Development Policy and Politics (2 º Sem 2020/2021)

Development is all about politics and political strategies. There is now a general agreement that to understand development policy processes we need to understand how structures, institutions and political agents operate and interact to shape and frame developmental processes. Structures and institutions not only determine the capacity of governments to enact laws and implement policies but also mould the perceptions, preferences and actions of individuals or groups, and allocate power and political relations between contending individuals or groups in society. Yet, structures and institutions are themselves the product or outcome of (un)intended policy and political feedback or strategies by individuals or groups. In this sense, political agents become architects of structural and institutional formation, maintenance and change....