# 6. Policy Makers and Aid Donors Need to Take the Politics of Development Seriously

_<mark>Vijayendra Rao and Michael Woolcock</mark>_ Politics shape development outcomes. The World Bank, in recent World Development and Policy Research Reports<sup>66</sup> , encourages all development actors to focus on the political incentives of those in positions of power, which often conflict with providing public goods and upholding civic norms. Analytical approaches such as ‘Thinking and Working Politically’<sup>67</sup> offer practical tools for assessing how different forms and sources of power influence institutional structures and shape whose voices, interests, priorities and aspirations prevail.

Taking the politics of development seriously also means taking _accountability mechanisms_ and the _legitimacy of decision‐making processes_ seriously. Politics is not just something that transpires in the proverbial ‘corridors of power’ in courts, parliaments and board rooms, but in everyday social interactions. This helps to understand how local elites are simultaneously enabled and constrained in their leadership roles, how policy problems and their corresponding solutions are selected, and how success or failure is determined.

## **Accountability: Citizens and Communities Matter**

There is an increasing realization that better development outcomes are delivered within institutional systems where citizens and communities matter. Accountability is not just “upward” (i.e., where bureaucrats are largely concerned about what their superiors think) but also “downward” (i.e., where elected officials and government agents are held accountable by citizens for the delivery of public services).<sup>68</sup> Elections are one mechanism of accountability, but they are not enough because they are held infrequently and can be captured by elites. Elections need to be complemented by citizen bodies – institutions for collective and deliberative decision‐making where the voices of citizens can be heard and where they are able to monitor the performance of governments.

This is particularly true for decisions made at the local level: in neighborhoods, villages and cities, where policy actions have a direct bearing on people’s lives. Building participatory institutions is complex and requires a different approach to development – one that is more long‐term, sensitive to unpredictable changes, and adaptable via systematic learning‐by‐doing. Building effective community and citizen‐ based cultures of governance can, over the long term, help societies more effectively address problems of public service delivery, poverty, inequality, risk, and the challenges of a changing climate in ways that are perceived as legitimate, thereby reflecting local priorities and aspirations.<sup>69</sup>

> 66 See World Bank (2016) _World Development Report 2017: Governance and the Law_ (Washington, DC: World Bank), and World Bank (2016) _Making Politics Work for Development: A Policy Research Report_ (Washington, DC: World Bank).

> 67 Various documents associated with this approach are available at https://twpcommunity.org/

> 68 Jonathan Fox (2015) ‘Social Accountability: What Does the Evidence Really Say?’ _World Development_ 72(8): 346‐ 361

> 69 See <u>https://participedia.net/ for examples, descriptions and research summaries on such citizen‐based</u> institutions from around the world.

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