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- Convenor:
-
Caroline Hughes
(University of Notre Dame)
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- Location:
- F21(Richmond building)
- Start time:
- 8 September, 2017 at
Time zone: Europe/London
- Session slots:
- 2
Short Abstract:
Under Neo-liberalism the whole notion of partnerships is embedded in the idea of reducing state intervention and responsibilities and devolving power to non - state actors. This supports the perception that involving non-state actors, such as private corporations, civil society organisations, and philanthropist in development will lead to more effective outcomes, through a ‘sharing of responsibilities. This panel explore partnerships between a range of actors, including state agencies, private sector actors and NGOs.
Long Abstract:
Partnership has been central to the development agenda for more than two decades. The rise of partnerships reflected a fundamental shift in conceptions of the nature of governance and development, in the context of the twin imperatives of globalization and neoliberalization.
These were characterised by negotiated, shifting and context-specific relationships between a range of actors, including state agencies, private sector actors and non-profit organisations. However, there is paradoxical tension between public private partnerships that aim to ease conditions of poverty and the business interests of corporate partners. This form of partnerships shows how the boundaries between state, civil society and the private sector have blurred such that it is no longer clear who acts on behalf of the poor and protects their rights, and who serves to maintain existing power relations and associated structures in society. Partnerships have become central to the conduct of development, with far-reaching implications for key elements of modern politics, such as representation, accountability and distributional justice. This panel addresses these questions in the context of the shift since 2008 from an era of neoliberalism and globalization to a post-aid, post-sustainable world. How is our understanding of the politics and utility of development partnerships affected by three contemporary trends: the decline of (neo-)liberal politics in favour of populism, authoritarianism across Global North and Global South; the changing geography of poverty and aid; and the decreasing likelihood of finding a response to climate change that can avert massive loss of life?
Accepted papers:
Session 1Caroline Hughes (University of Notre Dame) Behrooz Morvaridi (University of Bradford)
Paper short abstract:
In the context of neo-liberal development strategies, partnerships are built around a negotiated common set of interests and are driven by a belief that market relations are the most effective setting for the realisation of interests for both poor people and global capital.
Paper long abstract:
Critics of such neoliberal approaches argue, that partnerships are in fact a unequal vehicle for offering global capital access to local assets through the construction of supply chains. . This has resulted in partnerships with a number of private and multinational corporations, institutionalizing a market-based approach and a business sector model into development programmes and projects whose aim is to integrate resources of the Global South more effectively into the global economy. In this paper we discuss the political economy of North-South research partnerships. The increased salience of "local knowledge" in contemporary approaches to the study of development and peace entails that previously Northern-dominated knowledge construction and reproduction processes appear increasingly inadequate as a basis for effective policy in the fields of peacebuilding and statebuilding and in development practice more broadly. The "local turn" in the study of peace, conflict and development creates an imperative for Southern participation in supplying data and analysis for theoretical and policy innovation. While articulated as negotiated agreements serving the interests of both contracting parties, in fact research partnerships are skewed in favour of Northern partners due to stark inequalities of resources and cultural capital embedded in the historical development and contemporary institutional formations of academia. Northern and Southern partners face different structural conditions of participation in such partnerships.
In this paper we discuss the political economy of North-South research partnerships, asking:
1. What structural constraints affect North-South research collaboration?
3. How does this affect knowledge production about development challenges?
Sanae Ito (Nagoya University)
Paper short abstract:
The old ties between foreign aid and national commercial interest are being revived in East Asia. This paper analyses the shifting politics of partnerships in East Asia by examining how Japan repositions itself to forge new partnerships with East Asian donors as well as private sector corporations.
Paper long abstract:
This paper examines the changing aid narrative that is reviving the old ties between foreign aid and national interest in East Asia. Such trends may be unfolding globally, but East Asian donors are particularly receptive to the shifting aid narrative due to the historical trajectories of state-centric development experiences. Here emerging donors' South-South cooperation built on the spirit of solidarity combines with East Asia's mercantilist approaches to development to produce a form of East-South alliance that emphasizes mutually beneficial horizontal partnerships and the state's role in promoting trade, investment, and development cooperation as a package. In this milieu the idea of public-private partnerships takes on a new meaning, allowing for active participation of private corporations, small and large, in state-led development cooperation intended to pursue national interest. In the meantime, the role assigned by the state to civil society organizations is shrinking fast. The paper examines the politics of these partnerships in East Asia with a particular focus on the process by which Japan, one of Asia's only two DAC member countries, realigns its development policies with those of other East Asian donors. The growing recognition globally of private finance as an important source for development facilitates this shift. It also helps that the principle of universality underlying the SDGs blurs the distinction between foreign aid and other kinds of development cooperation. The paper argues that the combination of these factors grants Japan leeway to use aid as a 'catalyst' for encouraging private-sector investment abroad by their own private corporations.
Babatunde Olawoore (University of Portsmouth) Palash Kamruzzaman (University of South Wales)
Paper short abstract:
The NGO sector has been widely criticised for their failure to demonstrate the ideas of partnership in practice, especially between INGOs and SNGOs. The paper argues that local NGOs are empowered through partnership to have more influence on the agendas and encourages accountability to local NGOs
Paper long abstract:
The NGO sector has been widely criticised for their failure to demonstrate the ideas of partnership in practice, especially between INGOs and their Southern NGO partners. Previous literature argues that the conventional partnership principles often fail in practice because INGOs wield power and influence over their local NGO partners based on funding system. Based on a case study of ActionAid Nigeria and its local NGO partners, this paper investigates whether the meaning and interpretation of NGO partnership can vary due to the position and status of partner organisations. It also examines whether some of the key aspects of partnership are undermined in actual practice. The study employed semi-structured interviews, focus group interviews, documents analysis, and a direct observation of ActionAid's Partnership Forum, 2014. Empirical observations show that there is a common understanding of the key partnership principles and values between these sets of NGOs. All the informants claimed that they strive to demonstrate the ideas of partnership in practice based on their commitment to rights values. This can possibly promote a genuine/effective engagement between INGO donors and their local NGO partners. The result has shown that local NGOs are empowered through partnership to have more influence on the development agendas, which encourages downward accountability to local NGOs, and the ultimate beneficiaries of aid.
Robert Siuciński (University of Łódź)
Paper short abstract:
The new forms of participation in administrative procedures leave more space in decision and rule-making process to private actors. That kind of activities should be analized in comparative perspective to show best practices which promote cooperation, participatory democracy and good governance.
Paper long abstract:
In the recent decades traditional meaning of administrative procedure as a proceedings for the adoption of single-case individual decision are supplemented by rule-making procedures and procedures which lead to implementation of public policy. Application of advanced techniques of governance lead to the change of the classic central position of administrative authority and the view of procedure as a procedure "before" the body of public administration. The private actors of the administrative procedures are not only the parties, but also other persons and legal entities, social organisations, ombudsman or NGO's. The new forms of participation leave more space for them and share administrative process between public and private spheres, which concentrates forces for common benefits. It focuses on bringing together and engaging critical stakeholders and administrations at a national and transnational level therefore that kind of activities must be analized in comparative perspective targeted to show best practices for the promotion of public-private cooperation, participatory democracy and good governance. Collaboration between administrations, and between administrations and the private sector, is a core principle of the third generation procedures. Inter-agency and public-private collaboration should obtain more in-depth information from relevant actors, and to let them to participate in the regulatory cascade, thereby improving the efficacy and relevance of the regulations established. From that point of view creation of administrative links and networks with using the concept of global governance lead towards a modern dimension of responsibility, accountability, global administrative law and openess of administration, as well as gathering and managing of informations.
Mariam Zabakhidze (WWF Caucasus)
Paper short abstract:
Drawing on the context of power diffusion in the global governance, this paper analyses the extent to which China's Belt and Road Initiative promotes possibility of mutual learning to support international development and to foster "revitalizing the global partnership" (SDG 17).
Paper long abstract:
International development cooperation has gradually shifted from bilateral aid to multilateral cooperation. The rise of (re)emerging powers and an alternative form of development practices has laid a foundation to dismantle the traditional donor-recipient power dynamic, and create a space to achieve mutual prosperity.
This movement, has been underpinned by new initiatives such as China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and the establishment of multilateral financial institutions including the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and New Development Bank (NDB). This shift is in line with the International Development Agenda, summarized by 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which have been built around the commitment to leave no one behind. Although the intention of the post-2015 development world is leaning towards more enhanced cooperation, it lacks clarity on the ways of addressing rooted inequality in development practices to pave the path towards a mutually prosperous world. There is a knowledge gap on the policy level regarding how to identify, implement and monitor joint actions.
This paper aims to investigate the role of China's BRI in the post-2015 development agenda, and the channels through which it can contribute to achieve SDG #17. This paper examines China's approach in international development, along with other actors and multilateral institutions. More specifically, it analyses China-EU cooperation under the BRI to investigate whether the rise of the (re)emerging powers challenge an asymmetrical nature of conventional development approaches, channel development cooperation towards more balanced approaches and facilitate mutual learning to (re)share sustainable development.