The Future Governance Agenda for Country Assistance Strategies: An Approach to Governance Reform (The Iqbal Memorial Lecture)

The development industry is increasingly recognising that institutional constraints in developing countries are fast becoming a primary limiting factor for growth. Institutional decay and breakdown is also placing the stability of democratic political systems at risk. If this decay and breakdown is not reversed, ultimately democracy and free markets in developing countries will also face increasing risks thereby creating further negative impacts on institutions. Reversing this vicious cycle must be the subject of international development pre-eminence as all “sectors” rely on primary institutions to function.1 The framework for institutional assistance interventions to developing countries is missing or has remained marginally addressed. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) do not directly address the governance aspect of the post colonial societies and its role in achieving poverty reduction or millennium development goals.2 If “institution matter” what should the international assistance approach to designing interventions that promote governance and institutional revival be? What is the knowledge base required to design governance interventions? What is the new governance research that can produce that knowledge base?