Academics from the Global Development Institute are presenting papers and convening panels at the annual Development Studies Association conference, which is taking place at the University of Reading 28-30th June 2023. This year’s conference is hybrid, meaning a chance for DSA members to get together in person for the first time since 2019.

The title of the conference is Crisis in the Anthropocene: Rethinking connection and agency in development. The Athropocene – and its conditions, structures and relationships under which we operate – signals a new era in human development in which crises of environment and nature are increasingly take centre stage.

At a time when new challenges are continually emerging in an interconnected world and uncertainty, risk and precarity are the ‘new normal’, this era unsettles and potentially overturns, conventional ways of theorising and practising development.

• See the full programme

Below we have highlighted the panels involving GDI colleagues. In total there are 30 attendees, who between them are presenting 32 papers and convening 4 panels.

 

Wednesday 28 June 2023

Parallel Panels 1 14:30-16:00 BST

P13 (1/3) The political economy of late development [Politics and Political Economy SG]

Convenors: Tom Lavers & Pritish Behuria

• “(Heavy) industrial policy in an era of late development, energy transition and shifting ‘green’ taxonomies: Examining Ghana’s latest plans to build, and power, an integrated bauxite-aluminium industry” (Matthew Tyce, Theophilus Acheampong)
• “Ethiopia’s ‘Developmental State’: Political Order and Distributive Crisis (Tom Lavers)

P79 (1/2) Digital Connections, Agency and Transformation

• “E-government and Digital inequality: a socio-technical analysis of Shenzhen, China case” (Yue Zhai)

Parallel Panels 2 16:30-18:00 BST

P13 (2/3) The political economy of late development [Politics and Political Economy SG]

Convenors: Tom Lavers & Pritish Behuria

• “Defying Dependence? The Political Economy of Rwanda’s Rise” (Pritish Behuria)

P76 (2/2) Governance from below? Non-sate actors, environmental politics and agency in Africa

• “A study of expatriate management of Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs) in Africa in the construction sector” (Yunhao Sun)

P79 (2/2) Digital Connections, Agency and Transformation

• “Employment Effects and The Gendered Digital Capabilities Divide: Evidence from Indonesia” (Namira Samir, David Lawson)

 

Thursday 29 June 2023

Parallel Panels 3 09:00-10:30 BST

P09 (1/3) Digital Transformation for Development ‘SG: Digital Technologies, Data and Development]

Convenors: Richard Heeks, Bookie Ezeomah, Gianluca Iazzolino, Qingna Zhou, Jaco Renken, Rose Pritchard, Aarti Krishnan

• “Digital Transformation for Development: Literature Review and Implications” (Richard Heeks, Qingna Zhou, Gianluca Iazzolino, Bookie Ezeomah, Aarti Krishnan, Rose Pritchard, Jaco Renken)

P13 (3/3) The political economy of late development [Politics and Political Economy SG]

Convenors: Tom Lavers & Pritish Behuria

P30 (1/3) Investigating the politics of crisis in African cities

Convenors: Sam Hickey, Tim Kelsall (ODI), Diana Mitlin and Abdul-Gafaru Abdulai (University of Ghana Business School)

• “Comparing the politics of informal settlements in Freetown and Kampala” (Sam Hickey, Badru Bukenya, Peter Kasaija, Jamie Hitchen, Braima Koroma)
• “Understanding the politics of crisis in African cities through the lens of safety and security: an urban comparison” (Paula Meth, Patience Adzande, Stephen Commins)

P35 Grounding what it means to ‘overcome poverty’ in a time of climate emergency

• “Advancing Sustainable Development Goals through energy access: Lessons from the Global South” (Chris Walsh, Sarah Mander, Jaise Kuriakose, Amanda April, Alejandro Gallego-Schmid, Jhud Mikhail ABERILLA, Carlos Gaete-Morales, Velma Mukoro, Samira Garcia-Freites)

Parallel Panels 4 11:00-12:30 BST

P09 (2/3) Digital Transformation for Development ‘SG: Digital Technologies, Data and Development]

Convenors: Richard Heeks, Bookie Ezeomah, Gianluca Iazzolino, Qingna Zhou, Jaco Renken, Rose Pritchard, Aarti Krishnan

P22 (2/2) Barriers to NGOs and Cos: the current crises of environment and development (NGOs in development Study Group)

• “Explaining the Differential Effectiveness of CSOs Across Different Extractives: Towards a Political Settlement and Domain Analysis Approach” (Gerald Arhin)

P30 (2/3) Investigating the politics of crisis in African cities

Convenors: Sam Hickey, Tim Kelsall (ODI), Diana Mitlin and Abdul-Gafaru Abdulai (University of Ghana Business School)

P32 (2/3) Urban liveability in the Global South – Crises in the Anthropocene

• “A city of dashed dreams: Livelihood strategies f youth migrants in a slum in Lagos, Nigeria” (Anifat Ibrahim, Pablo Idahosa)

P45 (2/3) Translating resilience policies for sustainable development and effective climate action

• “Rethinking climate-resilient policies from the ground-up: who gets to decide what resilient rainfed regions in India should look like?” (Arianna Tozzi)

P75 (1/4) Bringing production and employment back to Development Studies in times of multiple crises

• “Can African countries industrialise by processing primary commodities? A political economy analysis of contemporary barriers to upgrading primary commodities” (Sophie van Huellen, Pritish Behuria)

Parallel Panels 5 16:15-17:45 BST

P09 (3/3) Digital Transformation for Development ‘SG: Digital Technologies, Data and Development]

Convenors: Richard Heeks, Bookie Ezeomah, Gianluca Iazzolino, Qingna Zhou, Jaco Renken, Rose Pritchard, Aarti Krishnan

P30 (3/3) Investigating the politics of crisis in African cities

Convenors: Sam Hickey, Tim Kelsall (ODI), Diana Mitlin and Abdul-Gafaru Abdulai (University of Ghana Business School)

P75 (2/4) Bringing production and employment back to Development Studies in times of multiple crises

• “Revisiting Okun’s Law: Testing for asymmetric adjustment in Chile” (Claudio Navarro)

 

Friday 30 June 2023

Parallel Panels 6 11:00-12:30 BST

P49 (4/4) Climate Change adaptation and Livelihoods

• “Farmer-led Irrigation Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review on impacts, methodological issues and future directions” (Roshan Adhikari, Godfred Amankwaa, Sarah Redicker, Timothy Foster)

P61 (2/2) Women’s Access and Participation in Rural Networks and their Implications for SDGs

• “Accessing Social Resources through Creation of Rural Social Networks: From the Perspective of Extreme Poor Women in Bangladesh” (Md Moslah Uddin, David Lawson)

P63 Rethinking Disability Connection and Agency for Development

• “Impact of Social Protection Policy targeted on the disabled: panel data evidence from India” (Vidhya Unnikrishnan)

Parallel Panels 7 14:15-15:45 BST

P23 (2/2) Informal Economies in an Age of Environmental Crisis

• “Promoting Health and Climate Resilience for Informal Workers: Findings from Action-Research in Masvingo and Harare (Zimbabwe)” (Alice Sverdlik, Artwell Kadungure, Nathan Banda, Wisborn Malaya)
• “Understanding the Interplay of Climate-Related and other Risks Facing Informal Workers: A Framework for Research and Action” (Alice Sverdlik)
• “Climate Change, occupational and environmental risks facing informal workers and residents f informal settlements: Towards Resilience in Idore (India)” (Alice Sverdlik, Kanupriya kothiwal, Shabnam Verma, Siddharth Agarwal)

P27 (2/2) Rethink! Explaining radical shifts in development aspirations, ideas, policies and practices

• “Using cultural political economy to understand power relations and institutional change” (Clare Cummings)