Institute of Development Studies

All Content

1998: Volume 29

Poverty and Social Exclusion in North and South

Volume 29 Number 1 January 1998 Edited by: Arjan de Haan and Simon Maxwell

This issue of the Bulletin forms one of the first attempts to ask how relevant is the new writing on social exclusion that has been largely in and about the North, to the large body of work on poverty and poverty reduction in the South. The contributors explore the usefulness of this concept that explains in particular the institutional processes by which the poor are excluded from participating in society. They argue that the new thinking on social exclusion promises the beginning of a fertile dialogue between North and South:; that the debate in the North does offer new lessons for the South, and, conversely, that there are insights from the South that will enrich debate in the North.

The Bank, The State and Development

Volume 29 Number 2 May 1998 Edited by: Alison Evans and Mick Moore

When the 1997 World Development Report was released it was widely perceived that there had been a substantial shift in the public position of the World Bank in relation to the role of government in development. Generally this has been seen as a change from a state-sceptical to a state-friendly stance. In this Bulletin, European aid and development professionals critically examine the significant contribution that the WDR97 makes to the debate about the role of government in development. They explore the 'strategy' advocated by the Report's authors of 'matching role to capability'; adapting what governments do, and how they do it, to their capability. In doing so they address two main sets of issues: the validity of the views of the role of the state in development contained in WDR97, and the process by which the WDR97 was produced, involving questions about the role f the World Bank itself.

Transition to What? Restarting Development After Communism

Volume 29 Number 3 July 1998 Edited by: Thomas Lines

This Bulletin examines the European and Asian countries which are reforming formally Communist centrally-planned economies and one-party states. It goes beyond the frequent preoccupation with monetary policy and measures of economic openness to examine a multi-faceted phenomenon involving all areas of social , political and economic life. Topics include the development of new economic and legal institutions, the sociology of entrepreneurship and trends in the labour market and the mass media in a range of countries from Albania top Russia, Kazakstan and Vietnam.

Micro-Credit: Impact, Targeting and Sustainability

Volume 29 Number 4 October 1998 Edited by: Saurabh Sinha

This IDS Bulletin on ‘Microfinance’ has grown out of a workshop on ‘Recent Research on Microfinance: Implications for Policy’, held at IDS in February, 1998 and organised by the Poverty Research Unit at Sussex (PRUS). The workshop brought together the extraordinary diversity of recently completed and on-going research in the UK, to discuss how research output can inform policy for better outcomes. Participants included people with different perspectives on the issue, from academics to donors and policy makers. While not confined to it, the discussion drew many lessons from the wider experience on microfinance in South Asia, particularly Bangladesh. The workshop covered three broad themes of impact assessment, rural financial sector linkages, and incentive structures. Discussion on these themes was structured around fourteen papers. The proceedings of the workshop have been published. Four papers presented at the workshop have been selected and revised for the Bulletin. The emphasis is primarily on original work that has not been published elsewhere. In addition, there are six invited contributions. It is hoped that the outcome is a comprehensive review of the state of the art, which identifies both practical proposals and a research agenda. The workshop was funded by the Department for International Development (DFID), to whom grateful acknowledgement is made, but to whom no responsibility is attributed.

2016: Volume 47

This is the cover to IDS Bulletin archive issue 1A, 'Connecting Perspectives on Women’s Empowerment'.

Connecting Perspectives on Women’s Empowerment

Volume 47 Number 1A March 2016 Edited by: Deepta Chopra and Catherine Müller

With the formulation of the first ever internationally agreed stand-alone goal on gender equality, debates around women’s empowerment are at a critical juncture. This IDS Bulletin makes a timely contribution to our understanding of how ideas around empowerment have evolved and how we can move forward to expand women’s opportunities and choices and realise women’s empowerment in a meaningful way.

Even though the importance of women’s empowerment is widely accepted, it remains a complex concept that defies precise definitions and easy measurements. Together, the articles in this special Archive Collection demonstrate the depth and breadth of a nuanced analysis of empowerment that has come out of academic scholars writing at the cutting edge of this field.

The editors reflect on the interconnectedness of the economic, social and political components of empowerment. In doing so they highlight the significant gaps in policy and programming aimed at furthering processes and outcomes for women’s empowerment. Casting an eye to the future, they draw our attention to two relevant debates that merit further unpacking – that of inequality, and the question of how the Sustainable Development Goals can contribute to furthering processes of women’s empowerment and gender equality.

Ultimately this IDS Bulletin reminds us that empowerment – implying an expansion of opportunities and the power to make choices – can only be realised through a collective, rather than individualised notion of empowerment that focuses on addressing structural inequality and inequitable power relations, and gives primacy to women’s agency in negotiating and challenging these structures.