Between the Lines

In this episode of Between the Lines, IDS Director of Research, Peter Taylor interviews IDS Research Fellows; Danny Burns and Jo Howard, and Sonia M. Ospina, Professor of Public Management and Policy at the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service who edited the recently published: SAGE Handbook of Participatory Research and Inquiry.

The Handbook presents contemporary, cutting-edge approaches to participatory research and inquiry with contributions from 137 authors in 71 chapters. It has been designed for the community of researchers, professionals and activists engaged in interventions and action for social transformation.

It offers an overview of different influences on participatory research, explores in detail how to address critical issues and design effective participatory research processes, and provides detailed accounts of how to use a wide range of participatory research methods. 

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India's urban slums exhibit dramatic variation in their access to local public goods and services - paved roads, piped water, trash removal, sewers, and streetlights. Why are some vulnerable communities able to demand and secure development from the state while others fail? Drawing on more than two years of fieldwork in the north Indian cities of Bhopal and Jaipur, Demanding Development accounts for the uneven success of India's slum residents in securing local public goods and services. Auerbach's theory centers on the political organization of slum settlements and the informal slum leaders who spearhead resident efforts to make claims on the state - in particular, those slum leaders who are party workers. He finds striking variation in the extent to which networks of party workers have spread across slum settlements. Demanding Development shows how this variation in the density and partisan distribution of party workers across settlements has powerful consequences for the ability of residents to politically mobilize to improve local conditions.

In this episode of Between the Lines, IDS Fellow Shandana Mohmand interviews Adam Auerbach, author of the book: Demanding Development: The Politics of Public Goods Provision in India's Urban Slums.

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The world of development thinkers and practitioners is abuzz with a new lexicon: the idea of “the nexus” between water, food, and energy. It promises better integration of multiple sectoral elements, a better transition to greener economies, and sustainable development. However, there appears to be little agreement on its precise meaning, whether it only complements existing environmental governance approaches or how it can be enhanced in national contexts.

In this episode of Between the Lines, IDS Fellow Shilpi Srivastava interviews Jeremy Allouche, Dipak Gyawali and Carl Middleton the editors of the book: The Water–Food–Energy Nexus: Power, Politics, and Justice.

With thanks to:

• Between the Lines created by Sarah King
• Recorded, edited and narrated by Gary Edwards
• Music credit: Crypt of Insomnia/One Day in Africa (instrumental version)/Getty Images

The Water–Food–Energy Nexus Power: Politics, and Justice

Interviewer

Shilpi Srivastava is a Research Fellow with the Resource Politics Cluster. She is trained as a political scientist and she completed her PhD in Development Studies (Sussex) in 2015. Her doctoral research focused on the politics and practice of water regulation reform in India.

Book authors

Jeremy Allouche is a co-director of the Humanitarian Learning Centre and principle investigator of the GCRF-funded project Islands of Innovation in Protracted Crisis and the AHRC/DFID-funded project New Community-Informed Approaches to Humanitarian Protection and Restraint. He is a political sociologist trained in history and international relations with over 20 years research and advisory experience on resource politics (water, mining) in conflict and borderland areas and the difficulties of aid delivery in such contexts, as well as studying the idea of ‘islands of peace’.

Dipak Gyawali is a hydroelectric power engineer and a political economist who, during his time as Nepal’s Minister of Water Resources in 2002/2003, initiated reforms in the electricity and irrigation sectors focused on decentralization and promotion of rural participation in governance. He also initiated the first national review and comparison of Nepali laws with the guidelines of the World Commission on Dams.

Carl Middleton is an SEI Affiliated Researcher with SEI Asia Centre. His research interests orientate around the politics and policy of the environment in Southeast Asia, with a particular focus on environmental justice and the political ecology of water and energy.

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Increasingly, finance dominates the way we live our lives. Despite seeing, in recent years, growth in economies globally, more and more people are struggling to make ends meet. Inequality gaps continue to grow, and the bulk of income is concentrated among a small group.

The term ‘Financialization’ has become the go-term for scholars grappling with the growth and changing face of finance and its consequences. Some explain it as the domination of financial markets and institutions over other sectors of the economy. It has been described by some as ‘wonky’. However it is understood, it is a term that is increasingly used across academic disciplines, presenting varying viewpoints and approaches, and a useful analytical lens on politics, technology, culture, society and the economy.

In this episode of Between the Lines, Dinah Rajak speaks with Phil Mader and Natascha van der Zwan, about their vital new book ‘The Routledge International Handbook of Financialization’, which brings together scholars to interrogate different understandings of financialization and its impacts.

With thanks to:

• Sarah King introduces the podcast.
• Sarah King produces and edits the podcast series and created the artwork.
• Music credit: Crypt of Insomnia/One Day in Africa (instrumental version)/Getty Images

To build back better we must rein in Finacialization - Phil Mader

Making Sense of Finacialization - Natascha van der Zwan

Poverty Reduction of the Financialization of Poverty - Phil Mader

Financialisation and the Pension System: Lessons from the United States and the Netherlands - Natascha van der Zwan

Dinah Rajak a Reader in anthropology and development at the University of Sussex. Her current research explores, entrepreneurship, youth employment, 'bottom of the pyramid' approaches to development and concepts of inclusive markets. She is co-founder of the Centre for New Economies of Development, author of In Good Company: An Anatomy of Corporate Social Responsibility and co-editor of The Anthropology of Corporate Social Responsibility (Berghahn 2016).

Philip Mader is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies (Brighton, UK) and program convenor of the MA in Globalisation, Business and Development. His research focuses on development and the politics of markets. His PhD from the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies and the University of Cologne was published as The Political Economy of Microfinance: Financializing Poverty (Palgrave, 2015) and was recognized with the Otto Hahn Medal and the German Thesis Award.

Natascha van der Zwan is Assistant Professor in Public Administration at Leiden University. She does comparative and historical research on financialization and pension systems, investment rules and regulations, and pension fund capitalism. Her article ``Making Sense of Financialization'' (Socio-Economic Review, 2014) has become a key article in scholarship on financialization and is widely used in university courses. Dr Van der Zwan holds a PhD in Political Science from the New School for Social Research.

Daniel Mertens is Professor of International Political Economy at the University of Osnabrück. Prior to that, he was an assistant professor at Goethe University Frankfurt and a visiting scholar at Northwestern University. He received his PhD from the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies and the University of Cologne. His work ranges from the politics of credit markets and banking to analyses of the modern tax state and has been published in outlets such as the Journal of European Public Policy, New Political Economy and Competition & Change.

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As COVID-19 vaccine rollouts get underway across the world, many are resting their hopes on vaccines as a pathway out of the pandemic. However, an increasing number of people believe vaccines are unsafe or unnecessary. Vaccine hesitancy is nothing new, indeed it is as old as vaccination itself. So, what can we learn from previous vaccine programmes, about what people’s concerns are and how they can be addressed?

In the latest episode of Between the Lines, IDS Director Melissa Leach joins Anthropologist and Founding Director of the Vaccine Confidence Project, Heidi Larson, to discuss her new book Stuck: How Vaccine Rumors Start and Why They Don't Go Away. 

They explore the social and emotional factors that contribute to vaccine hesitancy, the role of misinformation, and they look at considerations for more holistic public engagement.

Related content:

·        Stuck: How Vaccine Rumours Start – and Why They Don’t Go Away 

·        Vaccine Anxieties: Global Science, Child Health and Society 

·        The Vaccine Confidence Project 

·        Social Science in Humanitarian Action Platform 

·        Rapid Review: Vaccine Hesitancy and Building Confidence in COVID-19 Vaccination 

·        A call to arms: helping family, friends and communities navigate the COVID-19 infodemic 

·        She Hunts Viral Rumors About Real Viruses 

·        Heidi Larson interview: How to stop covid-19 vaccine hesitancy 

·        Comment on ‘Covid-19 vaccine deployment: Behaviour, ethics, misinformation and policy strategies’ 

·        We need trust in our politics to overcome vaccine hesitancy  

·        Vaccine trials must engage with communities or risk failure, say social scientists 

·        Infographic: Going beyond misinformation to build vaccine confidence  

With thanks to:

• Kelly Shephard introduces the podcast.
• Sarah King produces and edits the podcast series and created the artwork.
• Music credit: Crypt of Insomnia/One Day in Africa (instrumental version)/Getty Images

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We live in a world of technologies that misdirect our attention, poison our political conversations, and jeopardize our democracies. In his book: ‘Lie Machines: How to Save Democracy from Troll Armies, Deceitful Robots, Junk News Operations, and Political Operatives’, through analysis of social media and public polling data, in-depth interviews with political consultants, bot writers, and journalists, Philip Howard: Professor of Internet Studies at the Oxford Internet Institute, offers ways to take these “lie machines” apart.

In this episode of Between the Lines, IDS Digital and Technology researcher, Tony Roberts, speaks with Philip about how digital technologies are used to produce, distribute and market political lies, how strategies differ in different countries, and how the disinformation landscape is evolving.

Philip Howard is the Director of the Computation Propaganda research project and author of over 120 academic articles and 8 books including The Digital Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy, and the edited collection on Computational Propaganda.

With thanks to:

• Kelly Shephard introduces the podcast.
• Sarah King produces and edits the podcast series and created the artwork.
• Music credit: Crypt of Insomnia/One Day in Africa (instrumental version)/Getty Images

Visit the Institute of Development Studies website

Follow @IDS_UK on Twitter #IDSBetweentheLines

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How do marginalised voters living in conditions of intense socioeconomic inequality, engage in electoral politics and improve their material conditions? Grounding her research in the context of Pakistan, IDS researcher, Shandana Khan Mohmand, probes into this question by using original data collected across different villages and households in rural Pakistan.

In this episode of Between the Lines, Professor Adam Auerbach, from the American University in Washington DC, specialising in local governance, urban politics, and the political economy of development, with a regional focus on South Asia and India, speaks with Shandana about her book: Crafty Oligarchs, Savvy Voters Crafty Oligarchs, Savvy Voters: Democracy Under Inequality in Rural Pakistan.

With thanks to:

• Kelly Shephard introduces the podcast.
• Adam Auerbach is the interviewer.
• Shandana Khan Mohmand is the author.
• Sarah King produces and edits the podcast series and created the artwork.
• Music credit: Crypt of Insomnia/One Day in Africa (instrumental version)/Getty Images

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How do we determine when our research has impact? If our aim is to produce research that contributes to making a positive difference in the world, how do we measure and track achievements?

In this episode of Between the Lines, IDS’ Director of Communications and Impact, James Georgalakis, speaks with James Gow and Henry Redwood from Kings College London, who co-authored the book: Impact in International Affairs: The Quest for World-Leading Research.

They explore the concept of impact and the characteristics found in ‘World-Leading’ Impact, as identified by the UK Research Excellence Framework (REF). They discuss the limitations of such frameworks, that treat change processes as linear and miss some of the more difficult to measure positive impacts.

With thanks to:

• Kelly Shephard introduces the podcast.
• James Georgalakis is the interviewer.
• James Gow speaks first and Henry Redwood speaks second.
• Sarah King produces and edits the podcast series and created the artwork.
• Music credit: Crypt of Insomnia/One Day in Africa (instrumental version)/Getty Images

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Why is uncertainty so important to politics today? From finance and technology to climate change, pandemics, migration and security, what the future holds feels increasingly uncertain and demands alternative approaches. If hopes of much-needed progressive transformations are to be realised, then current blinkered understandings of uncertainty need to be met with renewed democratic struggle.

In this episode of Between the Lines, co-authors Andy Stirling, Sobia Ahmad Kaker and Ian Scoones. discuss their book: The Politics of Uncertainty,

Links:

Sussex Development Lecture on the politics of uncertainty

STEPS Centre conference: The Politics of Uncertainty: Practical Challenges for Transformative Action

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Dismantling Race in Higher Education: Racism, Whiteness and Decolonising the Academy, reveals the roots of structural racism that limit social mobility and equality within Britain for Black and ethnicised students and academics in its inherently white Higher Education institutions. It brings together both established and emerging scholars in the fields of Race and Education to explore what institutional racism in British Higher Education looks like in colour-blind ‘post-race’ times. It demonstrates how far we have come and yet how far we still have to go.

In this episode of Between the Lines, IDS Director of Teaching and Learning, Linda Waldman, speaks with the book editors, Jason Arday and Heidi Mirza.

References:

• Aiming Higher – Runnymede report

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