The outline of research papers contained in this overview identifies knowledge gaps, proposes practical approaches, and scans new horizons that enhance development thinking and practice. The goal of these research summaries – and their corresponding papers – is to help inform and expand development initiatives of the Swiss Development Cooperation Agency (SDC) and their Decentralisation and Local Governance Network (DLGN) partners.

Some of these papers have surveyed latest development thinking to challenge and propose fresh questions:

"Why and when do citizens prefer local informal institutions to provide ways of service delivery?" or
"How can social accountability be enhanced in a post conflict context?"
Other papers like the 'Practice guide to political economy and power analysis' offer guidance to practitioners to maximise SDC's development impact. Our overall goal is to stimulate innovative thinking on how to produce improved, inclusive, transparent and sustainable development interventions at the local level.SD

Collodi, Jason

Mejía Acosta, Andrés

English

IDS OpenDocs

Political Economy and Power Analyses 
share the common objective of unpacking 
the visible, invisible and hidden 
relationships between key actors involved 
in producing (or blocking) meaningful 
development changes
Practice guide: a combined approach to political 
economy and power analysis
Andres Mejia Acosta and Jethro Pettit  
(a.mejiaacosta@ids.ac.uk; j.pettit@ids.ac.uk) 
The purpose of political economy and power analyses 
(PEPA) is to explain power relations and political dynamics 
in the formulation, adoption and implementation of 
development initiatives. Despite having different 
backgrounds and methodologies, both frameworks share 
the common objective of unpacking the visible, invisible 
and hidden relationships between key actors involved in 
producing (or blocking) meaningful changes.
The practice paper offers a simple step-by-step guide to 
help development practitioners identify the critical actors 
and institutions needed to facilitate or block new policies, 
including:
•	 a stakeholder analysis to understand the motivations, 
interests and strategies of key development actors 
•	 an understanding of the formal rules and informal 
practices that shape their behaviour
•	 an analysis of the formal and informal mechanisms 
they use to ensure cooperation over time 
•	 a discussion of the theories of change involved and the 
existing or alternative narratives justifying 
development interventions. 
This practice guide uses several examples and testimonies 
from SDC project assessments, as well as experiences 
obtained from practical PEPA workshops.
PRACTICE PAPER
IN BRIEFIDSIDS RESEAR HSYNTH SIS
Innovative thinking and practice in local governance   
A synthesis of research papers produced for the Democratisation, Decentralisation and Local 
Governance Network (DLGN). Face to Face (F2F) Meeting, Aswan, Egypt, May 2013
The outline of research papers contained in this overview is an effort to identify knowledge gaps, propose 
practical approaches, and scan new horizons that enhance development thinking and practice. The goal of 
these research summaries – and their corresponding papers – is to help inform and expand development 
initiatives of the Swiss Development Cooperation Agency (SDC) and their DLGN partners. 
Some of these papers have surveyed latest development thinking to challenge and propose fresh 
questions: “Why and when do citizens prefer local informal institutions to provide ways of service 
delivery?” Or “How can social accountability be enhanced in a post conflict context?” Other papers like 
the ‘Practice guide to political economy and power analysis’ offer guidance to practitioners to maximise 
SDC’s development impact. Our overall goal is to stimulate innovative thinking on how to produce 
improved, inclusive, transparent and sustainable development interventions at the local level.
A number of printed copies of the full research papers will be available at the F2F or they can be 
downloaded from the SDC-DLGN site at http://bit.ly/1244a9v
“
“
 
Egypt: unfinished transition or unfinished 
revolution? 
Mariz Tadros (m.tadros@ids.ac.uk)
This paper cautions that if external political analysis fails to 
capture the pulse of the street in Egypt today, a situation 
much like that at the wake of the uprising of January 2011, 
where change happens through actors, spaces and 
mechanisms that are least expected, could come around 
again. The paper focuses on Egypt’s transition, and offers a 
number of findings:
•	 in the post-Mubarak era, a liberal western procedural 
approach that equates ballot box activity with 
democracy is too simplistic
•	 an engagement with a broader array of indicators 
would in fact suggest that ballot boxes and 
authoritarianism can thrive side by side.
In order to avoid the kind of disconnects from citizen 
realities that characterized analysis during Mubarak’s era, it 
would be helpful to understand the spaces and forms 
through which unruly politics is thriving in Egypt today. 
 
Decentralisation and social cohesion in 
religiously heterogeneous societies in transition: 
a case study from Egypt  
Mariz Tadros (m.tadros@ids.ac.uk)
This paper explores the linkages between decentralisation 
and social cohesion within communities of differing religious 
backgrounds. It builds on the case of post-Mubarak Egypt, 
where an increased but informal devolution of power to  
 
manage relations between the majority Muslim and 
minority Christian populations has not alleviated community 
tensions. The paper uses a power analysis framework to 
understand the impact of devolution on social cohesion.
Key messages from the research include:
•	 devolution of power, if not accompanied by measures to 
ensure inclusive politics, may undermine social cohesion 
and increase violence against minorities
•	 the emerging balance of power after the revolution has 
increased tensions between different religious groups 
and eventually undermined social cohesion
•	 in the post-Mubarak context, the use of informal 
conflict resolution mechanisms and other practices 
associated with decentralisation have further 
undermined social cohesion
 
Connecting citizens to the state: informal local 
governance institutions in the Western Balkans 
Shandana K. Mohmand, and Snezana M. Mihajlovic  
(s.mohmand@ids.ac.uk) 
Informal institutions, that lie wholly or partly outside formal 
state structures, have tremendous potential to strengthen 
citizen participation, encourage inclusive decision-making 
and promote improved service delivery at the local level. 
IDS RESEARCH SYNTHESIS MAY 2013                   www.ids.ac.uk
Photo: Panos/Adam Hinton
Male and female protesters shout and wave flags and placards during a demonstration in Tahrir Square, November 2012
devolution of power, if not accompanied by 
measures to ensure inclusive politics, may 
undermine social cohesion and increase 
violence against minorities
“ “
The authors discovered that local informal governance 
institutions are widespread throughout former Yugoslav 
countries, but empirical research on these models is limited. 
The paper reviews the existing literature and reported 
practice in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and 
Serbia. The authors key question is, how do informal local 
governance institutions facilitate relations between citizens 
and the state around service provision and other governance 
functions? 
The authors offer a number of conclusions, including:
•	 informal institutions in these countries play an important 
role in citizen participation, inclusive decision-making 
and service provision
•	 where these institutions work, citizen participation can 
be truly organic, and need not require external actors 
and interventions to foster it.
Outcome measurement in local governance 
programmes: a power dimension 
Rosemary McGee and Jethro Pettit  
(r.mcgee@ids.ac.uk; j.pettit@ids.ac.uk)
This paper explores how outcome measurement is 
understood in several SDC local governance programmes, 
reviewed in a HELVETAS Learning Project. This critical 
review assesses the extent to which power issues are 
recognised, understood and tracked within such 
programmes and suggests ways to enhance this. 
Some highlights of this review include:
•	 being clear about what power and empowerment 
mean in a particular context, and how they are 
expected to change (e.g. with a theory of change), can 
lead to better indicators and methods for measurement 
•	 the way power is implicitly understood in local 
governance programmes and outcome measurement 
can lead to a focus only on the more formal and visible 
dimensions of power
•	 the complexity of power means that a more clearly 
articulated and power-aware theory of change 
underpinning the intervention is needed. 
For democratic local governance initiatives to contribute to 
shifting power, programme staff need to (1) explicitly define 
and include power in the initiative’s theory of change at 
design stage; (2) clarify what shifts in power are intended; 
and (3) determine how these shifts can be observed.  
 
Enhancing decentralisation and local governance 
in post-independence Kosovo: is there a role for 
social accountability? 
Markus Schultze-Kraft (m.schultzekraft@ids.ac.uk)
This paper claims that conventional notions of accountability 
that strengthen relationships between citizens and the state 
and help the effective provision of public services and goods, 
are often weak or absent in fragile countries that are 
emerging from violent conflict. The question is: can 
decentralisation efforts (often associated with 
strengthening accountability) contribute to building stronger 
accountability in fragile and/or post-conflict settings?
This paper focuses on Kosovo where despite efforts by the 
international community to help establish a functioning 
system of decentralised governance, accountability remains 
weak. There are two major findings:
•	 in a context where the international community has 
used decentralisation as a peace-building tool, the focus 
on accountability has received secondary importance. 
The decentralisation strategy has also not taken into 
account the impact and strength of countervailing 
forces such as widespread corruption and the absence 
of an active local civil society
•	 the paper questions whether citizen-driven, social 
accountability initiatives still have the potential to 
re-energise Kosovo’s faltering decentralised  
state-building project.
 
IDS RESEARCH SYNTHESIS MAY 2013    www.ids.ac.uk
informal institutions – that lie wholly or 
partly outside formal state structures – have 
tremendous potential to strengthen citizen 
participation, encourage inclusive decision-
making and promote improved service 
delivery at the local level
“
“
Photo: Panos/Andrew Testa
Members of the Kosovo Security Force, which will replace the disbanded 
Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC), train in Pristin
IDS RESEARCH SYNTHESIS MAY 2013 www.ids.ac.uk
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Institute of Development Studies Brighton BN1 9RE UK
T +44 (0) 1273 606261    F + 44 (0) 1273 621202    E ids@ids.ac.uk    W www.ids.ac.uk
Credits
This research synthesis was written by Andres Mejia Acosta 
and Jason Collodi. It had input from Anuradha Joshi,  
Rosie McGee, Shandana Mohmand, Jethro Pettit,  
Markus Schultze-Kraft and Mariz Tadros.
This project is funded by the Swiss Development 
Coorporation Agency (SDC).
A number of printed copies of the full research papers will 
be available at the F2F or they can be downloaded from the 
SDC-DLGN site at http://bit.ly/1244a9v
© Institute of Development Studies, 2013
Next steps: scanning research horizons 
Re-imagining development approaches requires a combination of innovative thinking, direct engagement with 
practitioners and creative ways of sharing new knowledge. This research synthesis offered a preview of how IDS 
thinking and practices can contribute to DLGN’s development agenda. Looking ahead, these works suggest that we 
need to better understand: which informal institutions can improve development outcomes and the ways in which 
they work; how to gauge “the pulse” of the citizens on the street outside conventional ways; or how to apply political 
economy and power analysis approaches to understand specific sectors such as the financing of local governments.
In the near future, IDS will continue to support DLGN partners through different means, such as exploring these and 
new development questions, taking our research findings to new contexts, enhancing capacity building options with 
SDC staff and DLGN partners, and contributing to research dissemination and uptake.
For more information, resources and queries either visit: www.ids.ac.uk/project/the-governance-of-service-delivery 
or contact: S.Schirmer@ids.ac.uk
Context matters: a causal chain approach to 
unpacking social accountability interventions 
Anu Joshi (a.joshi@ids.ac.uk)
A common premise of development interventions is that 
context matters for development outcomes, yet there  
is little understanding of how exactly ‘context’ affects 
outcomes and which contextual factors matter most.
The paper focuses on social accountability interventions, 
to explore macro and micro contextual factors. On the  
macro side, accountability processes need to take into 
account larger histories of citizen state engagement and  
related political processes.  At the micro level, local 
factors can clearly drive the way certain social 
accountability interventions unfold and the extent to 
which they are successful, even within otherwise broadly 
similar contexts. 
The research builds on the individual components of 
accountability and proposes a ‘theory of change/ 
causal chain’ strategy to better understand the  
micro-context.
A number of key points emerge from the paper:
•	 the existing evidence could potentially be  
recombined to assess the promise of existing  
and new interventions by deconstructing the  
various mini-causal pathways (i.e. in the  
micro-context) and understanding the  
contextual conditions that make them work
•	 existing interventions could be assessed for the  
extent to which they travelled along the causal  
chain while identifying the main roadblocks to impact.


Innovative Thinking and Practice in Local Governance

https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/20.500.12413/4664/1/IDS%20Research%20Synthesis%20paper%20Innovative%20Thinking%20and%20practice%20in%20local%20governance.pdf

Innovative Thinking and Practice in Local Governance

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