, and ecological dimensions of sustainability. Resolving these differences requires a blended sustainability approach that moves beyond the current AEI and SAI debate by acknowledging the tradeoffs and synergies of the socioeconomic and ecological dimensions of the different pathways to sustainability. Knowledge platforms will support this shift, and an enabling policy and institutional environment will provide the right incentives to promote sustainable agriculture.

This article discusses the trajectory of policy coherence for development (PCD) in the European Union (EU). In particular, it argues that the strong focus on institutional mechanisms, conceived as a way of overcoming different types of resistance, has had the effect that results achieved have by no means been commensurate with the expectations raised by the various reforms launched over the years. EU Member States have paid lip service to the importance of PCD without translating commitments into more coherent (national and supranational) policies. Moroever, an analysis of the Impact Assessment (IA)-one of the key mechanisms to promote PCD at EU level-prepared for the reform of the EU's agricultural and fisheries policies in 2011-2013 shows how bureaucratic arrangements have substantially failed to clarify the real impact of EU policies on (different types of) developing countries. The conclusion is that successful promotion of PCD is more than just having the right arguments and ensuring sufficient technical support, but is first and foremost a political undertaking. © 2016 European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes.

Our current discourse on privacy is narrowly focused on the individual and his or her right to privacy (or rather, violations thereof). This approach does not provide an adequate foundation for addressing the problems of the digital society. The main function of privacy is arguably to regulate our social, economical, and political relationships. From an ethical point of view, it is a concern that privacy invasions and profiling undermine norms of public equality that protect individual interests. The liberal challenge is that privacy protection concepts that built on individual consent, especially the right to “informational self-determination”, become ineffective as privacy evolves from an individual right to a collective good.

„Den Zugang zu erschwinglicher, verlässlicher, nachhaltiger und moderner Energie für alle sicherstellen“. So lautet der Vorschlag für das siebte Ziel nachhaltiger Entwicklung (Sustainable Development Goal – SDG). Damit knüpft SDG 7 an das 2012 von den Vereinten Nationen ausgerufene „Internationale Jahr der nachhaltigen Energien für alle“ an. Doch was ist erschwingliche, verlässliche, nachhaltige und moderne Energie? Die aktuelle Kolumne von Matthias Ruchser liefert Antworten.

Theories on conflict behaviour regard armed groups as unitary actors whose members faithfully execute the strategic decisions of their leaders. Nevertheless in reality mutinies and insubordination occur. In this paper, we argue that the faithful execution of orders depend in on the level of organizational commitment of combatants. This level can be increased with the help of four management strategies. Using a dataset based on fieldwork in Congo, we analyze the influence of each of these strategies on the level of commitment. The Bayesian analyses show that recruitment, training, and promotion has statistical reliable influence, but that providing rewards does not.

Die Unterscheidung zwischen bi- und multilateraler EZ ist oftmals nicht eindeutig möglich, vielmehr gibt es verschiedene Zwischen- und Sonderformen. Grundsätzlich gibt es zwei Sichtweisen auf das multilaterale EZ-System: 1) Die Perspektive eines funktionsfähigen „Patchwork-Ansatzes“ für globale Herausforderungen. 2) Die Perspektive eines fragmentierten und wenig leistungsfähigen multilateralen Systems. Der vorliegende Beitrag analysiert daher strukturelle Veränderungen der multilateralen EZ und die Implikationen für die Qualität von EZ. Abstract It is rarely possible in practice to draw a clear distinction between bilateral development cooperation and multilateral development cooperation, as there are a number of overlaps and special forms. Essentially, there are two perspectives on multilateral development cooperation as a system: 1) It represents a functioning “patchwork” approach to global challenges. 2) It is strongly fragmented and inefficient. It is against this backdrop that this article analyses the structural changes taking place within multilateral development cooperation and their implications for the quality of development cooperation.

Unter dem Stichwort Transformation wurde in der politikwissenschaftlichen Debatte der letzten beiden Dekaden in erster Linie Regimewandel diskutiert. Die sogenannte Transformationsforschung geht von der Annahme einer prinzipiell teleologischen Dynamik hin zur demokratischen Staatsform aus und untersucht diejenigen Faktoren, die diese Entwicklung möglichst gewaltfrei unterstützen und stabilisieren. Jedoch sind viele Prozesse politischen Wandels auf der Welt zu beobachten, die nicht in dieses Schema passen. Einige der jüngeren Staaten, die aus den zwei Wellen von Staatsgründungen im 20. Jahrhundert resultierten – der Dekolonialisierung und dem Zusammenbruch der Sowjetunion – scheinen das Modernisierungsparadigma, das eine solche Zielrichtung normativ voraussetzt, nicht zu bestätigen. Auch in Staaten mit etablierten staatlichen Institutionen, wie zum Beispiel in Lateinamerika, hat sich zum Teil nicht die gewünschte Stabilisierung demokratischer Staaten eingestellt, für die zuvor Anzeichen erkannt worden waren (Beissinger/Young 2002, Herbst 2000).

This review explores how rural economies in developing countries can provide or enhance the provision of ecosystem services (ES). It does so by analysing two categories of ES that agricultural landscapes provide, namely carbon sequestration and hydrological services. One of the major constraints that rural economies face in providing ES lies in the public-good nature of many ES, which results in their underprovision. External factors, policies, processes and institutions, and the characteristics and perceptions of ES providers are important factors that influence ES provision (ESP). Payment for ecosystem services (PES) has emerged as a promising market-based instrument to incentivise the provision of ES. This review shows that despite its theoretical appeal, there are a number of practical challenges that hamper its wider application in developing countries. Scientific uncertainty about the relations between some management practices and the generation of ES persists. This uncertainty and other challenges such as the high transaction costs, insecure land tenure, limited demand and awareness, and the lack of capacity regarding the implementation of PES need to be addressed in order to increase ESP. The main drivers for PES schemes are external to the rural economy and come from both the international and the national level. In addition, perverse incentives and weak enforcement of environmental laws need to be addressed to foster the provision of ES and PES. In order to ensure and enhance the provision of ES in rural economies, it is important to continue to apply and revisit other instruments that address the public-good problem in addition to further improving and refining PES.

The article comparatively investigates the role of religious actors in the democratization processes of five young democracies from the Catholic, Protestant, Christian-Orthodox and Muslim world, specifically in West Germany after World War II (1945-1969), in Georgia and Ukraine post-1987/9, as well as in Mali post-1987 and Indonesia after 1998. The analysis provides an overview of the roles religious actors played in the erosion of authoritarian rule, the transition to democracy and subsequent democratic consolidation processes, as well as de-democratization processes. Our three paired comparisons, including one in-country comparison, show that the condition which most affected the role of religious actors in all three phases of democratic transitions was the legal position they enjoyed vis-à-vis the political regime as well as the organizational form these actors took. Their aims, means, and the political significance of their theology were highly dependent on their de facto legal status within the state.