Emerging Trends in Democratic Governance Oslo Governance Forum 4 Oct 2011 Sarah Lister Oslo Governance Centre, UNDP
United Nations Development Programme Oslo Governance Centre
Trends in External Environment Growing power of ‘South and new constellations of power holders Financial volatility Global impact of the ‘Arab Spring’ Growing importance of regional bodies & configurations Rapid growth in media & technology Environmental challenges Urbanisation Changing patterns of inequality Challenges of growing youth population Challenges from migration Transnational crime & the criminalisation of governance
United Nations Development Programme Oslo Governance Centre
Trends and debates in DG role of the state after the ‘Washington consensus’ mixed picture on decentralisation emergence of ‘accountability’ as an overarching narrative critical role of taxation understanding interaction between formal & informal institutions importance of crisis states/fragility agenda implications of ‘Arab spring’ for DG agenda
United Nations Development Programme Oslo Governance Centre
Challenges to the broad DG agenda democratic form without function (hybridity) differing notions of democracy unclear empirical relationship between DG and other development goals contradictions between DG processes and external support need to demonstrate & measure results challenges in operationalizing research findings
United Nations Development Programme Oslo Governance Centre
Where do we (UNDP + others) go from here? understand & demonstrate the relationship between DG and broad concerns of sustainable human development, including:
environmental concerns inclusive and equitable growth
bring empirical evidence & concrete proposals to the discussions around Rio +20, and post-2015 development framework
UNDP
& other agencies need to adapt operational modalities to reflect the changing realities (configurations, issues, political understanding) United Nations Development Programme Oslo Governance Centre