As aid budgets get slashed, the development sector faces an unavoidable question: how to deliver meaningful impact with fewer resources? In a new blog, @samtsharp.bsky.social draws on lessons from the Traction programme in Malawi to show how working politically can achieve results at lower cost.

Aid budgets are shrinking and ‘working politically’ may be more important than ever My new @odi.global blog: odi.org/en/insights/...

Revisiting an @odi.global piece I wrote last year, in light of the recent arrests in the UK of those expressing peaceful support for Palestine Action. odi.org/en/insights/...

Fantastic documentary on the inspirational Prof. Gyimah-Boadi @afrobarometer.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LiV...

Four striking charts from the 2025 Democracy Perception Index, launched at the glossy Copenhagen Democracy Summit @aodemocracies.bsky.social #DefendDemocracy @odi.global www.niradata.com/dpi

Fascinating work from @samtsharp.bsky.social and Ayesha Khan on the role played by women's movements in the fight for democracy around the world. Essential reading

Making cup cakes and vanilla coffees great again. 2nd top tariff (47%) on Madagascar ( extreme poverty 80%) to punish them for selling vanilla (production 3000 tons, top export to US). instead of hockey mums buying from US producers (production 0.2 tons).

What can the U.S. learn from other countries living through threats to democracy? Lessons from our global research and 15 case studies distilled in my new commentary with @beattyriedl.bsky.social Ken Roberts, and @muratsomer-eng.bsky.social include: (1/3) goodauthority.org/news/us-demo...

Want to know more about how democratic backsliding happens and how to counter it? See this fully open access issue of AAPSS, co-edited by @beattyriedl.bsky.social, Jennifer McCoy, Ken Roberts, and Murat Somer: journals.sagepub.com/toc/anna/712/1

This cartoonish understanding of political development is actually quite common. Especially among evangelists of “Strong Western Institutions.” You’ve just got rid of Saddam Hussein and seek stability? Just add a liberal constitution and elections and stir.

My new @odi.global paper with Ayesha Khan is out. From Argentina to Pakistan, we show how women's movements are central to the fight for democracy. A short thread on our findings below... odi.org/en/publicati...

PUBLISHED! Forget talk of a coup or self-coup, Musk's siege of America's vast federal bureaucracy is a form of state capture. It fits seamlessly with Trump's authoritarianism. I suspect this will be the most important thing I ever say about American politics. theconversation.com/is-elon-musk...

Institutions are not self-executing. Enough people must be willing to do the right thing by the rules.

Someone at the American Bar Association ate their Wheaties this morning.

Useful explainer on the conflict in eastern Congo from @ethuin.bsky.social Including on the overemphasis on lust for minerals as the key motivation for conflict, a view 'rooted in false, outdated assumptions that greed alone drives war in eastern Congo'. www.armedgroupscentre.org/m23drc-vogel

Lessons for the US from the battles to defend democracy in central and eastern Europe: - protect civic institutions: not just political but cultural - 'dodge the trap of mirroring the political tactics of those in power' www.theguardian.com/world/2025/f...

Government needs to get a grip of its climate hypocrisy as it simultaneously weighs up approving an oilfield in the UK (because growth) www.theguardian.com/politics/202... and withdrawing financing for a natural gas project in Mozambique. on.ft.com/40KwXop UK's GDPpc is more than 30x Mozambique's.

'Alcoholics Anonymous is an anarchist fairy tale that somehow became the backbone of addiction treatment worldwide. I am not a political theorist, but if I was I would literally never stop talking about this.' www.ft.com/content/edeb...

Let’s look at the implications of the US funding freeze on international democracy support and what this means for the EU. 🧵

Resistance, diaspora and sport's soft power: 'The first match by the Afghan women’s cricket team is placing the Taliban under additional diplomatic pressure.' thediplomat.com/2025/01/afgh...

🚨Just launched: #DemocracyDeepDive 🗳️🌍 Building on emerging literature and a range of recent real-world cases, @fromagehomme.bsky.social, Marie-Eve Desrosiers, Licia Cianetti and I distill some lessons to help rethink and strengthen democratic resilience. @europeandemocracyhub.epd.eu

What do global cases and literature on 'democratic resilience' suggest for the future of American democracy under a second Trump presidency? My new @odi.global blog: odi.org/en/insights/...