In Pursuit of Development

Centre for Global Sustainability, University of Oslo

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The future of aid — Jonathan Glennie Feb 24, 2021

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International public finance, that is required to address global challenges in the decades to come, is woefully inadequate. And rather than aid, which offers an obsolete approach, we should be talking about joint investments – or as my guest this week puts it, Global Public Investment (GPI).

In his recent book, The Future of Aid: Global Public Investment, Jonathan Glennie urges us to move away from the patronizing and outdated aid narrative.

For starters, he points to the ambitious SDGs and the need for more money to achieve these goals in the years ahead. Domestic resources, he argues, is insufficient to address the challenges the world currently faces and will face in the years ahead. What we must do, he argues, is to turn around the donor-recipient relationship and encourage even the poorest countries to contribute 0.7 % of their GNI to international development. This would in turn require a transformational governance structure where everyone sits around the table – a structure that mitigates the fact that some countries have more money and contribute more than others.

Jonathan Glennie is a writer and campaigner on human rights, international cooperation, sustainable development and poverty.

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Vaccine nationalism and vaccine equity — Antoine de Bengy Puyvallée Feb 20, 2021

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I was recently made aware of the fact that 10 wealthy countries have monopolized 75% of all vaccinations delivered worldwide. This has led the United Nations to sharply criticize the world’s wealthy countries for hogging Covid vaccines. In light of growing vaccine nationalism, many voices have for long been calling for global sharing of vaccines. But it turns out 130 countries have not received a single dose of a Covid vaccine. Thus, we are at a critical moment when vaccine equity appears to be the biggest moral test before the global community.

Indeed, numerous recent opinion pieces in the media have highlighted how vaccine nationalism – driven by power and competition between states aimed at protecting the national interest – has several negative consequences for low-income countries. A few days ago, Kenya petitioned the UN Security Council to urge wealthy countries not to hoard surplus Covid-19 vaccine supplies, adding its voice to calls for global production to be shared more equally.

Without equal access to vaccines, public-health experts have warned that the pandemic could continue to live on residually for years on end, resulting in more deaths and further economic collapse. When the virus remains endemic somewhere, it will continue to pose a threat everywhere.

But there are also some promising initiatives currently underway. One of these is the COVAX Initiative – the drive to ensure that vaccines reach low-income countries – which the World Health Organization and countries like Norway have been promoting as the fastest way to end the pandemic. But how effective has it been thus far? And are countries being generous in allocating resources to this Initiative?

To discuss vaccine nationalism, the merits of the COVAX Initiative and vaccine diplomacy being carried out by China and India, I am joined by Antoine de Bengy Puyvallée, who is working on a PhD in political science and is based at the Centre for Development and the Environment at the University of Oslo. Over the years, he has worked extensively on global health governance and global cooperation to manage dangerous disease outbreaks such as Ebola. He has been particularly active in the media of late in pointing out the dangers of vaccine nationalism.

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Knowledge production and network-building in China’s foreign relations — Lina Benabdallah Feb 17, 2021

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Within international relations theory and foreign policy circles, there is considerable interest in understanding China’s rise to power. In an exciting new book, my guest argues that China’s various types of encounters with countries in the Global South are very different from the behaviour and investment strategies of the US and European countries.

In Shaping the future of power: Knowledge Production and network-building in China-Africa Relations, Lina Benabdallah explores the integrated roles of social relations, knowledge production and power in China’s foreign relations.

She argues that it is simply not enough to look at the amount of loans, aid and foreign direct investments originating from China. While these material factors are important, we mustn’t ignore the investments made in people-to-people relations and human resource development in China-Africa relations. Indeed, relations and relationality are central to China’s foreign policy and diplomatic conduct.

In the book, Lina examines how China deploys social capital and relational productive power on the African continent through knowledge production via human resource development and professionalization programs. Chinese investments in human resource development, she argues, expand Beijing’s network of connections with military officers, civil servants, journalists and regular citizens. They also act as spaces for expert knowledge production, and norm diffusion.

Lina Benabdallah is an assistant professor of politics and international affairs at Wake Forest University in the United States. We discussed how China brands its model of development in Africa, the broad categories of knowledge production and network building activities, and whether African countries have much say in how these relations are conducted.

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How to distribute a Covid-19 vaccine ethically — Aksel Braanen Sterri Feb 13, 2021

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As Covid vaccines become available, health officials, policymakers, philanthropic organizations and people like you and me are being confronted with numerous ethical challenges and moral dilemmas. Who should get the vaccines first and how long should others wait? What about the inequality of access to vaccines between countries?

Some of us may agree that rich countries have a moral responsibility to subsidize vaccination programs around the world. But how best can this be achieved? And what types of principles such as fairness, equity, effectiveness and reciprocity should we apply?

To discuss these issues, I am joined by Aksel Braanen Sterri, a Norwegian political scientist and philosopher who has recently argued that Norway should donate all its vaccines to low-income countries, and that Norway should be at the back of the vaccine queue rather than being in front. He also claims that helping these more needy countries ought to be viewed as an investment in our common future rather than an act of charity.

Aksel recently completed a PhD in philosophy and teaches applied ethics at the University of Oslo. In addition to being a postdoctoral fellow, he writes a column in an influential Norwegian daily and is a regular contributor to the Norwegian public debate on a wide range of social and political issues.

We discussed the role of philosophers in addressing current global challenges, the various proposals currently doing the rounds on how best the world can distribute Covid vaccines, why Norway and other rich countries ought to subsidise or donate vaccines to more needy countries and groups and what constitutes vaccine justice.

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How India became the "pharmacy of the world" — Rory Horner Feb 10, 2021

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One of the many ways in which India has expanded its influence in global affairs relates to pharmaceutical products. The Indian pharmaceutical sector has enthusiastically highlighted its ability to develop Triple A technology (affordable, available, adaptable). By encouraging research hubs and offering a steady supply of affordable drugs to many countries, including the United States, India has rapidly moved from being a pharmacy for low-income countries to becoming the “pharmacy of the world”.

The country’s rapidly growing economy has been a major beneficiary of the astonishing rise of the domestic pharmaceutical industry. In becoming a powerhouse on low-cost generic drugs, India contributes actively to meeting global demands for vaccines, Over the Counter (OTC) medicines and patented drugs.

An important factor that has contributed to enhancing the reputation and profitability of Indian pharmaceutical companies abroad has been the government’s tough policy on patents, which has enabled Indian firms to manufacture generic versions of drugs that are much more expensive in countries where they were originally developed.

But Indian companies also face numerous challenges in the export market. There is a growing demand to reduce costs even further. And several countries in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia are trying to protect and promote their domestic industries by introducing new regulations that make Indian imports more expensive. There are also concerns that India has become increasingly dependent on imports from China for so-called “active pharmaceutical ingredients” required for making both advanced and essential medicines.

To discuss India’s huge and thriving pharmaceutical industry and the country’s ability to supply affordable vaccines and generic drugs to low-income countries, I am joined by Rory Horner. He is a Senior Lecturer in Globalisation and Political Economy in the Global Development Institute at the University of Manchester. We began by discussing the role and impact of the pharmaceutical industry in global development.

Resources:
- "The world needs pharmaceuticals from China and India to beat coronavirus" (The Conversation, 2020)
- "India is key for global access to a COVID-19 vaccine – here’s why" (The Conversation, 2020)
- "The segmented globalisation practices within India’s pharmaceutical industry" (blog, 2017)
- "Pharmaceuticals and the Global South: a healthy challenge for development theory?" (blog, 2016)
- "Indian Company Offers to Supply AIDS Drugs at Low Cost in Africa" (New York Times, 2001)
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Political violence and development — Patricia Justino Feb 02, 2021

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People living in areas prone to, or affected by, conflict tend to suffer from many types of deprivation. Some scholars argue that conflict is an important driver of severe food crises and famines, and that undernutrition worsens in situations of prolonged conflicts and in countries and regions with weak institutional capacity. In recent years, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, South Sudan and Ethiopia are just some of the examples that have been used in the literature to illustrate the close linkages between social and political unrest on the one hand and poverty and hunger on the other.

But is there a clear-cut relationship between poverty and violent conflict? There appear to be numerous drivers of violence. These often include political, economic, social and environmental issues. While socio-economic inequalities can be a major cause of violence, other causes could include human rights abuses, perceived injustice, systemic corruption, and disagreements over the distribution of natural resources and who gets to benefit from such resources.

To discuss some of these issues, I am joined by Patricia Justino who is a development economist and a leading expert on political violence and development. She is the co-founder and co-director of the Households in Conflict Network and is currently a Senior Research Fellow at UNU-WIDER and Professorial Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) in Brighton, UK.

We discussed the relationship between poverty and violent conflict, the work of the World Food Programme which received the Nobel Peace Prize last year, and the political economy of war zones. We also discussed how the state or armed groups behave in predatory or conciliatory ways towards local populations, how civilians respond to these strategies, and how reports on political violence are produced and disseminated on social media.

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Gro Harlem Brundtland on sustainable development, global responses to COVID-19 and the role of the WHO Jan 26, 2021

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Our guest this week is Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, the former prime minister of Norway and former head of the World Health Organization.

Gro has had an illustrious career in Norway and abroad. In addition to becoming the first female head of the Norwegian Labor party, she became the first female prime minister of Norway in February 1981. And during her second stint as Prime Minister in 1986, her cabinet made world news headlines when she appointed 8 female ministers in a cabinet of 18.

In addition to being widely regarded as the most influential Norwegian politician of all time, Gro is also widely known for having chaired the World Commission on Environment and Development, popularly referred to as the Brundtland Commission. The Commission’s influential 1987 report, Our Common Future, popularized and defined the term “sustainable development”.

She is also known for her work as Director General of the World Health Organization between 1998 and 2003, during which time she and the WHO coordinated a rapid worldwide response to stem outbreaks of SARS.

We discussed the world response to Covid, multilateralism and the role of UN agencies such as the WHO and the current status of the sustainable development discourse.

A full transcript of our conversation is available.

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Political development and political decay — Francis Fukuyama Jan 19, 2021

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Welcome to season 2 of the show!

Our first guest this season is Francis Fukuyama, one of the most influential political thinkers of our time and someone who has written extensively on international politics and issues of development. He is a senior fellow at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies(FSI) and the director of the institute’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL),.

This conversation was recorded in mid-December 2020 at the height of the controversies surrounding the US presidential election and President Trump’s refusal to acknowledge defeat. And while a new president will shortly be sworn in on the 20th of January, deep political divisions remain. It is therefore particularly useful and timely to revisit Fukuyama’s major two-volume work on the origins of political order and political decay. In these two fascinating books published in 2011 and 2014, he provides an account of how societies develop strong, impersonal, and accountable political institutions.

We also discussed his first book, The End of History and the Last Man (1992) and his latest, Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment (2018).

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