Short Abstract

How do diverse external actors (i.e. international agencies, donors and NGOs) interact non-publicly with national actors (i.e. governments, state institutions and civil society organisations) over social protection policy-making and implementation, and with what consequences?

Long Abstract

This panel will open the ‘black box’ of interactions between the external actors (i.e. international agencies, donors and NGOs) involved in the promotion of social protection in contemporary Africa and between them and national actors (i.e. governments, state institutions and civil society organisations) over policy-making and implementation. The global expansion of social protection – including especially social assistance, in terms of the number, diversity, reach and cost of programmes – has generated a rapidly-expanding scholarly literature on Africa (as elsewhere). It is now well documented that external actors have been important players in the uneven expansion of social protection and have employed a variety of public activities to promote their preferred reforms. There is also a growing literature on the varied and shifting preferences within these external actors. The papers in this panel will consider the contestation and cooperation between external actors, their non-public interactions with national actors and the consequences of the differences between external actors and between their practices. The papers in the panel will hopefully form the basis of a special issue of an appropriate journal. Contributions will consider topics such as: country-or programme-level case-studies of ‘negotiation’ processes; the comparison of negotiations between countries (for example, how specific external actors pushed the ‘graduation’ model for governments in multiple countries); the evolution of negotiation strategies and tactics over time; coordination and contestation between donors and other external actors in individual countries or globally (for example, through SPIAC-B); and external and national actors’ perceptions of each other.

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