The Development Management Research Stream at DESTIN brings together expertise in political science, economics, management studies and public administration to engage in problems relating to the institutions and organizations of development. Our analytical focus is on the institutional roots of developmental and anti-developmental processes, and the roles and effectiveness of the local, national and international organizations that drive development forward. It is our feeling that a holistic and critical examination of the system and sub-units of the development sector is warranted on both empirical and academic grounds. Our work is distinguished by two characteristics: a strong empirical foundation, and multi-disciplinary and multi-methodological approaches.
Our questions range across a spectrum of issues relating to the organization of development. This includes, but is not limited to, research that examines the drivers underpinning public action for development, the implications of high-level policy commitments for the way development may or may not be organized and delivered, the management of development organizations to service both technical needs and implicit political prerogatives, the ways competitive pressures from business impinge on traditional forms of development organization, and the use of evaluation techniques to assess development outcomes.
While academic research will necessarily raise uncomfortable answers to difficult questions, we seek to constructively use our work to build alliances for practical changes and solutions in the development field. Through such active mutual engagement, we aim to achieve more effective organizational management for development than currently exists.
