In Pursuit of Development
Episodes
A world of insecurity — Pranab Bardhan
16 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Pranab Bardhan is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. He has undertaken pioneering research on ...
Do morals matter? — Joseph S. Nye
09 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Joseph S. Nye is the University Distinguished Service Professor, Emeritus and former Dean of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University....
Globalization and Asian Geopolitics — Shivshankar Menon
02 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As India’s stature across the globe increases, there is considerable interest in better understanding how its foreign policy is likely to evolve. In...
The power of small states — Ine Eriksen Søreide
26 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ine Eriksen Søreide served as Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2017 to 2021 – the first woman in the country’s history to hold the po...
Why we need a different system of global development — Jeffrey D. Sachs
19 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Jeffrey D. Sachs is University Professor at Columbia University in New York. He was the Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University (2002-2...
Rich countries’ climate policies are colonialism in green — Vijaya Ramachandran
12 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Vijaya Ramachandran argues that blanket bans on fossil-fuel funds will entrench poverty. By pushing a renewables only model on developing countries, a...
Is it the end of democracy in Africa? — Nic Cheeseman
15 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Nic Cheeseman is Professor of Democracy at the University of Birmingham and was formerly the Director of the African Studies Centre at the University ...
Does the Nobel Peace Prize Promote Peace? — Henrik Urdal
10 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This year’s Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov for their courageous fight for freedom of expression in the Philipp...
Travelling While Black — Nanjala Nyabola
08 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Nanjala Nyabola, the Kenya-based writer, advocate, activist and political analyst has written a wonderful new book titled "Travelling While Black: ...
Beating the Odds: Jump-Starting Developing Countries — Justin Yifu Lin
01 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Justin Yifu Lin is the former Chief Economist of the World Bank. He is one of China’s leading economists and has worked extensively on the indus...
Bangladesh's development journey — Imran Matin
24 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Bangladesh has witnessed a remarkable turnaround in recent decades. From being termed as a “basket case” by the American Under Secretary of Polit...
States, markets and foreign aid — Simone Dietrich
17 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Simone Dietrich is an Associate Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Geneva. Her research interests are in ...
The UN in a post-pandemic world — Achim Steiner
10 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Achim Steiner is UNDP Administrator. He has served across the United Nations system. He was the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Na...
Local resistance against coal in Lamu, Kenya — Raya Ahmed, Omar Elmawi, Gino Cocchiaro
03 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Guests:Raya Ahmed is a climate justice defender from Lamu. She holds Bachelor of Science in Development Studies and is the founder of Lamu Women Allia...
Living in a Materials World: Extractives on the road to Net Zero — Tony Addison
27 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tony Addison is a Professor of Economics, University of Copenhagen in the Development Economics Research Group. He was a Chief Economist and Deputy D...
Electrifying India — Elizabeth Chatterjee
20 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Elizabeth Chatterjee is an assistant professor of environmental history at the University of Chicago. Her research explores how non-Western energ...
Why is the West obsessed with changing China? — Xu Qinduo
13 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Xu Qinduo is a political analyst, news columnist and an adjunct professor at Renmin University’s School of Journalism and Communication. He is also...
What went wrong with COVAX, the vast global vaccine program? — Katerini Storeng
06 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Katerini Storeng is an associate professor at the Centre for Development and the Environment at the University of Oslo. She directs the interdiscipl...
Beyond the Bottom Billion — Paul Collier
29 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to season 3!Our first guest this season is Sir Paul Collier, Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government an...
The remarkable expansion of South–South Cooperation — Emma Mawdsley
30 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to the final episode of season 2. We’ve had some great guests this season and the show has attracted thousands of new listeners in large par...
Popular mobilization against dams in Myanmar — Kyungmee Kim
23 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Many of you may have heard about instances of local communities mobilising against the construction of dams in various parts of the world. But it turn...
Politics of the poor — Indrajit Roy
16 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Even though the world is richer today than ever before, a large number of people do not share in those riches, even in democracies. So, what does livi...
Religion and democratic mobilization in Brazil – Amy Erica Smith
09 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In a splendid book titled– Religion and Brazilian Democracy: Mobilizing the People of God – Amy Erica Smith examines the causes and consequenc...
"Global Britain": Inspired vision or wishful thinking? — Mark Miller
02 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Following Brexit, Britain has expressed a desire to play an important new role in world affairs. The idea of "Global Britain" has thus made a comeback...
How does digital technology affect healthcare? — Vincent Duclos
26 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
There is considerable attention on the pivotal role that digital technology can play in providing better healthcare. The term “digital health” is ...
Reimagining development — Hannah Ryder
19 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Do current “development” structures work? If not, why? And what solutions are out there that place greater agency in low-income countries to sha...
Navigating by judgment to achieve development impact — Dan Honig
12 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In an excellent book on how aid agencies manage foreign aid projects, Dan Honig argues that tight top-down controls and a focus on target-setting and...
Democracy and crisis response in India — Patralekha Chatterjee
05 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
India is experiencing a devastating second wave of the pandemic. Indeed, the country appears to be going through one of the darkest moments in i...
The globalization of foreign aid — Liam Swiss
28 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Why do aid agencies from wealthy donor countries with diverse domestic political and economic contexts arrive at very similar positions on certain for...
Nigeria and the inadequacies of the resource curse thesis – Zainab Usman
21 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
There is considerable academic literature on the resource curse thesis which aims to explain why resource-rich countries have not benefited from their...
Can we domesticate the state or will it domesticate us? — James C. Scott
14 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
With many path-breaking books, James C. Scott has for long been a key figure in Southeast Asian Studies and in the comparative study of agrarian socie...
Population and development: Risks and opportunities — Lauren Johnston
07 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
An article in The Economist magazine in September 2018 argued that high birth rates is one of the main culprits for pervasive poverty on the African...
Imperialism and the developing world — Atul Kohli
31 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Western imperialism has fundamentally shaped the developing world. In particular, Great Britain and the United States – the dominant capitalist powe...
Summit diplomacy and African agency — Folashadé Soulé
24 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Several countries are vying for the African continent’s attention. While there has been considerable attention on China’s and India’s motives an...
India-Africa relations — Renu Modi
17 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
While a considerable amount of world attention is focused on China’s commanding presence on the African continent and the impact of Beijing’s ambi...
Corruption and political settlements — Mushtaq Khan
10 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
One of the dominant explanations for elusive development in many parts of the world is the negative role played by corruption in the development pr...
The impact of the sustainable development concept — Frank Biermann
03 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Since its inception in the international development discourse in the late 1980s, sustainable development has often been celebrated for its rhetoric...
The future of aid — Jonathan Glennie
24 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
International public finance, that is required to address global challenges in the decades to come, is woefully inadequate. And rather than aid, which...
Vaccine nationalism and vaccine equity — Antoine de Bengy Puyvallée
20 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
I was recently made aware of the fact that 10 wealthy countries have monopolized 75% of all vaccinations delivered worldwide. This has led the United ...
Knowledge production and network-building in China’s foreign relations — Lina Benabdallah
17 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Within international relations theory and foreign policy circles, there is considerable interest in understanding China’s rise to power. In an excit...
How to distribute a Covid-19 vaccine ethically — Aksel Braanen Sterri
13 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As Covid vaccines become available, health officials, policymakers, philanthropic organizations and people like you and me are being confronted with n...
How India became the "pharmacy of the world" — Rory Horner
10 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
One of the many ways in which India has expanded its influence in global affairs relates to pharmaceutical products. The Indian pharmaceutical sector ...
Political violence and development — Patricia Justino
02 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
People living in areas prone to, or affected by, conflict tend to suffer from many types of deprivation. Some scholars argue that conflict is an imp...
Gro Harlem Brundtland on sustainable development, global responses to COVID-19 and the role of the WHO
26 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Our guest this week is Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, the former prime minister of Norway and former head of the World Health Organization. Gro has had a...
Political development and political decay — Francis Fukuyama
19 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to season 2 of the show!Our first guest this season is Francis Fukuyama, one of the most influential political thinkers of our time and someon...
Simmering political tensions and civil war in Ethiopia — Kjetil Tronvoll
18 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The focus of this final episode of season 1 is Ethiopia, where the ongoing conflict between the federal government in Addis and the Tigray People’s ...
Economic boom, poverty reduction and corruption in China — Yuen Yuen Ang
11 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
China has not only achieved impressive economic growth in recent decades, but has also managed to lift hundreds of millions people out of poverty. How...
The impact of democracy on economic growth — Carl Henrik Knutsen
04 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Some of the most interesting debates on development include the role of democracy in promoting economic growth and then distributing the benefits of g...
Global inequality and the future of capitalism — Branko Milanovic
28 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Income inequality has received considerable attention in recent years. Very few would have predicted that a very thick academic book on wealth and in...
China-Africa relations — Eric Olander
21 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This show has been regularly discussing Beijing’s support for sustainable development initiatives, its provision of aid, technical expertise and fin...
Food insecurity and the Nobel Peace Prize 2020 — Ida Rudolfsen
17 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Nobel Peace Prize this year was awarded to the World Food Program (WFP). In its announcement, the Norwegian Nobel committee emphasized that “pro...
Why democracy will prevail in the contest against authoritarian alternatives — Larry Diamond
14 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In his recent book – ll Winds: Saving Democracy from Russian Rage, Chinese Ambition, and American Complacency (Penguin 2019) – Larry Diamond analy...
What the West does not understand about China — Liu Baocheng
10 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Much of the discourse in the Western media in recent months has highlighted the rising tensions between the United States and China and the growing as...
China’s Belt and Road Initiative and infrastructure development in Africa — Gyude Moore
07 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A couple of months ago, Liberia’s former minister of public works, Gyude Moore argued in a popular Tweet that Western critiques of Beijing’s ambi...
Dam diplomacy and water sharing agreements in the Nile basin — Ashok Swain
30 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The growing tensions between the Nile Basin countries – Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan – over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam has made news headli...
Legislative development in Africa — Ken Ochieng' Opalo
23 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Studying the role of institutions and their evolution often helps us better understand political and economic development in countries all over the wo...
Why AIDS interventions in Africa often fail — Kim Yi Dionne
16 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As the international community addresses numerous development challenges, we must often pause, reflect, and ask: Do good intentions lead to good resul...
India’s development and the political economy of growth — Kunal Sen
09 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
With the phenomenal growth of its economy in recent years and its longstanding democratic record, India — the world's largest democracy — has emer...
Globalization, the Nordic model and the economics of belonging — Martin Sandbu
02 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Martin Sandbu has an exciting new book, The Economics of Belonging: A Radical Plan to Win Back the Left Behind and Achieve Prosperity for All (Princ...
The historic court ruling in Malawi annulling the 2019 presidential elections — Edge Kanyongolo
26 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In a landmark ruling in February of this year, Malawi’s High Court concluded that the country’s president Peter Mutharika was “not duly elect...
The need to politicize development economics — Ingrid Harvold Kvangraven
19 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Ingrid Harvold Kvangraven's research focuses on the role of finance in development, structural features of underdevelopment, the political economy of...
Pakistan's healthcare system and its recent success in fighting Covid — Usman Mushtaq
12 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As the Covid pandemic continues to dominate world headlines, there is growing interest in better understanding how some low and middle-income countrie...
How Black Lives Matter is also a reckoning for foreign aid and international NGOs — Degan Ali
05 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Many have highlighted the need for equity and justice in the field of foreign aid and humanitarian assistance. Local civil society organizations (CSOs...
How is India handling the pandemic? A conversation with Tathagata Satpathy
29 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Although India faces numerous challenges – a huge population, rising unemployment, growing environmental vulnerabilities – there is general agreem...
The relevance of foreign aid — Bård Vegar Solhjell
22 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
For decades, the mantra of globalization supported increased foreign aid to, and trade with, low-income countries. The proclaimed goal was to reduce p...
Chinese aid and South-South Cooperation — Marina Rudyak
08 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
China is on everyone’s mind these days. It is not just related to the origins of Covid. There is considerable global attention on Beijing’s tense ...
State capacity in Latin America — Benedicte Bull
01 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
There have been numerous news reports in recent weeks pointing to how Covid will damage Latin America more severely than many other world regions. Sev...
Erik Solheim on sustainable development
24 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Our world is facing considerable challenges, not just in relation to the Covid crisis, but also in terms of our desire to eradicate extreme pove...
Democracy, development and Covid response in Africa — Boniface Dulani
17 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Malawi is my second home. Every year, for the past fifteen years, I have made numerous trips from Norway to this beautiful country in Southern Africa...
The population question
08 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Much of Africa is experiencing high birth rates and certain countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria are projected to witness m...
Dreaming of electricity
08 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, I begin by discussing India's achievements in improving access to electricity before providing a brief overview of electricity access...
Crises and leadership
08 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Covid-19 has confronted leaders with a crisis that they probably never expected in their lifetime. With the growing demand for, and resistance against...
China in a post-Covid world
08 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, I discuss why China’s role and influence will continue to expand in a post Covid-19 world. In the initial months of the crisis in e...
Introducing: In Pursuit of Development
08 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Hi everyone, I’m Dan Banik. And welcome to the In Pursuit of Development podcast. I am a professor of political science at the University of Oslo, ...