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Politics and the feasibility of initiatives on hunger and vulnerability
04 May 2006
This Briefing suggests how key political factors for policy-making can be identified, and assesses their importance within the context of delivering social protection. The author illuminates the extent to which political forces can shape pro-poor policies and examines the value of ‘neopatrimonialism’ (a term describing the common patterns of rent-seeking and corruption by elites and the patronage networks stretching down into society) as a conceptual framework for this purpose. The paper then goes on to outline how RHVP countries can usefully be analysed in terms of how they conform to or differ from the neopatrimonial model, in the character of the state and civil society, in the management of key livelihood resources including land, livestock, the commons and labour, and in the actual delivery of social protection.
In doing so, the author highlights the importance of understanding the political context for policy formulation on food security and social protection, in:
- providing a basis for explaining how political forces impinge on policy, both decision-making and implementation;
- analysing how three-way links between state, patronage networks and civil society may involve forces promoting either accountability or neopatrimonialism;
- shedding light on institutions and actors, including those at the local level, that are responsible for decisions on the targeting and delivery of social protection.
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