The Politics of Development: Institutions, Incentives, and Ideas

A pathbreaking introduction to the controversial, contested and deeply political topic of development. Written in an engaging and eminently readable style, leading authors invite readers to examine the political dynamics behind some of today’s most complex global issues, from rising inequality and social exclusion to the climate crisis. By confronting false assumptions and dispelling myths, the book challenges readers to see politics as not only the obstacle to development, but also the means to achieve it.

The Politics of Development is grounded in the everyday challenges facing people around the world in accessing the vital resources they need to survive and thrive. It illustrates the unavoidable reality that politics shapes who gets what, when, how; whether in family settings, local communities, national stages or global arenas. It provides readers with a clear roadmap for action centred on institutions, interests, and ideas, to better navigate competing demands and push forward profound change.

There are no easy answers to the politics of development – instead, this book provides the analytical tools to understand why getting development right can be so hard and how you can positively respond to some of the critical challenges facing governments, societies and citizens around the world today.

This text is essential reading for any student of the politics of development or Development Studies, at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Claire Mcloughlin is Associate Professor of Politics and Development, University of Birmingham, UK

Sameen Ali is Assistant Professor of International Development, University of Birmingham, UK

Kailing Xie is Assistant Professor of International Development, University of Birmingham, UK

Nicholas Cheeseman is Professor of Democracy and International Development, University of Birmingham, UK

David Hudson is Professor of Politics and Development, University of Birmingham, UK

Claire is a political sociologist with more than 15 years' experience of researching, teaching, and advising international aid agencies on development. She is lead author and editor of The Politics of Development (SAGE, 2024). She was Director of Research for the Developmental Leadership Programme (2017-2022). Best known for her work on the politics of service delivery, its effects on state legitimacy, and the role of non-state actors in providing services, she has published in numerous journals, including World Development, Governance, Public Administration and Development, and Development in Practice.

Sameen completed her PhD in Politics and International Studies from SOAS University of London in 2018. Her dissertation investigated relationships of patronage amongst politicians and bureaucrats in Pakistan as a means of targeting service delivery.

Sameen is a member of the Education, Justice and Memory Network (EdJAM), an AHRC GCRF funded project investigating the teaching and learning of violent pasts in Pakistan, the UK, Cambodia, Colombia, and Uganda. She is Co-Director of the Women in Public Service in Pakistan Oral History Archive Project and a fellow at the Mahbub-ul-Haq Research Centre (MHRC), both based at the Lahore University of Management Sciences.

Dr Kailing Xie joined IDD as lecturer in International Development in 2021. Before coming to Birmingham, she was a Teaching Fellow in Gender and International Development at the Department of Politics and International Development at the University of Warwick after completing her PhD in Centre for Women's Studies at the University of York in 2018. Dr Xie is also a Fellow in recognition of attainment against the UK Professional Standards Framework for teaching and learning support in higher education.

Kailing takes a critical approach to International Development. Her work investigates the underlying social, cultural and political tensions underpinning China's economic success through the lens of gender. She aims to uncover real people's lived experience of different development projects against the backdrop of China's rise on the global stage. Her recent monography, Embodying middle class gender aspirations: perspectives from China's privileged young women, illuminates the centrality of heterosexual marriage as a primary institution in the organisation and reproduction of labour for the market economy, imbued with gendered inequality.

Her article on 'Premarital Abortion' was awarded the 2017 Early Career Researcher Prize by the British Association of Chinese Studies.