political economy

Tolkien\’s words from the past are still today\’s words.

In the evenings I am reading few pages of J.R.R. Tokien\’s Lord of the Rings to my daughters. We are into Book  I: The Fellowship of the Ring. Frodo and his friends have just arrived at the village of Bree and are spending the night at the Prancing Pony. Tonight they have joined other travellers in the pub to hear their stories. […]

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‘Are We Policy Analysts?’. Evidence, Policy Analysis and the Knowledge Sector in Indonesia

There are many ways for knowledge and research evidence to reach policy makers and inform policy decisions. One important channel is the analysis by policy analysts in government organizations. In January 2014, the Indonesian Parliament passed a landmark law to modernize the civil service on principles of merit and professionalism (Law No. 5 on Civil

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Doing Development Differently in practice from the Philippines

Jaime Faustino of The Asia Foundation in the Philippines features with two policy local activists in a 10 minutes video documentary produced by ODI\’s Politics and Governance programme. This very well made video documentary describes their development entrepreneurship approach and how they decided to do something about the fact that 12ml Filipino do not have a land title that proves that they own the land where they have built their homes.

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Doing Development Differently, 30 years ago

I was sixteen when the excerpts I post below were published. For thirty-two years (and probably longer than that)  development practitioners, researchers, academics, experts, technocrats, civil servants, elected officials have tackled the uncertainty of development processes. The answer thirty-two years ago as well as today seems to be the same: embrace uncertainty, make the most out of it.

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Into the future? The rise of President Jokowi and the expectations about reforming the research sector in Indonesia

Indonesia\’s 7th President, Joko Widodo, or Jokowi, was inaugurated just two weeks ago. Last weekend he presented his new cabinet, which includes eight women in the post—the highest representation of women in the cabinet so far in Indonesia’s history.  This is a time of fast change. There is a positive mood and many expectations. I watched some of the the images broadcasted

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Indonesia Etc.: complexity and development amongst cultural and temporal diversity

Is it possible to build a nation as complex as Indonesia before fully understanding its complexity? What is holding Indonesia together despite its diversity? Is decentralization good for Indonesia? These are some of the questions that were asked last week at the Habibie and Ainun Library in South Jakarta during the presentation of the new

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Article 18: political language, media and the shrinking space for evidence in Italy

  Italians like to talk about politics. Political talk shows have been popular but they seem to have reached a saturation point. Too many of them. In the morning. Later afternoon. Evening. Some shows are better than others but they also start to all look alike. The same politicians and journalists as guests. Not always

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