WIDERAngle

Expert commentary from our network

How India’s economy has fared under ten years of Narendra Modi

More than 960 million Indians will head to the polls in the world’s biggest election between April 19 and early June. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is seeking a third term in office. And the polls suggest it will achieve this objective.If one was to go by economic growth figures alone, the Modi government’s performance has been impressive. When Modi came to power in 2014, economic growth was sluggish. A series of high-profile corruption...

Affirmative action in Brazil’s higher education system

by Rodrigo Oliveira, Edson Severnini, Alei Santos
Evidence from Brazil shows how affirmative action students in the higher education system adjust their behaviour to catch up with initially higher-performing privileged students.Affirmative action (AA) policies, aiming to address historical inequalities and promote social justice, have sparked debates across the world. Brazil, in particular, grapples with the challenges and complexities of AA, notably through Law 12,711/2012, which introduced the quota policy mandating all federal universities...

Decoding development – insights from UNU-WIDER's synthesis process and beyond

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At UNU-WIDER, we undertake our work explicitly within the context of an emergent strategy designed to maximize the impact of our research findings. We operate based on a theory of change that outlines how research eventually translates into improved development outcomes for the world’s most vulnerable populations.In 2023, we published the report Towards peace, decent work, and greater equality to guide policy efforts to achieve the United Nations Agenda 2030. This report synthesizes the key...

202 Blogpost

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Taking localisation beyond labels and lip service

Donors increasingly speak of locally led aid response, but often do not walk the walk. Case in point is the United States Agency for International...

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Development aid cuts will hit fragile countries hard, could fuel violent conflict

Fragile and least developed countries have had their development assistance cut drastically, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation...

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Will growth be enough to end poverty?: New Projections of the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Today, October 17th is the UN International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (you already knew that, right?). In new analysis for UNU-WIDER, we...

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Oslo conference turns the spotlight on sustainable development financing
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With the deadline for achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals just seven years away, there is an increasing sense of urgency over the...

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Why the Aid Effectiveness Principles are important for development

Demonstrating empirically the Aid Effectiveness Principles' global impact on development is a challenge. But according to Rachel M. Gisselquist...

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91% of sub-Saharan African workers don’t save for old age: Why that’s a problem and how to fix it
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Less than 10% of the workers in sub-Saharan Africa save for old age, the lowest rate for any region in the world. That implies most of the...

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Four global problems that will be aggravated by the UK’s recent cuts to international aid

UK economic forecasts have improved markedly since the September 2022 mini-budget. The economic recession may now be more shallow and public borrowing...

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From Monterrey to Addis Ababa, and what has happened since?
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The importance of domestic revenue mobilization and taxation for sustainable development is widely acknowledged in global development discussions, but...

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What is next for development effectiveness in a post-aid world?
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Improving the effectiveness of global development spending may seem like a fool's errand given the state of the world today. Yet this is precisely the...

Policy Brief
Building evidence around the effectiveness principles

This policy brief draws on the studies presented at the International Research Conference on the Effectiveness of Development Cooperation on 17–18 November 2022, in Brussels, Belgium and jointly organized by UNU-WIDER and the European Commission (DG...

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Putting it all together: Highlights from The puzzle of peace
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‘Understanding how to sustain peace means understanding conflict itself. Yet conflict and peacebuilding are often addressed separately’ – Patricia...

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Solving the puzzle of peace: Overcoming the curse of Finland
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At The puzzle of peace conference in Helsinki, Adnan Khan, Chief Economist at the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, lamented what he...

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Foreign aid can help stem the decline of democracy, if used in the right way

Democracy is having a hard time. In India, once the world’s largest democracy, the pandemic has hastened the country’s slide toward authoritarianism...

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What does COVID-19 mean for Africa?: Challenges, but also opportunities

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an exceptional social and economic crisis all over the world, with Africa among the hardest-hit regions. What are the...

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Slow death or new direction for the UN?
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For most of its 75-year existence, the United Nations has struggled to strike a balance between its lofty founding aspirations and realities on the...

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