World Development Report 2017: Governance and the Law

Conference Name: Devpolicy Seminars
Event Type: Devpolicy Seminars
Presenter/s: James Brumby, Luis Felipe Lopez Calva, Natasha Smith, Helen Szoke, Veronica Taylor

Presentation/s:

James Brumby, The World Bank; Luis Felipe Lopez Calva, The World Bank; Natasha Smith, DFAT; Dr Helen Szoke, Oxfam Australia; and Professor Veronica Taylor, ANU.

The launch of The World Development Report 2017, including a presentation of the report and a panel discussion was held on 14th February 2017.

The World Development Report 2017 on Governance and the Law explores how policies for security, growth and equity can effectively achieve their goals by addressing the underlying drivers of governance.

Building on the traditional concern about implementation problems resulting from limited state capacity, this report digs deeper to understand also how individuals and groups, with differing degrees of influence in the decision-making arena, bargain over the choice of policies, distribution of resources, and how to change the rules themselves to shape future interactions.

While in some cases, power asymmetries can lead to persistent policy failure through exclusion, capture, and clientelism, this report demonstrates that positive change is possible. The approach discusses reshaping incentives, shifting society’s preferences and beliefs, and making the decision-making process more contestable.

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