David Booth

Director of APPP/Research Fellow, Politics and Governance

David Booth leads the Africa Power and Politics Programme (APPP), a five-year consortium research programme dedicated to "discovering institutions that work for poor people”. APPP brings together research organisations and think-tanks in France, Ghana, Niger, Uganda, the UK and the USA. It is undertaking research in nineteen African countries and is supported by DFID and Irish Aid.

David Booth’s other work currently focuses on the political economy of governance-improvement and aid in sub-Saharan Africa and, to a lesser extent, Latin America. Between 2000 and 2009 David was the editor of Development Policy Review.

Formerly a university academic at Hull and Swansea, David has been a Research Fellow at ODI since 1998.

Outputs

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Outputs

Mural showing women and children in El Salvador highlighting the role of the law

Politics into practice: A dialogue on governance strategies and action in international development

Event - Round-table - 7 - 8 December 2010

The purpose of this policy debate is to focus on what would improve policy uptake of recent research findings and lessons from experience on political governance and development.

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Analysing the governance and political economy of water and sanitation service delivery

Projects - October 2010 to June 2011

The purpose of this project is to improve understanding among policy makers and practitioners of how to analyse the governance and political economy of water and sanitation in a given country context.

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Capacity gaps at centres of government in post-conflict and fragile situations

Projects - October 2010 to April 2011

The overall objective of this project was to advance knowledge on the policy environments and the policy management systems within post-conflict and fragile states. Drawing on case studies from Liberia, the study will aim to contribute to better donor approaches to strengthening strategic planning, policy coordination, and monitoring in these states. Specific emphasis will be placed on the need to analyse the local political economy, on explaining the ways in which political pressures, informal institutional processes, and the perceived or real vulnerabilities of ruling elites shape activities and the incentives for decision-makers.

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Towards a theory of local governance and public goods’ provision in sub-Saharan Africa

Publication - Discussion papers - 31 August 2010

David Booth

This paper provides a midterm report on a multi-country research effort to shed light on the institutional sources of variation in public goods’ provision at the sub-national level, with a particular focus on key bottlenecks to improvement in maternal mortality, water and sanitation, facilitation of markets and enterprise, and public order and security.

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Making sector budget support work for service delivery: wider policy implications

Publication - Briefing papers - 3 February 2010

ODI Project Briefings 38

Tim Williamson, Catherine Dom, David Booth

The third in series of Project Briefings on Sector Based Support examines policy implications, arguing that incentive are central to the SBS success or failure.

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