Institute of Development Studies

8 June 2011 - Chris Vanja

Should the governance of poor developing countries be based on mimicking what works in advanced capitalist democracies? Of course not. Yet for twenty years 'good governance' has meant exactly that.

The Africa Power and Politics Programme (APPP) is working to change this by building up a solid evidence base and robust arguments about what works in context in Africa and what doesn't.

Some of the interim results of this work have been brought together in an issue of the IDS Bulletin which was recently launched during a public seminar at the Overseas Development Institute in London. The seminar provided an opportunity for those with an active interest in African governance issues to debate APPP's diagnosis and findings, share related ideas and consider the way forward.

At the event, IDS Research Associate Richard Crook (who also leads the APPP's research stream on local justice provision) and David Booth, the Programme Director, presented their thoughts on the policy implications of the research results to date. They challenged the convention that the best way to facilitate development in Africa is through importing Western-style notions of 'good governance' and suggested that the kinds of governance institutions which work in Africa are those which are a 'best fit' with local cultures and practices. While they acknowledged that this approach presents donors with a difficult message to sell to their domestic public, they also argued that there is no substitute for working with the political realities of the local context in each country.

Multimedia

• Listen to reactions from participants at the launch
• Listen to the full presentation and debate