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1. Danish Civil-Society Organizations Need to Sharpen their Innovation Focus: Maturing 'techvelopment'

Author:
Adam Moe Fejerskov and Dane Fetterer
Publication Date:
05-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Danish civil-society organisations have initiated a multitude of tech and innovation projects in recent years. Now is the time to focus efforts on clear strategic objectives in order to generate tangible impacts. RECOMMENDATIONS ■ Strategically align innovation work around the core priorities of the organisation, rather than pursuing a shotgun approach that chases disparate innovations across a field of interests. ■ Expand the scope of innovation beyond radical technology to include operational approaches, methodologies and theories of change as well. ■ Localize innovation by involving local partners and beneficiaries not just in needs assessments but in innovating solutions.
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
Europe and Denmark

2. Fifteen years of police reform in Sierra Leone: Community Policing and Local Policing Partnership Boards

Publication Date:
01-2015
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
'Local Needs Policing' is the hallmark of the Sierra Leone Police community policing model. This DIIS Policy Brief lays out ten key observations that may be helpful when police reform is established elsewhere in the Global South.
Topic:
Political Violence, Civil Society, Crime, and Law Enforcement
Political Geography:
Africa

3. Social Accountability and Public Service Delivery in Rural Africa

Publication Date:
01-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Social accountability as a tool for development planning is gaining foothold in international donor circles. It is concerned with the responsibility and responsiveness of state authorities, as well as the ability of citizens to make claims and hold those who exercise power to account for their actions.
Topic:
Civil Society, Non-Governmental Organization, Foreign Aid, and Governance
Political Geography:
Africa

4. The Role of Human Rights in Climate Change Adaptation

Publication Date:
12-2014
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Inconsistent climate change policies increase the vulnerability of marginalised populations and lead to resource conflicts. A human rights-based approach can help protect the adaptive capacities of climate vulnerable populations.
Topic:
Civil Society, Climate Change, Energy Policy, Human Rights, and International Cooperation

5. Pursuing gender equality in land administration

Author:
Helle Munk Ravnborg and Rachel Spichiger
Publication Date:
02-2014
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Ensuring gender equality with respect to land rights is hailed as a key element of the recent land reforms, but actual results in this respect are limited. Achieving gender equality requires a comprehensive focus on land, family and other laws, including customary, pertaining to land and on their implementation on the ground.
Topic:
Civil Society, Gender Issues, Governance, and Reform

6. Economic and political liberalization, dependency and elite formation in contemporary Mozambique

Author:
José Jaime Macuane
Publication Date:
09-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Discussion of development strategies in Mozambique reveals three main perspectives on the role of elites in the policy process: donor dominance, political dominance over technocracy, and the emergence of non-state (economic and civil society) actors as players in the policy process, although still with a marginal role. These analyses tend to see the identity of these actors as monolithic and clearly identifiable. The identities condition the involvement of these actors in a set of dichotomous relations, such as politicians versus technocrats, donors versus internal actors, and state versus non-state actors. Based on this understanding, this paper analyses the role of elites in policy processes, focusing on elite formation and power relations in Mozambique in a context of an economically dependent country undergoing democratization. The paper shows that the dominant analyses of the role of the elites in the policy process in Mozambique overlook the process of elite formation, which contributes to the existence of multiple and overlapping elite identities in the policy process. In this regard, the paper concludes that, despite the emergence of new elites (economic, societal and bureaucratic) resulting from economic and political liberalization and as an aspect of pro-poor policies, the differentiation between these elitesis more apparent than real because of the strategies they have adopted to maintain their dominance in a context of the increasing importance of electoral politics. Further, the paper concludes that the political elite still dominates the process, even with donor dependence, but that nonetheless this dominance is being challenged by an erosion of legitimacy caused by the low effectiveness of the development strategies, reflected in increasing public contestation over government policies, which opens up a space for changes in the current pattern of elite relations.
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:
Africa

7. Mozambique Synthesis Analysis: Between Pockets of Efficiency and Elite Capture

Author:
Lars Buur, Obede Baloi, and Carlota Mondlane Tembe
Publication Date:
01-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Since the General Peace Accord (GPA) in 1992 ending the civil war and the first democratic elections in 1994, Mozambique has experienced a peaceful transition towards democracy, underpinned by successive rounds of local and national elections, which have been, if not totally free, then at least sufficiently free to be accepted by the international community. This, combined with sustained economic growth (Sousa and Sulemane 2007), a substantial decline in people living below the poverty line, relatively high levels of foreign direct investment (FDI) and very high and continued levels of foreign donor support has made Mozambique 'a success story' for the international donor community where few such stories seem available (Renzio and Hanlon 2006: 3). This has triggered continuous and generous levels of assistance and made Mozambique the ultimate 'donor darling'. But with the opening up of the rich natural resource endowment in energy, gas, oil and minerals to exploitation after Frelimo's election victory in 2009, the country stands at a critical juncture, with the potential to become donor-independent within the foreseeable future.
Topic:
Civil Society, Democratization, Political Economy, Politics, and Governance
Political Geography:
Africa

8. No Easy Way Out: Traditional Authorities in Somaliland and the Limits of Hybrid Political Orders

Author:
Markus Virgil Hoehne
Publication Date:
09-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Somalia has been without effective state institutions since 1991. Over the past two decades, moderately effective state-like institutions have been rebuilt in Somaliland and Puntland in northern Somalia, but they do not enjoy international recognition and are limited in power and scope. This text concentrates on the integration of non-state actors, particularly traditional authorities, during the process of state-formation in Somaliland. Arguably, this integration has brought about a hybrid political system that functioned quite well during the first years of existence of Somaliland. Hybrid political systems are currently of great interest in various African settings, including the possibility of integrating traditional authorities into (local) government in South Sudan. These systems, however, mix modes of legitimacy of different political actors in a way that, in the long run, either undermines the democratic capabilities of modern states or seriously damages the credibility and effectiveness of traditional authorities. Thus, hybrid political systems may be a way to stabilize politics in a transitory phase (e.g., after civil war or independence) but they are not the easy way out of the dilemma that state institutions in many African states are weak, have only a very limited outreach and in many regards lack popular legitimacy.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Political Violence, Civil Society, Fragile/Failed State, and Governance
Political Geography:
Africa and Somalia

9. The Contested Role of Community Policing: 'New' non-state actors in the plural legal landscape of Mozambique

Author:
Helene Maria Kyed
Publication Date:
10-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Since the turn of the millennium 'Community Policing' has become a significant and widespread element of everyday policing in poor rural and urban areas of Mozambique. This development is not unique to Mozambique, but reflected globally. Community policing (CP) has since the 1990s enjoyed widespread popularity as a philosophy and strategy of 'democratic policing' that seeks to substitute centralised, paramilitary-style state policing with active citizen inclusion in policing. In Mozambique, councils of community policing members have been formed since 2001, with the purpose of reducing crime as well as making the state police more transparent and accountable to the public.
Topic:
Security, Civil Society, Corruption, Crime, and Torture
Political Geography:
Africa and Mozambique

10. 'These young men show no respect for local customs': Globalisation, youth and Islamic revival in Zanzibar

Author:
Simon Turner
Publication Date:
03-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
In recent years there has been a revival of Islam in Zanzibar, with heated debates about the nature of Islam and its role in society (Lodhi and Westerlund 1997, Gilsaa 2006). While Islam played a central role in society until independence in 1963, it was effectively removed from the public sphere by the socialist government after independence. Since the 1980s, however, Islam has again become a central issue in the public sphere, albeit in new forms. Like elsewhere in Africa, local forms of Islam are being challenged by a number of new reformist and revivalist kinds of Islam, influenced to some degree by a global Islamic revival, but shaped by the particular, local histories and politics. This has caused some friction – especially as the regime in place seeks to manipulate these tensions for political benefit. However, as it will be argued in this paper, the kind of Islamic revival taking place in Zanzibar is far from radical or violent. In fact, Islamic revivalists often coin their critique of the state in terms of human rights and good governance and provide an alternative modernity that at once challenges and articulates with secular, liberal forms of modernity. Hence, the present paper explores how global trends in Islam – but also global discourses on Human Rights and Good Governance – influence the current modes of Islamic revival in Zanzibar.
Topic:
Civil Society, Government, Human Rights, and Islam
Political Geography:
Africa and Zanzibar