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Governance Uncovered - A Podcast by GLD
In the podcast Governance Uncovered, we discuss the intricacies of governance, state and non-state actors, and local development dynamics. Whether you're a student, professional, or simply curious about political science, this podcast is your gateway to learning from the best experts in the field. Join us as we delve into how governance shapes societies, influences political decisions, and drives local progress.
Production and Financing
This podcast is brought to you by the Governance and Local Development Institute at the University of Gothenburg and supported by the Swedish Research Council.
Podcast Host: Professor Ellen Lust.
Produced by Sara Bjurenvall (between 2021-2024).
In this episode, we discuss some of the research behind the new book Decentralization, Local Governance, and Inequality in the Middle East and North Africa, edited by Kristen Kao and Ellen Lust, and supported by the Hicham Alaoui Foundation. Joining us are three contributing authors who explore critical aspects of decentralization in the MENA region.
Guests:
Carolyn Barnett, Assistant Professor in the School of Government and Public Policy and the School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies at the University of Arizona.
Alexandra Blackman, Assistant Professor at the Department of Government, Cornell University.
Steve Brooke, Aassociate Professor in Political Science and Faculty Director of Middle East Studies, both at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Book:
Kao, K., & Lust, E. (2025). "Decentralization, Local Governance, and Inequality in the Middle East and North Africa." University of Michigan Press. Get it as Open Access here!
In this episode, we are joined by Gabrielle Kruks-Wisner to discuss her Cambridge Element, Claim-Making in Comparative Perspective: Everyday Citizenship Practice and Its Consequences, co-written with Janice Gallagher and Whitney Taylor.
Gabi and Ellen explore how everyday claim-making strategies help citizens fulfill their rights. Gabi highlights that claim-making is often overlooked in political behavior studies, which usually focus on elections, mass protests, high court decisions, and legislative actions. This raises the question: What about the politics of the everyday?
The Element and this interview address this question through research from Colombia, South Africa, India, and Mexico. Examples include families in Mexico seeking information about disappeared loved ones, citizens in rural India securing basic services like clean drinking water and education, and the fight for housing and healthcare rights in Colombia and South Africa.
Despite different contexts, all these cases highlight the persistent, often mundane efforts of citizens engaging with bureaucrats and appointed officials to claim their rights.
This episode features interviews with Whitney Taylor, Associate Professor of Political Science at San Francisco State University, and Janice Gallagher, Associate Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University-Newark. Both have recent books on legal mobilization in Latin America. Whitney Taylor ‘s book, The Social Constitution: Embedding Social Rights Through Legal Mobilization, looks at Colombia's 1991 Constitution and how citizens use the 'Tutela' mechanism to claim rights.
In Bootstrap Justice: The Search for Mexico's Disappeared, Janice Gallagher explores how Mexican families of disappeared persons engage in 'bootstrap justice,' becoming self-taught investigators to fight impunity. Both conversations highlight grassroots efforts to embed legal rights and challenge power structures in complex political landscapes.
In this episode, we have Shandana Khan Mohmand joining us. She is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, and an Associate Fellow at the Institute of Development and Economic Alternatives in Pakistan.
Shandana and host Ellen Lust discuss Shandana's book, Crafty Oligarchs, Savvy Voters: Democracy under Inequality in Rural Pakistan, which was published by Cambridge University Press in 2019. The book explores political engagement in rural Pakistan, blending perspectives on clientelism and voting in the global South.
Listen to hear Shandana share insights from her extensive research, the collaborative efforts behind the book, and the relationship between land, kinship, and electoral politics in Pakistan.
This is a bonus episode of Governance Uncovered that is shorter than usual but just as filled with fascinating insights on local governance research.
Our guest is Hannah Early Bagdanov, a PhD candidate in Political Science at the University of Notre Dame. She is also a Doctoral Student Affiliate of the Kellogg Institute for International Studies and the Klau Center for Civil & Human Rights.
This episode will discuss Hannah's GLD working paper, "Social Norms and Sector-Level Engagement with the State: Evidence from East Jerusalem."
Hannah's research highlights how historical events have shaped the unique status and social norms of East Jerusalemites, influencing their interactions with the Israeli state.
We'll also explore how Palestinians in East Jerusalem navigate their engagement with various state services, driven by community social norms, and discuss the contemporary implications in light of ongoing conflicts in Gaza and the West Bank.
In today's episode, we have Prakash Bhattarai joining us. Prakash is the Executive Director at the Center for Social Change, a non-profit think-tank based in Kathmandu, Nepal, working on the changing socio-political dynamics of Nepalese society via research, education, advocacy, and community mobilization.
Host Ellen Lust and Prakash met to discuss quotas in Nepal at the local level, particularly quotas for women and the so-called lower castes, known as Dalits.
The discussion is based on Prakash's research that evaluates the impact of Nepal's 2015 constitution, which introduced a federal governance system with quotas to ensure women, Dalits, and other marginalized groups are represented in all levels of government. Prakash argues that constitutionally mandated quotas offer only surface-level representation and don't foster true diversity and inclusion. For genuine representation, marginalized groups need to be part of the decision-making bodies within political parties and civic organizations. Beyond political inclusion, social inclusion is crucial for broader democratic engagement.
Prakash Bhattarai: socialchange.org.np/team-members/
Center for Social Change: socialchange.org.np/
We are happy to let you know that this is another podcast mashup, this time with the Middle East Law and Governance (MELG) podcast. MELG is a peer-reviewed journal for scholarly analysis on issues pertaining to governance and social, economic, and ideological transformation in the MENA region. On the MELG podcast, they talk to the journal's contributors about their work and current events in the region. The podcast is hosted by MELG advisory board member Ezra Karmel.
Ezra joined us in Gothenburg along with Christiana Parreria, Assistant Professor in the International Relations and Political Science Department at the Geneva Graduate Institute, and Intissar Kherigi, Research Associate at Sciences Po in Paris, and a visiting lecturer at Ibn Haldun University in Istanbul.
Together with host Ellen Lust, they delve into how decentralization has shaped the political landscapes of countries like Tunisia, Lebanon, and Jordan. Listen to hear about the complex balance of power, the role of elites, and the ongoing challenges of governance reform across the region.
Ezra Karmel: gld.gu.se/en/about-gld/network…fellows/ezra-karmel/
Christiana Parreria: gld.gu.se/en/about-gld/network…christiana-parreira/
Intissar Kherigi: gld.gu.se/en/about-gld/network…es/intissar-kherigi/
In this episode, we focus on governance at a local level in the city where GLD is based - Gothenburg. We discuss the potential of sharing economies at the household level and the Gothenburg Proposal, an e-petition platform that enhances local democracy and citizen engagement. We also share the inspiring work of Swedish Development Partner Gothenburg, also known as "IM Gothenburg," and their contribution towards local integration in the city.
Interviews:
- Divia Jiménez Encarnación from Chalmers University and Emma Öhrwall from Democracy and Citizen Services, City of Gothenburg, were interviewed by Erica Metheney (GLD). Paper discussed: Jiménez Encarnación, Divia; Metheney, Erica Ann; Thuvander, Liane; Kalmykova, Yuliya; and Rosado, Leonardo. (2024). “Revealing patterns in household product consumption and sharing: An approach to support urban governance towards a sustainable sharing economy,” Sustainable Production and Consumption, Volume 45, Pages 244-264, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2024.01.009
- Åsa Aguayo Åkesson from Democracy and Citizen Services, City of Gothenburg, interviewed by Sara Bjurenvall (GLD). More information about the Gothenburg Proposal can be found here.
- Saga Cambon from IM Gothenburg was interviewed by Ellen Lust (GLD). IM Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imsweden/
In this episode, we are joined by GLD fellow Fernando Brancoli, who is an Associate Professor at the Institute for International Relations and Defense, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He is also an Associated Researcher at the Orfalea Center for Global Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara.
Fernando and host Ellen Lust discuss Fernando’s book Bolsonarismo - The Global Origins and Future of Brazil’s Far Right, published with Rutgers University Press in November 2023. The book looks at the rise of the far-right alliance that emerged in Brazil in 2020 around the figure of former president Jair Bolsonaro, exploring how Bolsonarismo has developed a specific political orientation through its partnerships with other groups, practices, and subjectivities within Brazil, as well as internationally.
Ellen and Fernando talk about how the rise of far-right movements and Bolsonarismo has impacted and continues to impact different types of local communities within Brazil. Fernando points to the interaction between transnational, national, and local influences when explaining Bolsonarismo and how local communities have organized themselves in response. He parallels former and current leaders like Victor Orban, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Donald Trump and suggests that Bolsonaro can be considered an international nationalist who aimed to create alliances to keep international actors out of Brazil. He also gives examples of how indigenous communities have utilized both cross-community and transnational relations and created new platforms of engagement and governance to build resistance.
In this episode, we are joined by Egor Lazarev, who is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at Yale University. Egor and host Ellen Lust discuss Egor's book State-Building as Lawfare: Custom, Sharia, and State Law in Postwar Chechnya, which was published by Cambridge University Press in 2023. The book addresses two interrelated puzzles: why do local rulers tolerate and even promote non-state legal systems at the expense of state law, and why do some members of repressed ethnic minorities choose to resolve their everyday disputes using state legal systems instead of non-state alternatives? It documents how the rulers of Chechnya promote and reinvent customary law and Sharia in order to borrow legitimacy from tradition and religion, increase autonomy from the metropole, and accommodate communal authorities and former rebels. At the same time, the book shows how prolonged armed conflict disrupted the traditional social hierarchies and pushed some Chechen women to use state law, spurring state formation from below.
In the 55th episode of Governance Uncovered, we sit down with Diana Greenwald to talk about her book "Mayors in the Middle - Indirect Rule and Local Government in Occupied Palestine," which will be published by Columbia University Press in May 2024.
Host Ellen Lust and Diana start by talking about what initially made Diana interested in Palestine and local governance in the West Bank.
They then discuss the book itself, considering the dynamics of local self-government in the Palestinian West Bank. Diana argues that the system of Israeli indirect rule, particularly its emphasis on local policing, and the political affiliations of Palestinian mayors shape their governance strategies and outcomes.
The episode ends with a discussion about how Diana's book might help us better understand the current levels of conflict in Gaza and the West Bank.
Greenwald, Diana, B. (2024). Mayors in the Middle: Indirect Rule and Local Government in Occupied Palestine. Columbia University Press. ISBN: 9780231213158.
This episode of Governance Uncovered focuses on the Sudanese civil war. Our first guest Munzoul Assal, Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Khartoum and the University of Bergen, gives us insight into Sudan's complex history. Then, we'll hear from Dr. Iman Ahmed, a global health specialist with a focus on migration and refugee studies. She discusses healthcare challenges faced by doctors in Sudan. Finally, Dr. Khalid Mustafa Medani, Associate Professor of Political Science and Islamic Studies at McGill University, emphasizes the need for international attention to address humanitarian aid delivery challenges and political solutions in the crisis. The guests provide a comprehensive overview, highlighting the war's roots in political struggles and offering perspectives on healthcare issues and diaspora initiatives.
Links:
"A Love Letter to Sudan" - Interview with Professor Munzoul Assal by Åse Johanne Roti Dahl, communication adviser at CMI, May 2023. www.cmi.no/news/3137-a-love-letter-to-sudan
Global Research Forum on Diaspora and Transnationalism: grfdt.com/
Sudan Doctor's Union: www.sdu-canada.ca/
Sudan Doctor's Union donations campaign link, established on Zeffy: www.zeffy.com/en-CA/fundraising/…-a5c5-0f67021c45aa
African Studies at McGill University: asdmcgill.com/
Doctors Without Borders Sudan: www.doctorswithoutborders.org/what-we-do…%20support.
"Sudan: How a tea-seller displaced by conflict led her family away from hunger." Article by Mohamed Elamin, World Food Programme, 2 August 2023.www.wfp.org/stories/sudan-how-t…ly-out-hungers-jaws
Governance Uncovered is a podcast by the Governance and Lcoal Development Institute at the University of Gothenburg. This podcast is supported by the Swedish Research Council.
In this episode, we have Dalia Abdelhady, Associate Professor in Sociology at Lund University, joining us in a conversation on diasporas.
We'll discuss how events back home, whether natural disasters or political crises affect diaspora communities and how they engage with their homelands.
We are also joined by Hamza Ouhaichi, a board member of the Moroccan Association in Malmö, Sweden, and a PhD student in computer science at Malmö University. Hamza will talk about how they work with community support at the Moroccan Association in Malmö and their recent emergency response efforts after the devastating earthquake in Morocco.
References:
Abdelhady, D., & Aly, R. (Eds.) (2022). The Routledge Handbook on Middle Eastern Diasporas. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429266102
Abdelhady, D. (2011). The Lebanese Diaspora: The Arab Immigrant Experience in New York, Montreal and Paris. New York University Press.
Abdelhady, D., & Aly, R. (2022). Coming to and coming from the Middle East: the unfolding of diaspora. In D. Abdelhady, & R. Aly (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook on Middle Eastern Diasporas (pp. 1-19). Routledge.
In today's episode, we are joined by Michael Wahman, Associate Professor at Michigan State University's Department of Political Science.
Host Ellen Lust and Michael discuss his book Controlling Territory, Controlling Voters, recently published by Oxford University Press. Michael's research leading up to this book, which spanned seven years, delves into the complex topic of electoral violence in Zambia and Malawi.
The interview delves into the concept of electoral violence, examining its manifestations and its broader impact on the electoral process. Michael's research highlights the significance of low-scale violence and the fear it instills among voters, especially women.
Furthermore, the interview explores the concept of geographically polarized electoral systems, a critical framework for understanding when and why electoral violence occurs. Michael explains how competition over territory, rather than individual voters, becomes a focal point in these systems, making election violence a tool for controlling space and shaping electoral outcomes.
Michael also provides some practical implications of his work, emphasizing the importance of taking low-scale violence seriously, working with domestic election observers, and finding local solutions to de-escalate election violence.
Reference: Wahman, Michael. (2023). Controlling Territory, Controlling Voters: The Electoral Geography of African Campaign Violence. Oxford University Press. ISBN: 9780198872825
In this episode, we're joined by Marika Sosnowski, a postdoctoral research fellow at Melbourne Law School. Marika and host Ellen Lust discuss Marika's new book Redefining Ceasefires: Wartime Order and State Building in Syria. The book challenges traditional notions of ceasefires and examines their effects on governance beyond just halting violence.
Marika emphasizes the complexity of ceasefires in Syria, particularly in the context of local governance. She discusses the case of the 2016 nationwide ceasefire and how it affected governance dynamics in different areas in Syria. She mentions that while violence decreased overall, targeted assassinations of key governance figures increased, leading to unexpected consequences for local governance efforts.
The conversation also explores the disconnect between international perspectives on ceasefires and the perspectives of those living in conflict zones. Marika suggests that a human-centered view of ceasefires, focused on the needs and goals of those directly affected, could yield different outcomes.
Overall, the interview sheds light on the multifaceted nature of ceasefires, their impact on governance, and the importance of considering local perspectives and needs when analyzing their effects.
Mentioned work:
Sosnowski, Marika. (2023). Redefining Ceasefires: Wartime Order and Statebuilding in Syria. Cambridge University Press.
Sosnowski, Marika. (2023). "Fear and Violence, Loyalty and Treason: Settlement of Status in Syria." International Studies Quarterly. https://www.giga-hamburg.de/en/router/5996379d-fdb6-4363-9389-2a9e5e6bc039
In this episode, Oliver Harman, Cities Economist for the International Growth Centre's Cities that Work initiative based at Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, and Riccardo Crescenzi, Professor of Economic Geography at the London School of Economics and Political Science, will be discussing their book "Harnessing Global Value Chains for Regional Development: How to Upgrade through Regional Policy, FDI, and Trade." They highlight the significance of considering global value chains at the regional level and the importance of coordination between different levels of government for effective policy implementation.
Next, we're joined by Rebecca Grace Tan, a Lecturer at the National University of Singapore, who delves into her research on Singaporean politics, migration, citizenship, multiculturalism, and nationalism. She explores how the Singaporean state navigates the challenge of cultural pluralism while cultivating a common national identity, particularly through their framework of multiracialism.
Selected Work: "Renegotiating Multiracialism: the grassroots integration of new migrants’ ethnic identities in Singapore," Asian Ethnicity.
Our final guest is Nick Kuipers, an assistant professor of political science at the National University of Singapore. Nick discusses his study on civil service exams and their impact on representation in municipalities, as well as individuals' attitudes. He uncovers the unintended consequences of high-stakes exams, which exacerbate the representation gap between privileged and underprivileged groups. Nick also sheds light on how passing or failing these exams affects individuals' satisfaction, social cohesion, and national identification.
Selected Work: Forthcoming. "City Size and Public Service Access: Evidence From Brazil and Indonesia" (with A. Post). Perspectives on Politics.
In this episode of Governance Uncovered, we focus on refugee migration and integration as we're approaching World Refugee Day, which falls each year on the 20th of June. World Refugee Day is an international day designated by the United Nations to acknowledge the strength and courage of people who have been forced to flee their home country to escape conflict or persecution.
Joining us today is Daniel Masterson, from the University of California, who will talk about his recently published paper in the British Journal of Political Science: Dynamics of Refugee Return: Syrian Refugees and their Migrant Intention. In this paper, Daniel and his co-authors, Ala Alrababah, Marine Casalis, Dominik Hangartner, and Jeremy Weinstein, look at what makes Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon decide to return home.
Then, we'll hear from Isabell Schierenbeck and Andrea Spehar from the University of Gothenburg. They have looked at street-level bureaucrats in and Syrian refugee interactions in Sweden, Jordan, and Turkey. They have a book in Swedish publish on this work, called Migration i välfärdsstaten: att implementera integrationspolitik, (English translation: Migration in the Welfare State: To Implement Integration Politics).
In this episode, we'll focus on gender activism and women's political participation in three different countries. First, we'll talk to Minglu Chen about the current state of women's representation in politics in China; where some progress has been made in recent years, but Minglu now fears that the country is taking a step back. Minglu has extensively written on women's representation in China, and we are excited to have her share her insights with us.
Then, we'll hear Shirin Saeidi and Nermin Allam on how gender activism takes place in Iran and Egypt, how it has evolved during the past decade, and what progress has been made. They'll talk about how the September 2022 protests in Iran and the Egypt 2011 uprisings have affected how women engage in activism and are recognized by society.
Guests
Minglu Chen, Senior Lecturer in Government and International Relations, and a Member of the China Center at the University of Sydney.
Mentioned research: “Innocent Young Girls": The Search for Female Provincial Leaders in China.
Shirin Saeidi, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Arkansas and Director of the King Fahd Center for Middle East Studies.
Mentioned research: Women and the Islamic Republic: How Gendered Citizenship Conditions the Iranian State, Cambridge University Press 2022.
Nermin Allam, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University-Newark.
Mentioned research: Women and the Egyptian Revolution: Engagement and Activism during the 2011 Arab Uprisings, Cambridge University Press 2017.
It’s a mashup! GLD's Jeffrey Paller join up with the Ufahamu Africa podcast to talk to Prince Guma, Astrid Haas, and Patience Mususa. Each is an expert on the urbanization of the continent.
The episode responds to Jeffrey’s recent article in This Week in Africa, “Five Trends that will Shape Urban Africa in 2023,” which highlights:
- Innovative forms of affordable housing
- Gentrifying neighbourhoods
- Heightened focus on emerging cities
- Confronting flooding
- The impact of big tech
Prince Guma is a researcher of cities, infrastructures and technologies in eastern Africa. Astrid Haas is an independent urban economist supporting cities and has worked extensively with city governments across Africa, the Middle East and Asia. And Patience Mususa is senior researcher at the Nordic Africa Institute, Uppsala.
Books, Links, & Articles
- Young Feminists Network (YFN)
- “Five Trends that will Shape Urban Africa in 2023.” by Jeffrey Paller
- Politics and the Urban Frontier: Transformation and Divergence in Late Urbanizing East Africa by Tom Goodfellow
- Gizo-Gizo!: A Tale from the Zongo Lagoon by Emily Williamson
- Seeing Like a City by Ash Amin and Nigel Thrift
- Disrupted Urbanism: Situated Smart Initiatives in African Cities by Nancy Odendaal
- Fragments of the City: Making and Remaking Urban Worlds by Colin McFarlane
- Rethinking Smart Urbanism: City-Making and the Spread of Digital Infrastructures in Nairobi by Prince Karakire Gura.
In times of crisis, societies are forced to confront difficult challenges and make tough decisions. This episode delves into the complexities of crises, exploring different aspects of how they impact societies and the ways in which communities can recover and rebuild. Our first guest, Will Todman, discusses his research on how energy infrastructure is affected during conflicts. Next, we hear from Professor Rabia Polat, who shares her findings on Turkish local authorities' reception of Syrian refugees. The episode also includes a discussion on the recent earthquake in Turkey and the crisis response efforts that followed. Finally, Mohamad Alashmar brings a Syrian perspective to the table, discussing the impact of the earthquake on already fragile areas in Syria and exploring local initiatives and international aid. Together, these interviews and discussions provide a comprehensive look at crises and the complex road to recovery.
Guests
Will Todman, fellow in the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
- The mentioned report: Powering Recovery: Reform, Reconstruction, and Renewables in Conflict-Affected States in the Arab World
- The mentioned project: Powering Recovery in the Middle East
Rabia Polat, professor at Isik University in Instanbul, Department of International Relations.
The mentioned research:
- Polat, R. K., & Lowndes, V. (2021). How does multi-level governance create capacity to address refugee needs, and with what limitations? An analysis of municipal responses to Syrian refugees in Istanbul. Journal of Refugee Studies, 35(1), 51–73. https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/feab101
- Lowndes, V., & Polat, R. K. (2020). How do local actors interpret, enact and contest policy? An analysis of local government responses to meeting the needs of Syrian refugees in Turkey. Local Government Studies, 48(3), 546–569. https://doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2020.1825386
Mohamad Al-Ashmar, Ph.D. student and research fellow at the center for Syrian studies at the University of St Andrews, School of International relations.
Mohamad is also a part of MERNID, the Middle East Research Network on Internal Displacement and SARN-UK, Syrian Academics and Researchers Network - UK.
We'll start by covering the political crisis in Tunisia since president Saeid seized absolute power in 2021. Mohammed Dhia Hammami, PhD student in Political Science at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, joined GLD's founding director Ellen Lust to discuss the low voter turnout after the first round of Tunisia's parliamentary elections in December 2022, as well as the country's high unemployment rates, and the general disappointment in president Saeid among Tunisians. Disclaimer: This episode was recorded on January 23, before the second round of parliamentary runoffs on January 29.
When recording this, it's been about six weeks since the FIFA World Cup in Qatar ended. But what impact did the tournament have on domestic politics and its influence beyond Qatar? GLD colleague and football fan Thabit Jacob met with Dr Danyel Reicheto to discuss the politics of sports focusing on last year's world cup in Qatar. Danyel is a Visiting Associate Professor at Georgetown University in Qatar. He has co-edited two books which came out recently, the first is Qatar and the 2022 FIFA World Cup: Politics, Controversy, Change, and the second is the Handbook of Sport in the Middle East.
"The Effects of a Negative Economic Shock on Male Marriage in the West Bank" - is the title of Ayhab Saad's recent paper that we'll cover as our last segment for this episode. Ayhab is an associate professor of Economics at Doha Institute for Graduate Studies. In this paper, which is co-authored with Amr Ragab, marriage rates among young men in the West Bank are compared before and after the sudden closure of the Israeli labour market for Palestinian male commuters from the West Bank in 2001. Ellen Lust met with Ayhab to talk about how the economic shock following the border closure has affected the decision to get married for both men and women and also, how social norms play a part in the declining marriage rates.
This episode covers political participation and activism among youth, focusing on local perspectives from Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Iraq. And also, an interview with Senior lecturer Hanna Leonardsson, whose book on local peacebuilding in Lebanon was recently published. This fall semester, GLD held its first policy roundtable in Arabic. The topic was youth engagement in the Middle East and North Africa. Luckily, for those who don't speak Arabic, Ghadeer Hussien summarised the most important takeaways from this roundtable. She spoke with Marwa Shalaby, Assistant Professor at the department of gender and women's studies and political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. And Dina Shehata, senior researcher and editor-in-chief of Al Malaf Al Masry (the Egypt File) at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. You can watch the recorded policy roundtable (in Arabic) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAbxPdg-FEc&t=187s
How is peace built at the local level? Hanna Leonardsson, Senior lecturer at the School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg, asks that question in her new book: Navigating the Local, Politics of Peacebuilding in Lebanese Municipalities. Ellen Lust met with Hanna to talk about this book of hers. You can find Hanna's book here: https://www.amazon.com/Navigating-Local-Peacebuilding-Municipalities-Development/dp/1529224268
This 43rd episode of Governance Uncovered reflects on COP27, the UN climate summit held between the 6th and 18th of November in Cairo, Egypt. Researchers Rabab El-Madi and Nadim Farajalla discuss the Loss and Damage fund, climate justice, and the future of fossil fuels. All with a focus on the Middle East and North Africa region. Then we'll hear an interview with Professor Jillian Schwedler on her latest book, "Protesting Jordan: Geographies of Power and Dissent." A book based on her twenty-five years of field research. It examines protests as they are situated in the built environment, bringing together considerations of networks, spatial imaginaries, space and place-making, and political geographies at local, national, regional, and global scales. Finally, GLD Director Ellen Lust spoke with Bekka Ross Russel, founder and Executive Director of The Small Things Tanzania and the Families and Future Coalition in Tanzania – two organizations that aim to support families who cannot take care of their children.
We are excited to let you know that GLD is introducing a new podcast format this month! From now on, you'll hear three shorter segments from three different guests on current events, academic publications, new research, and policy-targeted content. So, in this episode, we'll hear from Rouzbeh Parsi on the protests in Iran: is it a revolution happening or not?
Then, I spoke to my GLD colleagues Ghadeer Hussein and Thabit Jacobs about the policy roundtable series GLD and Alternative Policy Solutions recently held on climate change and environmental justice in the MENA region.
Finally, Ellen Lust met with GLD associate Lauren Honig to talk about her new book on land titling and customary authorities in Senegal and Zambia called "Land Politics: How Customary Institutions Shape State Building in Zambia and Senegal." We hope that you enjoy this episode and the new format. And if you are interested in working with GLD, head to our website. We have a lot of opportunities out right now! https://gld.gu.se/
The podcast guest of the month is the GLD associate Dr. Adam Harris. Adam is an Associate Professor in Development Politics at the Department of Political Science, University College London. He is also an associated researcher at the Centre for Social Change at the University of Johannesburg. Adam's research focuses on development, ethnic, and African politics, and his work has been published in several political science journals. Ellen and Adam will be talking about his book "Everyday Identity and Electoral Politics: Race, Ethnicity, and the Bloc Vote in South Africa and Beyond" (Oxford University Press, 2022), in which he seeks to understand why some voters do not vote along ethnic lines.
In this episode, we have no less than three guests with us to discuss traditional authorities in Malawi, Ghana, and Latin America. We have Dr Boniface Dulani from the University of Malawi, Afrobarometer, IPOR Malawi. John-Paul Adjadeh, Registrar at the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs under the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs in Ghana. And finally, we have Christoper Carter, an Academy Scholar at the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies and a Research Associate at the Center on the Politics of Development at the University of California, Berkeley. The episode offers a lively discussion on traditional authorities' impact on, for example, democracy, corruption, land management, and conflict resolution.
In this episode, host Ellen Lust talks to Kelsey Norman, who is a Fellow for the Middle East and Director of the Women's Rights, Human Rights & Refugees program at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University. Kelsey and Ellen discuss Kelsey's new book "Reluctant Reception," in which she asks, "How do host states respond to refugees?". In doing this, she moves beyond the traditional focus in refugee and migration literature of looking at the global North and focuses on countries normally seen as transit countries that migrants cross on their way to their country of destination. More specifically, Egypt, Morocco, and Turkey. She terms their response "strategic indifference", meaning that the state projects indifference towards migrants, which allows it to expand little resources towards managing refugees. Kelsey argues that it is important to look at state responses since, contrary to popular belief, most refugees in these countries reside in urban settings and not in refugee camps - and are, therefore, under the authority of the transit country's state rather than international organisations. Ellen and Kelsey also discuss how different nationalities are perceived and valued and if that leads to different reception treatment by the transit country.
In this episode, Ellen Lust talks to Ukrainian scholar Tymofii Brik from the Kyiv School of Economics at Ukrainian Global University about local governance taking place in Ukraine today. They do so by first taking a step back to discuss governance before Russia's invasion. Namely, how Ukraine moved from centralization towards decentralization after 2014 - when local communities started to take power over their own lives and found a way to share resources locally due to decentralization reforms. Tyomfii also explains how the Ukrainian defence, which surprised the rest of the world, did not occur overnight as it might have seemed from the outside. It was a seven-year preparation on how the society should organize to protect and defend oneself and one's community. Finally, Tyomfii informs us about the work they do at the Kyiv School of Economics in order to address the challenge of loss of access to education and academic competence.
In the 37th episode of Governance Uncovered, Marcia Grimes and Agnes Cornell joins us to talk about clientelism. More specifically, their paper "Brokering bureaucrats: How bureaucrats and civil society facilitate clientelism where parties are weak", which focuses on bureaucrats and how their links to civil society can shape clientelism in Peru. Marcia and Agnes are both researchers at the Quality of Government Institute, a neighbouring research institute to GLD that addresses the theoretical and empirical problem of how political institutions of high quality can be created and maintained.
We apologize for the lowered sound quality in this episode. For those who wish, a transcript of this episode can be found here. This month, we are pleased to be joined by Mona Harb and Sami Atallah to talk us through what can be called the "triple crisis of Lebanon." Mona is a Professor of Urban Studies and Politics at the American University of Beirut. She is also the co-founder and research lead at the Beirut Urban Lab - a collaborative and interdisciplinary research space. The Lab produces scholarship on urbanization by documenting and analyzing ongoing transformation processes in Lebanon and its region's natural and built environments. Sami is the Founding Director of the newly started The Policy Initiative in Beirut. He is also the former director of the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies. He led several policy studies on youth social identity and political engagement, electoral behaviour, political and social sectarianism, and the role of municipalities in dealing with the refugee crisis. Sami and Mona have, among other collaborations, co-edit the book Democracy, Decentralization, and Service Delivery in the Arab World. This episode will discuss the triple crises in Lebanon and what this means for people's everyday lives at the local level. By triple crisis, we mean the country's economic instabilities, the political situation, and the aftermath of the Beirut explosion in August 2020. How is this reflected in Lebanese societies? And what has this meant for public space?
Guests: Lena Wängnerud and Valeriya Mechkova, both from the Department of Political Science at the University of Gothenburg. In the episode you are about to hear, host Ellen Lust talk with Lena and Valeriya about women's political representation. Both in terms of female members in political parties, parliaments and councils, and also in terms of the priority of political issues that apply more to women, such as health care and maternity leave. They do so by looking at historical and contextual factors, highlighting important variations in representation at local, regional, and national levels. Can women's representation be effective in autocracies? Is female inclusion in parliaments just a political strategy to appear modern? And what does it mean for the everyday life of citizens when their ruling parties are gender-equal? Tune in to thoughts on those questions and much more!
In this episode, we talk to Himanshu Jha - a faculty in the Department of Political Science at South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University, Germany. Himanshu's most recent research explores the processes of institutional change, the Indian State, and bureaucracy. However, it was Himanshu's recently published book with the Oxford University Press that we spoke to him about. The book is called "Capturing Institutional Change: the Case of the Right to Information Act in India." It examines what Right to Information actually does, and the history leading up to it. Himanshu further talks about norms of secrecy and openness and the impact that this Act has had on India’s democracy.
This episode discusses Bogazici University's struggle to maintain academic independence since Turkish President Erdogan decided to directly appoint the University's Rector. Joining us to talk about the events at the Istanbul-located university is Mine Eder. Mine is a Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Bogazici University and a faculty member in the collectively governed movement that is resisting the Turkish government's encroachment. The episode discusses lends insights into events at the university and broader concerns around islands of democratic governance in authoritarian contexts and the future of Turkey.
Joining us in this episode to talk about local politics and the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan is Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili. Jen is the Founding Director of the Center for Governance and Markets and Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh. In 2020, Jen's book "Informal Order and the State in Afghanistan," received the Best Book Award in Social Sciences by the Central Eurasian Studies Society. Her second book, "Land, the State, and War: Property Institutions and Political Order in Afghanistan" (with Ilia Murtazashvili), was published in September 2021 with Cambridge University Press. In addition, Jennifer has also advised the United States Agency for International Development, the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit, the World Bank, the US Department of Defense, the United Nations Development Program, and UNICEF. Together with host Ellen Lust, Jen discusses how the Talibans have been received in Afghanistan after their takeover in August 2021. What has changed since the former Taliban rule? And how much do we really know?
Additional Work:
“Coercive Capacity, Land Reform and Political Order in Afghanistan," with Ilia Murtazashvili. Central Asian Survey 36, no. 2 (2017): 212–30.
In this month's Governance Uncovered, we talk to the political scientist Liv Tønnessen about the recent military coup in Sudan and the economic, cultural, and political history leading up to it. Liv is a senior researcher at CMI and Director of the Center on Law and Social Transformation. She has a track record from the Middle East and Northern Africa, with long-term stays in Sudan, Lebanon, and Syria. Liv has specialized in Sudanese politics for more than a decade and has conducted extensive fieldwork in the country. She has also been a lecturer at Ahfad University for Women and held numerous lectures for regional universities in the west, east, and south of Sudan, which has given her a wide network of contacts within Sudanese academia, politics, and civil society. In addition, her work has involved long-term collaboration with several research institutions and research partners in Sudan. In this episode, we'll discuss regional disparities and political instability in today's Sudan. Selected work: Imam, Ayesha. (2021). "Women & Peacebuilding in Africa" ( Tønnessen, Liv; Affi, Ladan; Tripp, Aili. Eds.). James Currey. Read.
This month, we are joined by Melani Cammett, Clarence Dillon Professor of International Affairs in the Department of Government, and chair of the Harvard Academy of International and Area Studies at Harvard. Melani also holds a secondary faculty appointment in the Harvard Chan School of Public Health. In this episode, we discuss Health Care quality in Lebanon, both within the Lebanese population and health care received by Syrian refugees. We also discuss social and political factors that regulate where citizens choose to seek care and what role international partnerships play in healthcare quality in Lebanon. Selected work: Cammett, Melani and Sasmaz, Aytug. (2021). "Equity with Prejudice: International NGOs and Healthcare Delivery Refugee Crises," The Program on Governance and Local Development Working Paper No. 44, University of Gothenburg.
This month, we were joined by Taima Al Jayoush - a lawyer specializing in human rights and international law. Taima is a member of the Barreau du Quebec, a legal councel in Syrian legislation based in Montreal. She has defended and helped dozens of women and children in Syrian and European courts and was the first woman to defend political prisoners in Syria's supreme state security court. Taima was also the first woman to be a board member of the "Human Rights Organization of Syria" in early 2001 and has represented many opposition leaders. In this episode, we discuss women's rights in Syria and the impact of the civil war, more specifically regarding the new family law and the role of Sharia in marriage contracts. Taima explains the complex issues that women face from both family and society and highlights the importance of acknowledging women's dignity and recognition as a matter of human rights.
This month, we talk to Gabrielle Kruks-Wisner, Assistant Professor of Politics and Global Studies at the University of Virginia. Gabrielle’s research examines citizenship practices and local governance, with a regional focus on India. In this episode, we discuss the problems that citizens face in Northern rural India, a setting noted for variable public administration and often callous treatment of citizens by officials.
Selected work:
- Kruks-Wisner, Gabrielle.(2021). "Great Expectations, Great Grievances: The Politics of Citizens’ Complaints in India." Comparative Politics.
- Kruks-Wisner, Gabrielle. (2018). "Claiming the State: Active Citizenship and Social Welfare in Rural India." Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Kruks-Wisner, Gabrielle. (2017). "The Pursuit of Social Welfare - Citizen Claim-Making in Rural India." World Politics.
This month, we talk to Adam Auerbach (American University) and Tariq Thachil (University of Pennsylvania) about COVID-19 challenges in India’s so-called “slum settlements”. They argue that the landscape of service delivery is increasingly centralizing, and the lack of property rights in the slum settlements shape relations between the citizens and the state. Most residents feel that the state is dismissive in their response to COVID-19 in the urban slums of India. They further analyze and how settlement leaders cope with COVID-19 in the slums, where it is very difficult to socially distance. Selected work: Auerbach, Adam Michael and Tariq Thachil. 2020. “How Does COVID-19 Affect Urban Slums? Evidence from Settlement Leaders in India.” World Development.
This month, we discuss the handbook on Safer Field Research in the Social Sciences with two of its authors Isabell Schierenbeck (University of Gothenburg) and Jannis Grimm (Freie Universität Berlin). We discuss the need for available guidance on preparing and conducting safe research within the social sciences and the new challenges to conducting safe research that Covid-19 has brought. Selected work: Grimm, Jannis; Koehler, Kevin; Lust, Ellen; Saliba, Ilyas; and Schierenbeck, Isabell. (2020). Safer Research in the Social Sciences: A Systematic Handbook for Human and Digital Security. London: SAGE Publications Inc.
This month, we talk to Ahmed al-Mukhaini, Independent Scholar and GLD Collaborating Researcher, about the recent political changes in Oman. In January 2021, Oman’s Sultan Haitham declared an end to the former succession system and proclaimed a new crown prince and Basic Law of the State to allow for the modernization and transformation of the Gulf nation’s economic, political, and social structures. Ahmed explains Oman’s political system and gives us unique insights into the New Basic Law and what it means for Oman. This podcast is part of the larger GLD in the MENA project, funded by the Hicham Alaoui Foundation.
This month, we talk to Intissar Kherigi, a Ph.D. student at Sciences Po Paris and GLD Collaborating Researcher, about Tunisia’s 2015-17 municipal boundary reforms. After the Arab uprisings in 2011, Tunisia saw changes in local governance and the adoption of a new constitution mandating the decentralization of power, leading the government to reorganize the country's municipal boundaries. Intissar analyses the ways in which local populations are challenging central state-driven municipal boundary reforms and the implications for local governance. She situates this within the historical processes of boundary formation in modern Tunisia and highlights the difficulties in breaking with colonial legacies.
Selected work: Kherigi, Intissar. (2021). "Municipal Boundaries and the Politics of Space in Tunisia," The Program on Governance and Local Development Working Paper No. 38, University of Gothenburg.
This month we talk to GLD's Senior Research Fellow Kristen Kao about her work on post-conflict reconciliation in Iraq. Kristen tells us about her a study on the drivers of forgiveness versus revenge among diverse groups in Iraq and how her research could help promote long-term peace. Kristen Kao is a Senior Research Fellow with the Program on Governance and Local Development (GLD) at the University of Gothenburg. She holds a PhD and M.A. in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles and is an expert in survey methodology and experimental design in the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa contexts.
Selected work: Kao, Kristen and Revkin, Mara. (2019). "How the Iraqi crackdown on the Islamic State may actually increase support for the Islamic State," The Washington Post Monkey Cage. Kao, Kristen and Revkin, Mara Redlich. (2018). “To punish or to pardon?” The Program on Governance and Local Development Working Paper No. 17, University of Gothenburg
Selected research projects: From Revenge to Forgiveness: Strengthening Durable Peace in Post-Conflict Societies.
This month, we talk to Jeffrey Paller about rapid urbanization and politics in Ghana, Africa. Jeffrey recently published a book on the subject called "Democracy in Ghana: Everyday Politics in Urban Africa" (Cambridge UP, 2019). Jeffrey is an Assistant Professor of Politics at the University of San Francisco and the curator of the weekly news bulletin “This Week in Africa.” He specializes in African politics and sustainable urban development, and his research examines the practice of democracy and accountability in urban Africa. He has conducted fieldwork in Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, and South Africa.
This month, we talk to Tuğba Bozçağa, Research Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Middle East Initiative and Ph.D. student in Political Science at MIT. In 2018, Tugba received a GLD Short Term Grant to study social proximity among bureaucrats in Turkey. Tugba's research has culminated in this month's GLD working paper: The Social Bureaucrat: How Social Proximity among Bureaucrats Affects Local Governance. In this episode of Governance Uncovered, we hear more about her research and her experiences from the field. Tugba also explains the policy implications of her research – namely how it offers an alternative explanation to why the quality of public services may be lower in minority or predominantly immigrant neighborhoods.
This month, we are joined by professor Simon Mabon, Lancaster University. We discuss his research on identity, (de-)sectarianism, and mobilization in Bahrain and the Middle East. Simon's research comprises two main strands: The first is the contestation of sovereign power across the region, where he is interested in relations between rulers and ruled, biopolitics, resistance, and the Arab Uprisings. The second is the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran, where he is particularly interested in the rivalry, its impact on states, identities, and communities across the Middle East (and beyond), and the re-ordering of space. His work falls at the intersection of Middle East Studies, International Relations, and (International) Political Theory. Simon is Director of SEPAD, the Sectarianism, Proxies, and De-Sectarianization Project, which looks at how the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran shapes sectarianism and politics across the Middle East. Simon's upcoming book is called "The Struggle for Supremacy in the Middle East: Saudi Arabia and Sudan."
This month, we talk to Karen E. Ferree about her latest research on how ethnic divisions shape voting behavior. Karen argues for a reorientation of how we think about ethnic voting, away from an exclusive focus on voters to one that links voter behavior to the supply side of candidates.
Karen’s research has been published in two GLD working papers called "Choice and Choice Set in African Elections" and "Mixed Records, Cognitive Complexity, and Ethnic Voting in African Elections".
Karen studies democratization in Africa. Her work sits at the intersection of institutional and behavioral approaches to politics, with a particular focus on how ethnic and racial divisions and formal and informal institutions shape voting behavior and election outcomes in emerging democracies. She has written about South African politics in her book, Framing the Race in South Africa: the Political Origins of Racial Census Elections (Cambridge University Press, 2011).
This month, we talk to Susan Whiting, Associate Professor of Political Science, and Tan Zhou, PhD Student, from the University of Washington. We discuss their latest research which looks at vote buying and land taking in China's village elections. They have recently published a paper on the subject called “Farmland and Fraud: Land Rents and Vote Buying in China’s Village Elections.”
Selected Work: Tan Zhao. (2018) Vote Buying and Land Takings in China’s Village Elections. Journal of Contemporary China, 27:110, 277-294.
This episode is part of the project: Governance Under Decentralization: Oman And In The Arab Region. The project seeks to better understand the many challenges facing the decentralization process in transitioning states.
We talk to Dr James Worrall about Oman, discussing his latest research into Oman’s controlled-hybrid-decentralization process. A term that stems from its unique mixture of neo-liberal and technocratic solutions, acting in combination with traditional ruling elements. Further information on James work can be found in GLD Working Paper No. 32 – ‘Power and Process: Decentralisation in Oman.’
Dr James Worrall is a Professor in International Relations and Middle East Studies at the University of Leeds. His research interests lie in the fields of Security Studies and International Relations.
This month, we talk to Kevin Prine who is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Outreach International. Outreach International is a charity that eliminates extreme poverty by creating leaders who transform their communities, a process they call Participatory Human Development.
Kevin tells us about the organization and their approach to working with development. He discusses the struggles they meet in the field and explains his vision for the charity's work. Kevin Prine has a background working as a professor for twenty years at Graceland Univerity, Iowa, in new venture creation and business strategy.
This month we talk to Brian Leung Kai-Ping, a graduate student in Political Science at the University of Washington. You might also recognize Brian as the brave student activist who removed his mask during the storming of the Hong Kong Legislative Council Complex in July 2019.
Brian talks about political mobilization, urban geography and what role it played in the student protests in Hong Kong. We get to hear about his thoughts on and experiences of being at the frontline during the Hong Kong student protest movement. We release this episode in a time of new protests due to the new Hong Kong security law.
This month, we welcome a guest from the Ghana Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, John-Paul Adjadeh. He discusses local politics and the resolution of chieftaincy disputes in Ghana with our director, Professor Ellen Lust. John-Paul Adjadeh graduated from the University of Ghana in 2018 with an MPhil in Public Administration. His research work focused on the interface between traditional authorities (chiefs), governance, and public accountability in Ghana. He is currently a Registrar at the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs under the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs in Ghana. John-Paul has over 7 years of experience working with various Chieftaincy organizations in Ghana under the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs. His primary areas of interest are traditional authorities and development.
This month we talk to Professor Peter Esaiasson (University of Gothenburg) about his latest research that looks at social identity in diverse and disadvantaged neighborhoods in Sweden. His research tries to understand whether identification with the neighborhood (local identity) and the nation state (national identity) generates pro-social attitudes among residents.
The study by Esaiasson and Sohlberg has been published as a GLD working paper called “Caulking the Social Fabric: How National and Local Identities Promote Pro-Social Attitudes in European Diverse and Disadvantaged Neighborhoods”.
This month's podcast is part of a special series on migration. This episode features Claire Adida (University of California, San Diego) and her research surrounding mass migration, and its subsequent discourse, and how it affects host communities around the world. Claire Adida uses quantitative methods to study how countries manage new and existing forms of diversity. She has applied this question to the study of immigrant exclusion and ethnic politics in urban West Africa, France, and the United States. Her current research investigates the conditions that reduce out-group discrimination, and the strategies vulnerable minorities employ to navigate discriminatory environments. Her work is funded by the National Science Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Hellman Foundation, and the Evidence in Governance and Politics Group.
Selected Work: Adida, Claire L. 2014. Immigrant Exclusion and Insecurity in Africa; Coethnic Strangers. Cambridge University Press. Adida, Claire L., Laitin, David D., Valfort, Marie-Anne 2016. Why Muslim Integration Fails in Christian-Heritatge Societies. Harvard University Press.
This month we talk to Salma Mousa (PhD candidate, Stanford University) about her latest research which looks at the relationship between Christians and Muslims in postwar societies. Her research tries to understand if tolerance and prejudice can be changed through interaction between these groups. The study has been recently published as a GLD working paper called “Creating Coexistence: Intergroup Contact and Soccer in Post-ISIS Iraq”.
Leveraging field experiments among Iraqis displaced by ISIS, Syrian refugees in Lebanon, and Palestinians in Israel, she shows how social contact can change real-world behaviors — even if underlying prejudice remains unchanged. She argues that war hardens political attitudes and beliefs about the outgroup. Nevertheless, contact can restore everyday coexistence after violence. Related studies of different forms of contact in other settings, like American classrooms and British soccer clubs, similarly conclude that prejudicial behaviors may be easier to shift than attitudes.
In this month's Governance Uncovered podcast we are joined by Mine Eder (Professor of Political Science, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul) who discusses how migration in Turkey, specifically the influx of around 3.8 million Syrian refugees, has affected the country’s social and political landscape. Ideas about how the country is trying - and often failing - to integrate these new residents are also addressed.
Mine Eder is a Professor of Political Science at the Department of Political Science and International Relations of Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, Turkey. She received a Fulbright to pursue graduate degree at the University of Virginia where she received her MA and PhD in Politics. She also taught at Lewis and Clark College and was a visiting professor at Yale and George Washington University. She specialized on comparative political economy of development and published widely on various aspects of Turkey’s political economy ranging from regional cooperation, welfare provision, poverty and informality, problems of developmentalism, populism as well as Turkey-EU relations.
Selected Work: Öz, Özlem and Eder, Mine (2018). ‘Problem Spaces’ and Struggles Over the Right to the City: Challenges of Living Differentially in a Gentrifying Istanbul Neighborhood,’ International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 42.6:1030-1047. Chosen as IJJUR’s best article in 2018.
In this month's episode Jennifer Murtazashvili (University of Pittsburgh) and GLD Director, Ellen Lust, discusses national level reforms and decentralization in Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. Jennifer is the Director of the Center for Governance and Markets and Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research explores questions of governance, political economy, security, and development. Drawing from diverse research methods including field experiments, public opinion surveys, and ethnographic fieldwork, Murtazashvili focuses her work on Central and South Asia, and the former Soviet Union. She also has experience advising for the U.S. Department of Defense, the United Nations Development Program, and UNICEF.
Selected Work: Jochem, T., Murtazashvili, I., & Murtazashvili, J. (2016). "Establishing local government in fragile states: Experimental evidence from Afghanistan." World Development, 77, 293-310. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X15002065
In this episode Geoffrey Hughes (University of Exeter) talks about his work in his GLD working paper "Tribes without Sheikhs? Technological Change, Media Liberalization, and Authority in Networked Jordan." The discussion centres on the changing nature of authority due to the rapidly evolving media sector.
Geoffrey Hughes is a lecturer in anthropology at the University of Exeter. His research and teaching focus on the politics of everyday life in the contemporary Middle East, with an emphasis on kinship, gender, Islam, and the state. He has spent over four years living and working in the region, including over two years conducting long-term ethnographic research in Jordan. He has published extensively on how people living in the Middle East work to re-imagine a range of globally circulating technologies for large-scale population management, from Facebook-mediated blood feuds to the information infrastructures of government Sharia Courts.
In this special edition of the GLD podcast Boniface Dulani discusses traditional leadership and authority in Malawi and the impact these structures have on the country's political system at both the local and national level.
The podcast was recorded live in Malawi during a field visit as part of our ongoing SSA project.
Boniface holds a Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Political Science from Michigan State University in the United States (2011). Dr. Dulani brings to IPOR a rich experience in conducting survey research in Africa through his involvement as a senior member of the Afrobarometer- a pan- Africanist research network that undertakes a series of public opinion surveys on governance, democracy, markets, livelihoods and other related topics in over 35 African countries. His areas of research interest include governance and democracy, presidential politics, politics of development, rural development, civil society and other related topics. Dr. Dulani is a Senior Lecturer in Political Science of at Chancellor College of the University of Malawi and also serves as the Fieldwork Operations Manager for Southern and Francophone Africa in the Afrobarometer.
Selected Work: Muriaas, R. L., Wang, V., Benstead, L., Dulani, B., & Rakner, L. (2019). Why the gender of traditional authorities matters: Intersectionality and women’s rights advocacy in Malawi. Comparative Political Studies, 52(12), 1881-1924.
Ian Shapiro discusses his new book "Responsible Parties: Saving Democracy from Itself" with GLD Director, Ellen Lust. Democracies across the world are adopting reforms to bring politics closer to the people. Parties have turned to primaries and local caucuses to select candidates. Ballot initiatives and referenda allow citizens to enact laws directly. Yet voters keep getting angrier. Here, the author argues that devolving power to the grassroots is part of the problem, not the solution. Ian Shapiro is Sterling Professor of Political Science at Yale University, where he also serves as Henry R. Luce Director of the MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies. He has written widely and influentially on democracy, justice, and the methods of social inquiry. A native of South Africa, he received his J.D. from the Yale Law School and his Ph.D from the Yale Political Science Department where he has taught since 1984 and served as chair from 1999 to 2004. Shapiro is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is a past fellow of the Carnegie Corporation, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. He has held visiting appointments at the University of Cape Town, Keio University in Tokyo, Sciences Po in Paris, and Nuffield College, Oxford.
His most recent books are "The Real World of Democratic Theory" (Princeton University Press, 2012), "Politics Against Domination" (Harvard University Press, 2016), and, with Frances Rosenbluth, "Responsible Parties: Saving Democracy from Itself" (Yale University Press, 2018). His current research concerns the relations between democracy and the distribution of income and wealth.
Selected Work: Shapiro, I. (2019). "Anxieties of Democracy and Distribution."
Dominic Burbidge discusses his new book An Experiment In Devolution, National Unity and the Deconstruction of the Kenyan State. Following the introduction of a new constitution in 2010, Kenya has implemented one of the most radical and far-reaching decentralization programs in Africa. This podcast outlines the events leading up to the new constitution, as well as the ramifications of these sweeping reforms.
Dominic Burbidge is a Research Associate of the Programme for the Foundations of Law and Constitutional Government in the Faculty of Law. He received his doctorate in Oriel College, University of Oxford, and his masters in St Antony's College, before working as a Postdoctoral Researcher in Princeton University and then a Departmental Lecturer in Oxford's School of Interdisciplinary Area Studies. He has also previously been a Postdoctoral Research Officer in Oxford's Faculty of Law. He holds particular expertise in Kenya's radical devolution of government functions under the 2010 constitution. He has written on how the legal changes are being navigated locally, as well as on the broader theory of subsidiarity and decentralisation.
Selected Works: Burbidge, D., & Cheeseman, N. (2017). Trust, ethnicity and integrity in East Africa: Experimental evidence from Kenya and Tanzania. Journal of Race, Ethnicity and Politics, 2(1), 88-123.
Pierre F. Landry discusses China's rapid urbanization and the institutional challenges that arise due to these seismic demographic shifts. The conversation centres on China's massive bureaucratic system and how both local and national levels of this system compete for financial resources and influence. Pierre F. Landry is a Professor of Government and Public Administration at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and co-director of the Universities Service Centre for China Studies at CUHK. His training was in economics and law at Sciences-Po in Paris and holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Michigan. He is also an alumnus of the Hopkins-Nanjing program. His research interests focus on Asian and Chinese politics, comparative local government, quantitative comparative analysis, and survey research. His has published on governance and the political management of officials in China. Besides articles and book chapters in comparative politics and political methodology, he is a collaborating scholar of the GLD Program in Gothenburg as well as a Research Fellow at the Research Center for the Study of Contemporary China at Peking University. He also collaborates with the Governance and Local Development project as well as the UNDP and the World Bank on developing indicators of the variability of local governance in a variety of countries.
Selected Works: Chen, J., Davis, D. S., & Landry, P. F. (2017). Beyond Hukou Reform: Enhancing Human-Centered Urbanization in China. Paulson Policy Memorandum.
Jon Pierre, professor of political science at Gothenburg University, discusses his 2011 book The Politics of Urban Governance. Outlining his four models on governance, Pierre explores the changing dynamics of governance and government in 21st-century cities, and discusses its implications on everyday living for the urban citizen. Jon Pierre is a research professor in the department of political science, University of Gothenburg and professor of public governance at the Melbourne School of Government, University of Melbourne. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh. He has held numerous overseas visiting appointments, most recently at the City University of Hong Kong, University of Melbourne and University of Auckland.
Selected Works: Pierre, J. (2019). Multilevel governance as a strategy to build capacity in cities: Evidence from Sweden. Journal of Urban Affairs, 41(1), 103-116.
Yeşim Arat discusses the ongoing political and demographic transformations in Turkey and their impacts on the country's key institutions, including the judiciary, the military, and the media.
Yeşim is a Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Boğaziçi University, Istanbul. She has numerous articles on questions of women’s political participation and Islam in Turkey and books entitled, The Patriarchal Paradox: Women Politicians in Turkey (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1989), Rethinking Islam and Liberal Democracy: Islamist Women in Turkish Politics (State University of New York Press, 2005).
Selected Works:
Arat, Y., & Pamuk, Ş. (2019). Turkey between Democracy and Authoritarianism. Cambridge University Press. Available at: www.cambridge.org/core/books/turke…568CBA04B1BAE2B2
Marwa Shalaby discusses her research on women's political participation in the MENA region, with GLD Program Director Ellen Lust. Utilizing her research in Kuwait, Egypt, Jordan and Morocco, Marwa explores the obstacles faced by many female legislators, and outlines how these challenges can be overcome. Marwa M. Shalaby is an assistant professor in the departments of Gender and Women's Studies and Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has been awarded the prestigious Anna Julia Cooper Fellowship for the academic year 2019-20. Prior to joining the University of Wisconsin, Shalaby was the Fellow for the Middle East and Director of the Women’s Rights in the Middle East Program at Rice University and a Visiting Scholar in the Governance and Local Development Institute (GLD), the University of Gothenburg. Shalaby has taught classes on research methodology, gender and politics, and the politics of the Middle East. She currently serves on the editorial boards of Politics and Religion and Review of Economics and Political Science.
Selected Works: Hassan, M., & Shalaby, M. (2019). Drivers of Tolerance in Post-Arab Spring Egypt: Religious, Economic, or Government Endorsements? Political Research Quarterly, 72(2), 293-308.