Although scholars and practitioners have identified explicit structural impediments that constrain countries' efforts to alleviate poverty and promote sustainable social development, there has been limited research conducted to identify the specific barriers to development that prevail in Pakistan today. The authors of Development Challenges Confronting Pakistan go far toward filling this    More >

Many aid agencies advocate approaches to development that are people-centered, participatory, empowering, and gender-fair. This volume explores the middle ground between such values-based approaches and the methods and techniques that the agencies adopt. Contributors argue that tools and methods will contribute to a values-based approach only if those using them have a serious commitment to a    More >

While NGOs and unions will naturally pursue diverse strategies and tactics, neither sector can afford to go it alone. The authors of Development NGOs and Labor Unions elucidate some of the underlying tensions between the two and illustrate the scope for constructive dialogue—and potential partnership—between them.    More >

Drawn from the contents of the acclaimed journal Development in Practice, this book explores such issues such as "mainstreaming" versus specialization, methodologies for incorporating gender analysis into planning and evaluation, the limitations of gender training, the unintended impacts of women-focused credit programs, and how institutional policies to promote gender equity are often    More >

Solutions to poverty and inequality are often designed, implemented, and evaluated in a top-down manner. The authors of this book turn things around, using a range of research approaches to show how social-assistance policies can be crafted to support local communities to effect positive change. Though based on studies conducted in the urban area of Doornkop, South Africa, the work applies equally    More >

For some time in diaspora studies, attention to remittances has overshadowed the growing impact of emigrant groups both within the social and political arenas in their homelands and with regard to fundamental economic development. The authors of Diasporas and Development redress this imbalance, focusing on three core issues: the responses of diasporas to homeland conflicts, strategies for    More >

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Why have so many attempts at democracy in the past half-century failed? Confronting this much discussed question, Jay Ulfelder offers a novel explanation for the coups and rebellions that have toppled fledgling democratic regimes and that continue to threaten many new democracies today. Ulfelder draws on an original dataset of 110 democratic failures spanning 1955–2007 and also presents    More >

As China enters a stage of economic reform more challenging and risky than any that has gone before, the pressure for political liberalization grows apace. This volume explores the dilemmas of this new phase of complex change. The authors—most of whom write with the insight that comes from having lived and worked within the Chinese system—analyze how the evolution of China’s    More >

Direct democracy typically is lauded for putting power in the hands of the people. But is it really as democratic as it seems? To what extent, and in what circumstances, is it less about citizen power and more about external influences seeking to manipulate outcomes? Addressing these issues, Shauna Reilly draws on and compares case studies of referendums, recall elections, and initiatives    More >