Unit 7 - Power, Politics, Governance And Aid

Question 1

Definition of power & powerlessness

Answer 1

Power: The ability, authority or influence to pursue specific aims or interests.

Powerlessness: a state in which people are denied the ability to control crucial aspects of their lives.

Question 2

Power can be broken into 4 forms:

Answer 2

1. To - the ability to get things done
2. Over - the ability to control, dominate or direct another person/group (coercion/force, structuring incentives, influence the way people think).
3. With - simular to “to” but with others, relationships, trust, solidarity etc.
4. Within - own sense of identity, self-worth and/or awareness of rights

Question 3

Institutions

Answer 3

institutions define the rules of the game for human interaction (North, 1990)

• formal or informal
• economic, social, political

Beneficial function of institutions is: create predictability in human affairs.
Downside: they reinforce the interest of the powerful (who set the rules).

Question 4

Governance (state related)

Answer 4

The rule of the rulers, the process by which authority is conferred on rulers, by which they make the rules and by which these rules are enforced and modified.

Often referred to as the checks and balances on the activities of those in power. WIthout these the pursuit of private interest will often prevail.

• Who has a voice in making decisions
• how are decisions made
• who is accountable

Question 5

Concessions made by politicians in power are because of :

Answer 5

Either competition between powerful groups has forced them to seek support from people otherwise considered less powerful.

And/or groups previously excluded from political power have gained wealth (economic power) that has given them bargaining power in the political realm.

> > > economic development may encourage improved governance.

Question 6

Good governance

Answer 6

• judicial system
• public administration
• anti curruption
• decentralization
• public expenditures management
• democratisation

Question 7

Collective action

Answer 7

Civil society movements - increase of power within and power to need to precede the exercise of power with.

Social movements actively raise awareness among the poor of their common interest and that patrons might not be promoting their real interest.

Question 8

Political leadership and its two types of bandits (Olson, 2000)

Answer 8

1. Roving bandits - rent extraction = steal and destroy
2. Stationary bandit - rent harvesting = incentive to invest to bring about economic growth, he expects to be in power long enough to take a share of it.

Question 9

Political incentives for pro-poor policies can originate from…

Answer 9

Due to absence of strong collecting action by poor groups

> > threats to regime survival is the strongest incentive

Question 10

What are conditionalities? (Killick, 2004)

Answer 10

Actions, or promiss of actions made by recipient governments only at the insistence of aid providers, measures that would otherwise not be undertaken or not within the frame desired by the provider.

First phase of structural adjustment lending: fiscal sector or international trade

Secondly: the inclusion of conditionalities related to Governance:

• anti corruption programmes
• institutional reforms
• participation of civil society in decision making

Question 11

The two problems of conditionalities (Collier, 2007)

Answer 11

1. Psychological - anybody who is told what to do will automatically resist
2. Economic - on paper there was an agreement but reforms never took place while the loan was provided.

Governments did not buy into the reforms, they had to own it.

Question 12

PRSP’s are supposed to be:

Answer 12

Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers

• country driven
• result oriented
• comprehensive
• partnership-oriented
• long-term

Question 13

Downsides of the PRSP

Answer 13

• still no ownership, write down what countries think IMF/WB want to hear
• PRSP were disciplining rather than empowering
• seemed a wish-list, delinked from available financial resources
• no clear priorities
• fail to transition from one gov to the next

Question 14

What is the main function of institutions?

Answer 14

(North, 1990)
Create predictability in human affairs

which for example reduces transaction costs in the economic sphere

Unfortunately they also reinforce the interests of the powerful and often gender inequality

Question 15

Why does economic development encourage good governance?

Answer 15

When income gain takes place
Less pressure on survival
Engage more in political issues
Higher education
More aware of decisions and consequences
Also more access to information technologies

Question 16

Barriers to collective action

Civil Society Movements

Answer 16

1. Power within
   - self-confidence
   - common identity
2. Power to
   - patron-client relationship
   - legal rights

Question 17

Wat zijn RCTs?

Answer 17

Random Contro Trials - to test aid effectiveness and efficiency

Most suited for:

• discrete and often micro level interventions
• interventions for quick impacts
• interventions that deliver benefits directly to individuals or hh

They are expensive (typical 1mUSD) and deal mainly with technical design issues.

Question 18

Collier (2007) finding on aid

Answer 18

Aid flows to the bottom billion countries have had much more impact on growth than oil revenues received by the same countries.

Question 19

The 4 ways of power TO

Answer 19

• force
• coersion
• structuring incentives (if you repay your loan, you can take a new one, but if you don’t I will make sure nobody else will lend you money). Or for example threaths of ending a (rent) contract.
• influence the way people think

Question 20

3 major factors or forces that could encourage a gov to prioritise policies that reduce poverty.

Answer 20

1. Pressure from poor groups themselves (through democratic processes or campaigning)
2. Threats to the regime and survival
3. activities of aid agencies, including policy development.