This article explores the changing political dynamics of Karnataka following the 2024 general elections. In 2024, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coalition comprised of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal Secular party, which together represent the interest of the state's dominant caste groups including Brahmins, Lingayats and Vokkaligas. This was necessitated by the Indian National Congress’ dominant showing in the 2023 state elections, attributed to its coalition of religious minorities, backward castes and Dalits. This paper will show that despite its success in the 2024 elections, the NDA coalition has not yet been fully consolidated. It further argues that the dynamics of contemporary politics in Karnataka may challenge its long-term sustainability. The article argues that to consolidate this coalition, caste-based campaigning will likely now dominate state-level politics centred around questions of welfare and affirmative action. Communal issues, which marked the previous BJP government’s term in office, will be restricted to parts of the state where it remains socially and politically beneficial.

ABSTRACT In this article, we analyse the trajectory of Hindu nationalist politics in Goa, using the 2024 Indian national elections as our entry point. While the electoral performance of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fluctuated over time, we argue that the overall trajectory of Hindu nationalism in Goa has been one of progressive entrenchment, with the BJP consolidating its widespread electoral support from a large cross-section of Hindu castes and communities in most parts of the state. This consolidation has, in turn, been accompanied by a hardening political rhetoric that, as in other parts of India, increasingly targets the state’s non-Hindu minorities, and Christians in particular. We find little in the 2024 elections and the period following it that would indicate any reversal of this trajectory.

As facilitators of development at the local government levels, the roles of local elected representatives (Assembly Members) cannot be overemphasized in local development affairs. This study investigates the roles of Assembly Members in local economic development (LED) implementation and how such functions relate to the successful implementation of LED programmes. The paper employed a qualitative research approach and gathered primary data from thirty-nine participants (15 elite interviews and 4 focus group discussions – 6 participants in a group). Secondary data was sourced from public documents on LED. A thematic data analysis approach was used to analyze the data. La-Nkwantanang Madina Municipal Assembly was the study area. The findings of the study revealed that Assembly Members performed; deliberative roles, identification of local resources, leadership roles, and community mobilization functions, and thus, there is a positive nexus between the effective performance of the roles of Assembly Members and the success rate of LED implementation. The paper provides insight into the critical roles performed by Assembly Members in LED promotion and implementation at the local government level. It also extends the theoretical literature by exploring the endogenous growth theory which has been less explored in previous studies. Due to electoral areas’ representation, the study was limited to elected Assembly Members.

‘Leaving No-One Behind’ (LNOB) is the guiding principle of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), aiming to include the most marginalized populations in development progress. However, the growing digitalization of development presents challenges for LNOB, as vulnerable groups risk being excluded when development goes digital. Addressing digital inequalities (DI) is therefore essential for fostering inclusivity, yet the current SDGs provide little to no guidance on this issue. As the SDGs approach their 2030 deadline, it is critical to consider how a future framework could better address DI. This article examines how DI-sensitive development goals could promote equitable digital development. Based on interviews with digital development professionals from various backgrounds, we identify three key purposes DI-sensitive goals could serve: (1) putting DI on the agenda, (2) normalizing DI-sensitive approaches, and (3) mobilizing actors and resources. The analysis explores how different integration strategies – a standalone goal, cross-cutting indicators, or a combination of both – could support these purposes. By outlining the implications of each approach, the article provides a foundation for shaping the next SDGs to address DI and foster inclusive development in a digital world.

Modern interpretations of Aristotelian concepts of knowing, episteme, techne and phronesis, have lately been adopted to study expertise and professions. The article argues that a combination of the three types of knowledge would be useful in development cooperation and that especially phronesis, or practical wisdom, should take the central stage as it combines practice with values. Although values are central in development work, they are currently undermined by technical understandings. The article explored the different forms of knowledge that are used and appreciated within the Finnish development cooperation. The data was drawn from a process of providing topical and rapid scientific inputs to Finnish ministry officials and it was complemented with key-informant interviews. The findings showed that although scientific knowledge was appreciated by the ministry officials, the internal incentive structures of the development administration favoured technical forms of knowledge. Especially results information as well as picking up travelling ideas from the major trendsetters within the field were important in everyday work. The main structural constraints for phronesis to flourish within the department seemed to be a lack of time for learning and reflection. Development is a messy process involving stakeholders with various interests and wicked problems that do not have simple solutions and are inflicted with power struggles. With declining funding and diminishing appreciation from the side of the power holders, the value of knowledge available to improve the quality and effectiveness of development policy and cooperation becomes important to all stakeholders.

ABSTRACT What makes a piece of research decolonial? Do participatory or co-creative approaches make research participatory and co-creative? These reflections are raised in this article, which looks back at methodological choices made and adapted during a three-year study with riverside communities in the Amazon Forest, in Ecuador and Brazil. Originally designed as grounded research, the project was seriously impacted by restrictions imposed by the global Covid-19 pandemic and, in addition in the Brazilian case, by political issues arising during the 2022 national presidential elections. This article discusses how these unexpected limitations influenced the fieldwork approach and the resulting answers will be presented as a pedagogy of listening, inspired by the work of Paulo Freire. The recognition and experience of limitations triggered a reflection about disruptive theoretical frameworks and methods. Instead of advocating one precise method, this article advances the relevance of a trans-methodological approach that allows the emergence of new – and/or disruptive – knowledge.

This article contributes to critical policy analysis scholarship from a post-structuralism perspective. Employing the ‘What’s the problem represented to be’ (WPR) framework, a Foucault-influenced post-structural approach, we investigate what is the problem of Gender Inequality (GI) represented to be in development in Burkina Faso. Based on systematic analysis of selected (inter)national development policy documents and in-depth stakeholder interviews, our results show two main categories of problem representations: a) local culture/ informal structures that strengthen and are strengthened by patriarchy, and b) women’s weak agency that undermine their effective participation. These problem representations are framed from two different but overlapping standpoints: rights and development. Furthermore, the informal structures are presented as the source of the problem of GI while formal structures are portrayed as the solution. The underlying assumptions ignore the gendered impacts of history, colonial legacies, the interconnectedness and often-conflicting state policies and globalisation. Consequently, the problem of GI is depoliticised, rendered local, technical, and static. This deflects responsibility in solving the problem, limits local agency and the exploration of effective cultural and bottom-up policy responses. Alternatively, GI could be represented as a problem of structural unequal power relations – rather than a simplistic blame of local culture.

Originally a domestic product used by West African rural population, shea nut has become an international commodity exported all over the world. However, local periodic markets remain a central site of exchange and nut trading for many women shea nut collectors in Burkina Faso. Using survey data from Burkina Faso, this paper explores the ways in which shea nut collectors navigate shea nut trading. Many collectors engage in early nut trading during the farming season to cover their household subsistence needs, despite the lower shea nut price at that time of the year. The results show that this early market consists mostly of better off shea nut collectors buying nuts from worse off collectors, as the lead firms and wholesalers tend to enter the market later in the season. While the exchanged volumes remain small, this highlights social differentiation among women shea nut collectors, as the better-off collectors are able to invest their shea income in other sources of income, while the other collectors rely on shea for their reproduction needs. Furthermore, this social differentiation is also reflected in different household dynamics and bargaining strategies between spouses, as better-off collectors tend to collaborate to a larger extent with their partners than the other collectors.

In Tanzania, the gender gap in sports participation remains largely due to socio-cultural and economic influences, partly due to the transition to a market economy and the Ujamaa policy. One of the reasons for lower participation of women compared with men is that many girls give up continuing with sport after primary school. In this situation, the Tanzania Ladies First (LF), a national sports competition exclusively for women, has been held since 2017. In this paper, a questionnaire survey and random interviews were conducted with selected and non-selected athletes for Tanzanian LF, and their parents to examine the role of the LF in the continuation of elite female athletes' sport by using a mixed method of quantitative and qualitative analysis. This paper found that participation in LF boosts subsequent continuation in sport. On the other hand, in the context of the transition to a market economy, this paper shows that LF may have fixed social and economic structures that allow only a few elite women athletes to continue in sport, rather than expanding women's participation in sport, which runs counter to the spirit of LF. This paper suggests that in the context of a market economy, it will be necessary to promote national awareness of LF to a wider audience and media to make LF more attractive to women and private companies. This paper also recommends the introduction of life skills training through sport for female students to encourage them to continue with sport after leaving school.

This article analyses the strengths and bottlenecks of institutional capacity between social security institutions implementing the reform in Zambia, which focuses to provide social security to small-scale dairy farmers, a group of informal economy workers. Zambia’s informal economy workers absorb over 80 per cent of the labour force. This is a qualitative study of institutional capacity in the extension of social security. Twenty-one interviews were conducted with participants from Farmers’ Cooperatives (MCC), National Pension Scheme Authority (NAPSA), and Dairy Association of Zambia (DAZ). We selected participants through a purposive sampling technique. We reflected on data using a Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) built on thematic analysis. Analysis suggests that the institutions of the partnership are committed towards extending social security to informal economy workers. There was low involvement of local NAPSA officers in the project design and their role during implementation of the pension extension was unclear. This contributed to a lack of trust by some non-NAPSA members towards social security institutions. Knowledge and beliefs about the capabilities of implementers were essential in the activities for implementing the public policy on the extension of social security. However, there are several implementation lacunas concerning the process, its overarching infrastructure, and adequate human resources. There is a critical need to address gaps in process and procedures, equipment and materials, infrastructure, human resource, trust, and knowledge of context for the extension of social security to informal economy workers in Zambia. This could make the new public policy scheme more attainable.