Alina Rocha Menocal

Overseas Development Institute | ODI · Politics and Governance

How can states and societies that are in the throes of violent conflict evolve into political orders that are more broadly inclusive and anchored in institutions, both formal and informal, that protect the interests not just of those wielding power, but also of the wide range of groups in their population at large? This is the question at the hear...

Identity is a crucial issue, both conceptual and empirical, that lies at the core of the nature of political settlements. It defines the parameters of who is included and who is excluded from a given political system, how, and why. As such, it plays an important role in shaping prospects for fragility and conflict, as well as for more peaceful, coh...

Inclusion in terms of both process (how decisions are made and who is included in that process and how and why) and outcomes (how wealth and prosperity are distributed and shared across a population and why) is a leading priority in international development, with the Sustainable Development Goals as perhaps the most ambitious articulation of this....

Over the past 30 years, the world has experienced a profound transformation, becoming both more open and more prosperous. Whereas in 1985 more than half of the countries worldwide were under authoritarian rule, most countries today are considered electoral democracies (Economist Intelligence Unit 2017). Since 1990, more than a billion people have b...

Political settlements are now at the centre of international development efforts to promote more peaceful and inclusive states and societies. This special issue brings together a collection of theoretical and empirical contributions that engage critically with the political settlement concept and the question of how to navigate inclusion, with a fo...

Evidence shows that, over the long term, states and societies with more open and inclusive institutions are more peaceful and more resilient, and tend to be better governed. What is less clear, however, is how different countries get there. This paper, published in collaboration with the UNDP, seeks to address this question by exploring institutio...

The war in Syria has created millions of refugees. It has been described as the worst humanitarian crisis since the Second World War, and has led to unprecedented demographic pressures and severe socioeconomic and political stresses in neighbouring countries. Lebanon has been one of the hardest hit. According to recent UNHCR statistics, there are m...

While governance was a considerable blind spot of the MDG framework, institutions are now at the core of the newly agreed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their ambition to eliminate extreme poverty and foster more resilient states and societies over the next 15 years. Goal 16 commits all signatory countries to “build effective, accountable...

This paper explores what political settlements are and why they are now at the centre of donor efforts to foster more peaceful and effective states and societies. Analysing available research, the paper finds that, at least in the short to medium term, more inclusive political settlements at the elite level are crucial to avoid the recurrence of vi...

Ghana has achieved remarkable progress in human development over the past 20 years while undergoing one of the most successful transitions to multi-party democracy in sub-Saharan Africa. As such, it provides a compelling example to explore the factors that have contributed to progress in both the provision of basic services (notably in health and e...

This study was commissioned by the Department for International Development (DFID) to assess the existing body of evidence on corruption. The resulting Evidence Paper aims to be an authoritative assessment of the literature on corruption. The study acts as a key source of synthesised knowledge for staff, helping inform policy narratives and program...

People across the world care deeply about governance, but some dimensions of governance emerge as more important to them than others.  People’s top priority is for governments that are honest and effective and can deliver on their needs and expectations. Political freedoms are also important, but remain secondary to concerns about performance and...

One of the most important lessons to emerge in international development over the past two decades is that institutions matter, and that behind institutions lie politics. But making this operational has proven much more difficult.  What is needed is a shift not only to think politically but also to work differently. This means asking hard-hitting...

Do people actually care about governance? Alina Rocha Menocal, Laura Rodriguez Takeuchi and Gina Bergh look for answers in global surveys.

Literature review of links between advances in gender equality, peacebuilding and statebuilding

Most countries across the developing world today are formal democracies. Imperfect as they might be, these emerging democracies are here to stay – and engaging with them more effectively is the new frontier of the developmental challenge. The process of consolidating democracies is messy, complex, and uncertain, and we should not expect miracles o...

The ERD 2013 was commissioned and published by the European Commission, and written by a team of researchers at three international development research institutes: ECDPM in Maastricht, DIE/GDI in Bonn and ODI in London. The Report aims to provide an independent contribution to the post-2015 debate by focussing on how global collective action can s...

The report explores what strategic efforts to advance human rights might involve in fragile and conflict affected settings.

For the Commonwealth Secretariat, democracy and development constitute the two main pillars of support to member countries, and it considers these two processes to be inextricably linked2 . How they are linked is not entirely straightforward, however, and it is a question that has preoccupied academics, policy-makers and members of the internationa...

This paper is intended to analyse two leading approaches that have guided international efforts to promote peace and development in conflict-afflicted fragile states since the 1990s, namely peace-building and state-building. In a relatively recent development, a growing number of donors has sought to bring these two closer together, based upon the...

20 January 2009 marked an historic moment in American history, as the nation inaugurated its first African American President, Barack Obama. But what does this mean for the rest of the world, and particularly for developing countries? The expectations of the Obama Presidency across the North and South are huge. There is great hope for a renewed mul...

A wave of democratisation swept across the developing world from the 1980s onwards. However, despite the momentous transformation that this so-called ‘Third Wave’ has brought to formal political structures in regions ranging from Africa to Asia to Latin America, only a limited number of countries have succeeded in establishing consolidated and func...

The developmental state is back at the centre of the international policy debate. But policy-makers still have much to learn from the large research-based literature on the subject. In introducing a theme issue of DPR on this subject, this article provides an overview of three central topics: the relationship between the project of building or rebu...

Long known for what observers have called its 'centralist tradition' (Véliz 1980), since the late 1980s Latin America's political landscape has undergone a transformation of considerable proportions. In a context of growing democratisation, state retrenchment, and economic restructuring, decentralisation has become the buzzword for development in t...

Under his administration (1994–2000), President Ernesto Zedillo replaced Pronasol, the targeted poverty alleviation programme created by his predecessor, with his own programme, Progresa. Pronasol had come under severe attack as a politicised federal welfare programme intended to generate votes for the PRI. In contrast, the Zedillo administration i...