Institute of Development Studies

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1999: Volume 30

East Asia: What Happened to the Development Miracle?

Volume 30 Number 1 January 1999

This Bulletin presents the key background papers from a major conference on the East Asian Crisis held at IDS in July 1998. A group of experts from different backgrounds, including international finance, macroeconomic and social policy, and development strategy, came together to discuss the causes of the crisis. With a foreword by Clare Short MP, this Bulletin offers different perspectives on events and discusses how future crises might be better managed or even prevented.

Nationalising The Anti-Poverty Agenda?

Volume 30 Number 2 May 1999

The New Poverty Agenda, along with many other neo-liberal orthodoxies of the 1980s and early 1990s is withering away as rapid political and ideological shifts take place at the global level and within the domain of international development policy. Whilst this Bulletin celebrates that fact, it also urges caution.

First, because these are changes in attitude, not a great breakthrough in actually doing anything to reduce poverty.

Second, because neo-liberalism will not disappear over night but will remain influential for years to come.

Third, the Bulletin questions whether an internationally-defined anti-poverty agenda is really a good thing and will not serve to undermine rather than enhance anti-poverty efforts. It queries whether in fact we should seek to nationalise rather than internationalise the anti-poverty agenda in poor countries.

Globalisation and the Governance of the Environment

Volume 30 Number 3 July 1999

It is sometimes argued that the term ‘globalisation’ is misleading because it describes a trend which is largely confined to the relations between a small number of highly industrialised states and firms operating within East Asia, North America and Europe. This Bulletin demonstrates, however, that it is a process with repercussions extending far beyond the power centres of the global economy, to the lives of most people. In particular, it refers to the impact of the internationalisation of trade, production and finance upon the world of environmental politics. The Bulletin focuses on change in the institutions and actors working on the environment, brought about by the developments taking place in the global economy. At the same time, it highlights how these actors are shaping the course of that economic change. 

Politics in Development: Essays in Honour of Gordon White

Volume 30 Number 4 October 1999

The articles in this Bulletin arise from a conference held to honour the memory of IDS Fellow, Gordon White. Spanning a wide range of subjects, the Bulletin can be divided into four substantive areas: politics in the state, civil society, welfare and globalisation. There is a focus on East Asia, particularly China, reflecting Gordon White’s own interests and work in the region. The articles are united by their links to one or both meanings of ‘politics in development’.

2000: Volume 31

Accountablity Through Participation: Developing Workable Partnership Models in the Health Sector

Volume 31 Number 1 January 2000 Edited by: Andrea Cornwall, Henry Lucas and Kath Pasteur

In recent years there has been a major shift in attitudes from viewing communities as passive recipients of health care, to adoption of new approaches seeking to make more of the potential that active community participation might offer for enhanced accountability and improved responsiveness of services. This issue explores the challenges that have been thrown up as a result of this change of emphasis.