Benin is a small, slow-growing economy whose development relies on two sources of rent that are controlled by self-centred elites: cotton export and illegal cross-border trade with Nigeria. Patrimonialism governs Beninese society as a forceful struggle for political power takes place between the...

1. Path creation? Processes and networks : how the Chinese rural tax reform began -- 2. Differentiated actors : central-local politics in reform evolution -- 3. Embedded institutionalization : sustaining reform effects -- 4. State and market in public service provision : opportunities and traps...

Die Herausforderungen, die sich aus dem demographischen Wandel, dem Klimawandel sowie der kommunalen Finanzkrise ergeben, betreffen zentrale Anforderungen an die technische Infrastruktur. Aufgrund ihrer hohen Kosten und der Kapitalbindung sowie ihrer langen Lebensdauer ist ein hohes Maß an...