Introduction

Abstract

This book examines attempts made by policy-makers in development agencies and banks to understand how political economy shapes the way development programmes take root in developing countries and how it has defined their outcomes. It also seeks to explain why it had proven difficult to establish more recent ideas about political economy, such as the Drivers of Change approach and its outliers and successors, as the basis for new models of development practice and strategies for development effectiveness. Finally, the book proposes a different way of applying political economy approaches — on the basis of what we are calling ‘structural political economy’ — to development policies and aid programming.