Politics, governance and management

Building more effective and inclusive institutions that can deliver development constitutes one of the most significant challenges faced by governments and communities in the Global South.

Our research on governance and management investigates the processes through which development institutions become both more effective and inclusive, across a range of key actors and organisations, including governmental and non-governmental institutions from the global through to the local.

In particular, this research theme addresses the following questions:

  • Capacity: how do governments, organisations and the individuals within them develop the capabilities required to promote a more socially just world?
  • Inclusion: how can institutions become more inclusive of and accountable to citizens and how can new technologies help this?
  • Relationships/networks: How do power relations between different groups determine the ways in which institutions emerge and function in practice and how can productive and socially just relationships be enabled and built?

Identifying innovative forms of, and approaches to, governance and management constitutes an important and cross-cutting focus of our research.

A tightly grouped crowd of people with hands in the air

Effective States and Inclusive Development

A DFID funded global partnership investigating the kinds of politics that promote development.
Stacks of shipping containers

Second Cold War Observatory

The Second Cold War Observatory seek to understand China-US competition and how it shapes societies, politics, economies, and ecologies globally.
Man in white walks along the road in Kampala, Uganda

Re-imagining the INGO and the role of global civil society

The Ringo Project is a systems change initiative that seeks to transform global civil society to respond to today’s challenges.
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ManaGlobal

This project looks at globalized governance norms and local business practices.
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Understanding the priority lifelong educational needs of the International Development Sector

This project aims to understand the educational and learning solutions that could be provided to assist in addressing challenges in the development space.
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Investigating 'pockets of effectiveness' in developing countries

An ESRC project into a new route to building state capacity for development.

Our teaching agenda

People and publications

Click on the names below to read their latest publications or read the latest publications from the Global Development Institute.

News and insights