The author studies the impact of political economy variables on the spatial distribution of industry. The political game between a single lobby and a partial opportunistic incumbent may alter the economic landscape of a small economy. The trade policy endogenously determined becomes the channel...

The paper starts from the observation that the PRSP logic uses input output logic, meaning that it supposes that the input of ‘civil society participation’ into the policy cycle will inevitably lead to the output of poverty reduction. We argue that ‘civil society participation’ is a very...

The idea of a Basic Income Grant (BIG) has for long been an appealing alternative to the means-tested social security nets associated with the welfare state as we know it. Proponents of BIG highlight as comparative advantages its unconditionality, its inclusiveness and its administrative...

The paper aims to identify the different livelihood profiles that prevail in post-conflict rural Rwanda. By means of exploratory tools such as principal component and cluster analysis, it combines variables that capture natural, physical, human, financial and social resources in combination with...

This paper proposes a methodology for examining the use and relevance of human rights in local communities as they quest to change their reality of poverty, social exclusion or marginalisation. The methodology draws on an innovative conceptual approach denominated ‘localising human rights,’...

In this paper, we explore some of the methodological challenges that evaluators face in assessing the impacts of complex intervention strategies. We illustrate these challenges, using the specific example of an impact evaluation of one of the six focal areas of the Global Environment Facility;...

The EC recently launched a new aid instrument for the ACP-community: the “governance incentive tranche”, a modality designed to incentivise ACP-governments to carry out governance reforms. In this paper we analyse whether this new initiative incorporates the principles spurred by the aid...

The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) of 1986 had been the most far reaching postwar institutional change in rural Philippines. To evaluate the dynamic impact of CARP in the banana sector, we have compared the development of smallholders in both the domestic market and export chains....

The Article explores Rwanda's ongoing social experiment in people's courts (gacaca) from the perspectives of international fair trial standards and normative ethics and seeks to challenge some of the major intuitive and counter-intuitive assumptions regarding the necessity and utility of the...

The World Development Report 2008 highlights the need for a green revolution in Sub-Saharan Africa. This paper reflects upon the visions and ambitions of Rwandan policy makers to make this happen. It first analyses the political economy of Rwanda in a historical perspective. It outlines how...