Power, relations and theories of change in development Rosalind Eyben Navigating Complexity May 26-27 2008
Dec 19, 2015
Power, relations and theories of change in
developmentRosalind Eyben
Navigating ComplexityMay 26-27 2008
Outline
• Introduction• Perception of the problem• Making explicit our theories • Building our ship while sailing it
Introduction
Question
How does change happen and how can development organisations support changes that enhance equity and social justice?
My approach• Personal, partial and political experience
in webs of relationships• How we theorise change shapes our
efforts at purposeful intervention.• These efforts may have unintended
consequences of sustaining or reinforcing inequitable relations of power and injustice.
Reflexivity and positionality
Perception of the problem
Development resource flows*
Donor country civil society &
INGOsDonor
government Multilateral agencies
Citizen
Local civil society Citizen
Recipient government
Foundations
Global funds
*Public and not for profit
Development is the burden of
Atlas….• Simplifies• De-contextualises• Dresses up the political
as technical• Linear planning• Leads to ever more
grandiose visions
Being explicit about our theories
Three inter-connected sets of theories
• Theories of society and societal change
• Substantialism and relationalism• Complexity
Theories of societal change in the Western intellectual tradition
• Aggregate actions of individuals• Technological progress• New beliefs and ideas• Purposive individual and collective action• Structural conflicts
Substantialism and relationalism
• Substantialism: viewing the world as separate autonomous entities
• Relationalism: entities are defined and shaped by their relations with others
Development aid from a substantialist perspective• Money• Technical assistance• Aid as catalyst • Aid architecture• Incentives • Mechanisms• Outcomes/results• Accountability between binary sets of actors• Aid Chains
And from a relational perspective
• Patterns of social relations, shaping and being shaped through the giving and receiving of money and people.
• Donors as well as recipients are changed by the aid relationship
• Systems • Processes• Emergent change• Solidarity• Clientelism/patrimonialism• Webs
Perceptions of power
Substantialist• Power as a resource• Identifies power-
holders• Mechanisms to tackle
power imbalances• Accountability as sets of
dyadic relations
Relational• Power is everywhere -
not a scarce resource• Multiple, inter-
connected and emergent relations
• Expanding the social limits of what is possible in webs of relations
Building the ship while sailing it?
Complexity approaches to development aid
– Disagreements on what are the problems- change through contestation;
– Uncertainties as to how improvements might be made – risk taking;
– Planned opportunism;– Working with paradoxes;– ‘Messy partnerships’ (Irene)
Saying ‘yes’ to mess?
The tough bit• Seeing ourselves as partial and in the system• Managing multiple accountabilities: MAD;• Investing in relationships rather than themes
means re-educating donors;• Going public about failure = decline in funds;• Strategic planning constrains spotting and
supporting local self-generated processes;• INGOs’ focus on growth constrains flexibility;• Bureaucratic organisations - a historical form
derived from substantialist thinking – good reasons why they are anti-relational.