Global Governance and Inclusive Development
This research line explores how global governance affects inclusive and exclusive development. It responds to the limits of hyperglobalisation—evident in rising inequality, social exclusion, and adverse incorporation—and focuses on those often left out or negatively affected by global development.
Key Perspectives:
The global economy is becoming more concentrated at the top and fragmented at the bottom.
Emphasis is placed on poor countries and marginalised groups such as small-scale producers, workers, women, migrants, children, and people with disabilities.
These groups are seen not as passive victims, but as active agents navigating global-local dynamics.
Research Focus:
The role of global (public and private) governance in addressing inequalities and regulating market failures.
Critical examination of the political and normative foundations of global governance and aid systems.
How poverty and inequality reduction policies reflect political struggles and interact with local dynamics.
Key Topics:
Provision and financing of global public goods
Regulation of international trade and finance
Corporate Social Responsibility and Codes of Conduct
Gendered labour and labour in natural resource economies
Inclusiveness and effectiveness of evaluation processes
Migration dynamics and their development impact
State Formation and Resilient Societies
This resarch line investigates how states form, evolve, and function—especially in post-colonial contexts. It considers situations ranging from state failure to developmental overreach and seeks to understand both the presence and absence of state authority.
Key Perspectives:
State functions (e.g., governance, law, legitimacy) are not assumed but critically examined.
The research avoids a singular notion of "the state," incorporating various formal and informal actors and factors.
Focus is placed on how societies build resilience in the face of weak or abusive state performance, conflict, or exclusion.
Research Focus:
How state actions and capacities evolve in different settings.
The impact of violent conflict, peacebuilding, and state reconstruction on social contracts.
Interactions between external actors (including aid) and local governance processes.
Key Topics:
Political and administrative accountability
Decentralisation and public service governance
Power-sharing and political representation
Trust-building and perceptions of security
Role of international aid in state transformation
Environment and Sustainable Development
This research line addresses the intersection of environmental sustainability, climate change, and social justice. It investigates how different governance models—state-led, market-based, and community-driven—respond to growing global ecological challenges.
Key Perspectives:
Development has often come with environmental and social costs.
Current responses increasingly frame sustainability through a "green economy" lens, emphasizing market instruments like carbon markets and Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES).
The research spans global, national, and local levels to explore policy dynamics and real-world implementation.
Research Focus:
Global governance of climate and environmental issues
National policy processes translating global goals into action
Local-level effects, especially related to access to natural resources and community-based responses
Key Topics:
Climate aid financing and conditional instruments (e.g., REDD+, PES)
Socio-political impacts of climate governance tools
Community monitoring of natural resources
Gender and intersectional perspectives on climate vulnerability and resilience
Environmental crime (e.g., ivory poaching) and green criminology
Climate change as a driver of migration