Institute of Development Studies

Projects and Outputs

Links will take you to further information on research projects and commissioned studies, including publications and other outputs where available online. For further information on any of the other projects, please contact the Team Administrative Coordinator.

Current Governance Research Projects

• Academic Partnership in Support of Teaching Development Aid Curriculum in Russia - IDS was commissioned by the World Bank to provide input into the implementation of the 'Russia as a Donor Initiative' (RDI) programme. (2010 - 2011)
• Analysing Nutrition Governance - The study will compare countries with strong governance indicators which are on track for reaching the MDG nutrition target with those that show insufficient progress. (Ongoing)
• Global Uncertainties: Security in an Africa of Networked, Multi-Level Governance - The programme of research centres on how the various institutions responsible for the production of security and the management of conflict in Sub-Saharan African societies do, could and should evolve in response to the presence of violent conflict. (Ongoing)
• Multi-Methods Research Course - An applied course is being developed and piloted for the new Partnership for African Social and Governance Research. (Ongoing)
• Network of Excellence for Qualitative Research in the Social Sciences in sub-Saharan Africa - This project works with three hub institutions in Africa to train a new generation of social science researchers in innovative methods and develop a training and research network for the future. (Ongoing)
• Power and Politics in Africa - This large research programme seeks to identify systems for exercising power, conducting politics and building states in sub-Saharan Africa that will offer better outcomes in terms of poverty reduction than the current arrangements. (Ongoing)
• Re-creating the State: Governance, Civil Society and Trust in Poland, Russia and Ukraine - This project is looking at tax collection, welfare distribution and environmental regulation to find out where transitional states should channel their limited resources in order to implement their policies. (Ongoing)

Recent Governance Research Projects
• Access to Justice: Legal Processes, Institutions and the Poor - The project looked at citizen security, which is a growing field in development policy that encompasses a broad range of concerns, from pure 'law and order' problems such as civil conflict and urban crime, to classic 'rule of law' issues such as security of property and contract, human rights, and access to justice. (1998 - 2000)
• Assessing the Political Feasibility of Policy Reform in the Horn of Africa - The project investigated the ways in which local political organisation, interest group power, and institutional proclivities and capacities shape the reform initiatives that are most likely to be successful. (2006 - 2007)
• Capacity Building in Social Science Education and Research - The project worked with social science researchers in Ghana and Rwanda to build their capacity in teaching and curriculum design. (2008 - 2008)
• The Capacity to Have an Effect: An Efficacy Study of the Caribbean Child Support Initiative - This study focussed on the Caribbean Child Suppor Initiative's programme concept and the perspectives of stakeholders to identify the dynamics and influences on the programme's operations and analyse the processes by which it is able to make a difference. (2009 - 2009)
• Civil Society and Governance Programme - The three-year research programme, established in April 1998 and funded by the Ford Foundation, examined the interplay between civil society and governments in 22 different countries, spanning six international regions. (1998 - 2001)
• Centre for the Future State - The Centre's mission is to harness the ideas and the research skills of applied social science researchers, in both developing and developed countries, to assist policymakers and citizens to find ways of increasing the effectiveness, accountability and responsiveness of public authority in poorer countries, and thus contribute to reducing poverty. (2000 - 2010)
• Elections and the Role of the International Community - This DFID-funded project gathered evidence from DR Congo, Kenya, Nigeria and Sierra Leone to improve the understanding of senior international policy makers and practitioners on how best to provide support before, during and after elections in contexts seeking to establish legitimate governments. (2008 - 2009)
• Global Consortium on Security Transformation - The Consortium was establishedin 2007 to share research findings and policy lessons amongst regional networks, to promote cross-regional research (South-South as well as South-North), to foster evidence-based policy dialogue and to reach out to a broad range of policy constituencies not normally considered in security analysis and policy-making. (2007 - 2009)
• Law, Democracy and Development - This work looked at how different development actors understand right-based approaches and also considered how grassroots movements use accountability structures in their campaigns on land, housing and property rights. (2001 - 2005)
• Moulsecoomb: Being Heard! - The project explored the different ways residents of Moulsecoomb, Brighton, participate in community activities, through the eyes of the participants. (2007 - 2008)
• Pro-Poor Political Change - This project considered policymaking processes in the forestry, land and primary health sectors in Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam and India to identify policy lessons for development agencies seeking to promote a pro-poor policy agenda. (2003 - 2003)
• Rights, Representation and the Poor - This programme collected evidence on how people living in mega-cities in India and Latin America interact with the political system, to test an hypothesis about a 'new politics' based in civil society. (2002 - 2005)
• Security and Justice Systems in Francophone and Anglophone Africa - This project considered the similarities and differences between the Anglophone and Francophone security and justice systems, how potential programmatic interventions need to adapt to accommodate the differences identified, and how to best facilitate a regional approach to security that accounts for the differences in national systems. (2008 - 2008)
• South-North Non-governmental Networks - This research project looked at non-governmental public actors and how they engage with multi-level policy processes which bridge Southern and Northern contexts. It also investigated the impacts and outcomes of these engagements. (2005 - 2007)
• Strengthening Democratic Governance in Conflict-Torn Societies - This programme considered the conditions under which democratic institutions in developing and transitional economies are effective in resolving social conflict, broadening political participation, and delivering development. (1998 - 2002)
• The Politics of Basic Services in Indonesia - This project looked at the political obstacles to pro-poor basic service delivery in Indonesia to see what might be done to help improve service provision for poor communities. (2009 - 2011)
• The law, legal institutions and the protection of land rights in Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire - The overall aim of the research was to investigate how law, judicial and regulatory institutions, both formal and informal, can contribute more effectively to resolving land disputes and enhancing security over the possession and use of land. (2001 - 2003)
• The New Paradox of Plenty in the Andes - This project considered whether windfall revenues in Latin American countries have improved the ability of states to produce sustainable and equitable budget allocations. (2008 - 2010)
• The Political Economy of Public Sector 'Pockets of Productivity' - This project looked at the internal and external ‘political economy’ of government agencies in poor governance countries and tested hypotheses from the literature on the factors that incline them toward becoming ‘pockets of productivity’. (2007 - 2010)
• When is Law a Force for Progressive Social Change? - The goal of this comparative study of Rural Brazil and the Philippines was to identify when the rural poor are able to use state law, through the judicial system, as an instrument for progressive social change. (2001 - 2004)