CMI Working Papers

This paper explores how the relationship between bureaucratic complexity and corruption affects the performance in utilities. We observe considerable variation in the performance of the utilities across countries, also across...

Since the early 1990s, many countries in Anglophone Africa have established (semi-) autonomous revenue authorities (ARAs), organisationally distinct from ministries of finance, with some real operational autonomy, and with staff...

This article addresses the process behind the National Resistance Movement's (NRM) decision to open for a reintroduction of multiparty politics.  Why would a political movement that had been in power...

How far has the recent global wave of tax reform contributed to state building in poorer countries? Our conclusion mirrors other general globalisation arguments: there are good things to report,...

The post-Taliban democratic reforms in Afghanistan were in part a recreation of the past. Afghanistan has had six constitutions between 1923 and 1990, and most provided for national assemblies and...

 It has been argued that the ambiguities in Malawian customary tenure may aggravate processes of social differentiation and class formation. The article investigates this viewpoint based on the situation in...

Ethiopia's new political climate (since 1991) has enhanced the Muslims' opportunities for religious expressions, clearly seen through the surfacing of several Islamic reform movements. These movements; the Salafi movement, the...

Human rights imply duties. The question is, duties for whom? Without a well-defined scheme for assigning duties correlative to human rights, these rights remain illusory. This paper develops core elements...

The first round of the Nepal Living Standards Survey (NLSS1) is a high quality data source that has been applied for a number of empirical studies. Data were collected in...

Across Africa land rights conflicts are escalating between indigenous and migrant ethnic groups. This paper analyses the communal violence that took place in connection with an ethnicised land redistribution in...

Two types of models are dominant in the current resource curse literature. One type of model studies the selection of entrepreneurs into rent-seeking versus productive activities. The other type analyses...

Lebanon has been a reluctant host to Palestinian refugees since 1948. A mainstay of Lebanese policies vis-à-vis the Palestinian refugees has been preventing their permanent integration and settlement in the...

In recent years, a consensus appears to have emerged that a variety of problems can be understood in terms of state failure. This paper reviews one aspect of this trend,...

This paper is about the role that may be envisioned for the courts in Angola with respect to the poor. Looking at the period from 1992 - 2004, it analyses...

What are "ordinary" Palestinian women's views on women's rights? How do they perceive their own rights situation? The term "ordinary" in this respect refers to rural women outside of political...

The UN estimates that 20 million are held in bonded labor. Several economic analyses assert that bonded laborers accept these contracts voluntarily, which could imply that a ban would make...

The growth of Africa's towns and cities has outpaced local authority capacity in terms of management, infrastructure, and financing. Many African towns and cities are now facing a governance crisis....

The Islamic Resistance Movement’s (Hamas) big win in the elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) marks the end of Fatah’s political hegemony. Having trumped Fatah in the elections, Hamas faces several...

On 21 November 2005, a referendum on a proposed new constitution was held in Kenya, which was conducted in a peaceful and orderly manner. The poll represented the will of...

Though corporate social responsibility (CSR) is on the agenda of most major corporations, corporate executives still largely support the view that corporations should maximize the returns to their owners. There...