GDI Webinar: Why culture matters: a revised approach to political settlements analysis and institutional change
| Dates: | 26 September 2024 |
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| Times: | 13:00 - 14:00 |
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| What is it: | Webinar |
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| Organiser: | Global Development Institute |
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| Who is it for: | University staff, External researchers, Adults, Alumni, Current University students, General public |
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Join us for the first GDI webinar of the new semester. Dr Clare Cummings (Lecturer in Politics and Development at GDI) will discuss her recent work surrounding political settlements analysis.
Abstract: The rules (or institutions) that govern how we distribute resources and uphold rights are important for development outcomes. In this webinar I trace the processes leading to two cases of significant institutional change: the rewriting of Nepal’s constitution, which resulted in more inclusive rights and recognition, and the outlawing of metal mining in El Salvador, which redistributed access to resources. To understand how these contrasting cases came about, I propose a cultural political economy perspective. Offering a revised version of Mushtaq Khan’s influential ‘political settlements analysis’, I argue that understanding institutional change requires analysis of cultural as well as political and economic sources of power. Applying my approach to the two cases, I show how political organisations form around shared beliefs and cultural identities as well as material interests to pursue institutional changes in rights and status, not just material gain. Adopting this cultural political economy approach allows a greater range of the causal mechanisms generating institutional change to be identified.
Register here: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAvdeiqqzMsHNaCDFseddtJxUTwKZr6KbCj
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