The Constitution of Development

Examining the foundations of development, Shivakumar describes how societies can reconstitute themselves to improve their developmental well-being. He argues that the unitary state focus in theory and practice limits the creative potential of individuals to improve their mutual well-being through crafting capabilities for self-governance. This is a significant contribution to current discussions on institutional foundations of development, providing practical guidance on what it means to constitute a government that facilitates rather than impedes progress.

"If we really are serious about wiping out poverty in the 21st Century, we must re-think "development" so that it is more responsive to the people who need it most. A good place to start is this impassioned and carefully argued brief that the institutions necessary for economic progress cannot be imposed but must come from the bottom-up from the local networks of trust, cooperation, and consensus that ordinary people have created in the face of the social, legal, and economic discrimination that stymies the developing world." - Hernando de Soto, author, The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else

Autorentext
SUJAI SHIVAKUMAR is an official of the U.S. National Academies' Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy (STEP). He is co-author with Elinor Ostrom of Aid, Incentives, and Sustainability - An Institutional Analysis of Development Cooperation, a major report for Sida, Sweden's aid agency.

Inhalt
Constituting Development PART I: STATE GOVERNANCE AND DEVELOPMENT Post-War Interpretations of Development The Aid Effectiveness Puzzle The State as a Concept in Development The State as the Means to Development PART II: INSTITUTIONS AND DEVELOPMENT The Constitutional Foundations of Development Adaptive Development and Institutional Problem-Solving Institutions, Market Exchange, and Development PART III: CRAFTING CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNANCE Crafting the Institutions for a Problem-Solving Society Crafting New Institutions on Indigenous Foundations Towards a Democratic Civilization for the 21st Century