IIIS International Conference on Strengthening Institutions for Development and Poverty Reduction

Posted on: 04 July 2008

Investigating the institutional challenges facing developing countries and examining what role Ireland has in supporting pro-growth and pro-poor institutional change in developing countries was the aim of Trinity’s Institute for International Integration Studies’ conference, Strengthening Institutions for Development and Poverty Reduction, held on Friday July 4 last.

“The shocking events surrounding the presidential election in Zimbabwe serve to underline the weakness of governance and institutions in some of the poorest countries in the world and the pressing need to understand better these dimensions of economic and social development”, stated TCD’s Professor of International Financial Economics and Development, Patrick Honohan.

Among the questions addressed at the conference were: What types of institutions really do matter for poverty reduction? Does the current vogue for institutional reform pay enough attention to national and local conditions and conventions?  What role should Irish policy makers and development practitioners play in institutional reform in developing countries? Can development aid be used effectively to build political and ethnic stability?

Keynote speaker, Stephen Haber of Stanford University, drew on his celebrated analysis of the intertwining of economic and political power in 19^th Century Mexico to illustrate graphically how different forms of political organisation in developing countries can affect the reform of taxation and property rights.  On the political side, Michael Woolcock of the University of Manchester ‘s Brooks Poverty Institute argued that even good politicians will often enact bad policies because of the social constraints on their efforts to bring about reform.

Other speakers at the conference included Trinity Professors William Binchy and Alan Matthews who focused on challenges for the judiciary, and the need for a coherent cross-departmental approach to Ireland ‘s development assistance effort respectively.

This conference was the fourth in a series of conferences on international development organised by Trinity’s Institute for International Integration Studies, with the support of the Advisory Board for Irish Aid.  The event was held in association with the Trinity International Development Initiative (TIDI).

Further information available at http://www.tcd.ie/iiis/pages/events/institutions_development.php