Researchers: Professor Richard Batley (r.a.batley@bham.ac.uk) and Claire Mcloughlin (c.mcloughlin@bham.ac.uk)
Funders: Department for International Development (DFID) and Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Project aims
The aim is to understand the relationship between politics and service provision. The relationship between services and the political context is investigated in two broad directions - the effects of politics on service delivery, and the effects of service delivery on politics. In the first case, types of regime, political settlements, ideologies and political competition may affect service policies, their implementation and effectiveness. On the other hand, service delivery affects the distribution of resources between social groups, citizens’ trust, and the legitimacy of governments or states.
Research design
This work has been pursued through a series of funded projects including in particular research with the Overseas Development Institute on Achieving sustainable governance transitions.
Outputs
Books
OECD-PDG Handbook on Contracting Out Government Functions and Services in Post-Conflict and Fragile Situations, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris, 2010
The product of a three-year consultative process, this is an operational resource for field practitioners and government policymakers that supports better-informed decision-making. Its preparation was managed by Richard Batley and Bathylle Missika (OECD's Partnership for Democratic Governance), and Claire Mcloughlin was a member of the core drafting team.
Articles
Richard Batley & Claire Mcloughlin (2015), The Politics of Public Services: A Service Characteristics Approach, World Development Vol 74. In Press, Open Access - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2015.05.018
Claire Mcloughlin (2015), When does service delivery improve the legitimacy of a fragile or conflict-affected state?Governance http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gove.12091 (first published online in March 2014)
A Special issue of Public Management Review Vol. 14 No.2, 2012 on the Politics and Governance of Public Services in Developing Countries is available online at http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rpxm20/current. It is edited by Richard Batley and Willy McCourt and includes the following articles:
- The Politics and Governance of Public Services in Developing Countries by Richard Batley, Willy McCourt and Claire Mcloughlin
- Widgets or Watchdogs? Conceptual Explorations in Social Accountability by Anu Joshi and Peter Houtzager
- Working with the Grain and Swimming with the Tide, Barriers to uptake of research findings on governance and public services in low-income Africa by David Booth
- Tackling the Governance of Socially Inclusive Service Delivery by Jeremy Holland, Laurent Rueddin, Patta Scott-Villiers and Hannah Sheppard
- Decentralization, Politics and Service Delivery by Mark Turner
- Political Economy Realities in the Chinese Health Sector by Daniel Harris and Jenny Wang
- The Politics of Social Rights - Social protection and free health care in Nepal by Stephen Jones
- The Political Implications of Cash Transfers in Sub-Saharan Africa by Alex Hurrell and Ian MacAuslan
- Service Delivery and Legitimacy in Fragile and Conflict-Affected States – evidence from water services in Iraq by Derick Brinkerhoff, Anna Wetterberg, and Stephen Dunn
Richard Batley and Claire Mcloughlin. 2010. ‘Engagement with Non-State Service Providers in Fragile States: Reconciling State-Building and Service Delivery’, Development Policy Review, Volume 28 Issue 2, Pages 131 – 154, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-7679.2010.00478.x/abstract
Research reports
Batley, R. and Harris, D. (2014) Synthesis Report on the Service Characteristics Approach to Political Analysis, London: ODI
Mason, N., Batley, R., Harris, D. (2014) Understanding the political implications of sector characteristics for the delivery of sanitation services, London.
Harris, D., Batley, R., Wales, J. (2014) Understanding the political implications of sector characteristics for health service delivery, London.
Harris, D., Batley, R., Mcloughlin C., Wales, J. (2013) Understanding the political implications of sector characteristics for education service delivery, London.
Mason, N., Harris, D., Batley, R. (2013) Understanding the political implications of sector characteristics for the delivery of drinking water services, London.
Mcloughlin, C and Harris, D (2012) The politics of progress on water and sanitation in Colombo, Sri Lanka, ODI Publications, January 2013.
Mcloughlin, C with Batley R (2012) The effects of sector characteristics on accountability relationships in service delivery, ODI Working Papers 350, August.
Mcloughlin, C and Batley, R. (2012) The politics of what works in service delivery: an evidence based review, Working Paper 06 of the University of Manchester’s research programme on Effective States and Inclusive Development, February.
Batley, R and Mcloughlin, C (2009). State Capacity and Non-State Service Provision in Fragile and Conflict Affected States, Governance and Social Development Resource Centre, Birmingham.