Governance, Power and Participation

Our research on governance, power relations, participation and citizen engagement, informs change processes in pursuit of social justice and social change. With power and politics central to our analysis, we support the generation of new evidence that contributes to improved processes for good governance, citizen engagement, empowerment and accountability.

We pioneer new ways of working with governments, communities, activists and academics, to understand the complex relationships and processes that exist across states, markets, and citizens, and between formal and informal institutions, to tackle issues such as digital inequalities, women’s participation and empowerment, decentralisation and local governance, rapid urbanisation, migration, taxation and domestic resource mobilisation, food security and hunger and nutrition. These draw on our extensive expertise in complex approaches to how change happens.  Through our research and policy partnerships we are also bringing new insights on the role that rising powers and emerging economies such as China and Brazil have in relation to global governance and tackling development challenges such as sustainability and poverty.  Our world-renown participatory research has a particular emphasis on systematic social exclusion facing women, people living in extreme poverty, people with disabilities, slaves bonded labourers, indigenous peoples and others. We advance cutting edge methodological development in action research, participatory visual methods, participatory mapping, participatory statistics, participatory Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) amongst others.

People

Danny Burns

Professorial Research Fellow

Anuradha Joshi

Director of Research

Shandana Khan Mohmand

Cluster leader and Research Fellow

Miguel Loureiro

Research Fellow

Patta Scott-Villiers

Research Fellow

Mariz Tadros

Director (CREID)

Rosemary McGee

Research Fellow

Mick Moore

Professorial Fellow

Programmes and centres

Recent work

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Showing 37–48 of 15274 results

News

MEPCCC closing reflections: strategies for preserving heritage

On 25 February 2025, the University of Duhok hosted a conference titled ‘Preserving Cultural Heritage in Kurdistan - Iraq’. This event, organised in collaboration with the Institute of Development Studies, marked the end of the Middle East People’s Culture Conservation Collective (MEPCCC)...

15 April 2025

Opinion

The evil eye and the needle: preserving cultural heritage

Deq (Arabic: دەق) or xal (Kurdish: خاڵ) are the Arabic and Kurdish words for tattoo respectively. Traditional Deq (tattoo) or Xal has long been a part of cultural heritage in Kurdistan and Iraq, it is shared by multiple ethnic and religious groups in Kurdistan, such as Yazidis, Shabaks,...

Harzhin Mohammed Saadi (Student, University of University of Duhok)
Hussein Jameel Ahmed (Student, University of University of Duhok)

15 April 2025

Opinion

Ghana’s e-levy: 3 lessons from the abolished mobile money tax

The first budget speech of Ghana’s new government on 11 March painted a picture of an economy in crisis, facing high debt and fiscal mismanagement. The finance minister, Cassiel Ato Forson, acknowledged that key International Monetary Fund performance targets would be missed and announced...

Max Gallien
Max Gallien & 2 others

15 April 2025

Opinion

Anti-caste commitments in UK higher education: A call to action

Research on and in the Indian subcontinent has historically been embroiled in the same caste power dynamics of the environments that scholars attempt to study. Development, both as a practice and as a field of knowledge, including within UK Higher Education (HE), remains dominated by...

Aarti Rajput
Aarti Rajput & 3 others

14 April 2025

Opinion

The mirage of a sole appropriate evaluation design

How might evaluation research respond to the complex and emergent nature of holistic community-led development? What does an equitable living partnership between evaluators and researchers, funders and programme implementers look and feel like? What are the highs and lows of navigating...

Marina Apgar
Marina Apgar & 2 others

14 April 2025

Opinion

Humanitarian crisis in Myanmar after the earthquake: Challenges under the military junta

On 28 March 2025, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit central Myanmar, a country going through a civil war and an already worsening humanitarian crisis under the military junta. The earthquake was the most powerful earthquake to hit Myanmar in decades, causing widespread devastation across...

Anonymous, former IDS student from Myanmar

14 April 2025

Working Paper

Politicisation and the Role of Business in Trade Negotiations

IDS Working Paper 620

The changing geo-political landscape has shifted focus from generalised normative preferences in trade policy towards more realist goals that seek to create the best advantage for a country under given circumstances. Consequently, as trade issues have become linked to polarised debates including...

Amrita Saha
Amrita Saha & 3 others

11 April 2025

News

Calls to prioritise climate finance as global budgets squeezed

IDS researchers are calling for a renewed focus on climate finance commitments to support adaptation and loss for those worst impacted by climate change, amid widespread cuts to development budgets. One researcher describes recent Official Development Assistance (ODA) funding cuts to climate...

10 April 2025

Past Event

Dynamics of far-right transnationalisation in Europe

Hear Manuela Caiani, Associate Professor in Political Science at the Scuola Normale Superiore discuss how far-right political movements and ideas are spreading internationally. The transnationalisation of illiberal parties and social movements is increasingly evident in Europe. Not only do they...

10 April 2025

Why learn with us.

In an extraordinary time of challenge and change, we use more than 50 years of expertise to transform development approaches that create more equitable and sustainable futures. The work you do with us will help make progressive change towards universal development; to build and connect solidarities for collective action, locally and globally. The University of Sussex has been ranked 1st in the world for Development Studies for the past five years (QS World University Rankings by Subject).

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