David Aled Williams
Current projects
Conflict Enclosures
U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre
Norad Evaluation of REDD+ Civil Society Support
Congo Basin: How Deforestation Affects Precipitation Patterns
Completed projects
Targeting Natural Resource Corruption (TNRC)
Norad Governance and Transparency Section: Theory of Change
Green economy, low carbon development and international climate change policy
Third Independent Review of the Indonesia-Norway Cooperation on REDD+
Corruption and the illegal caviar trade
Corruption and Commodity Trading
Reducing corrupt practices in environmental decision-making
Workshop on anti-corruption in the Albanian public sector
REDD Integrity
Using Corruption Risk Assessments for REDD+ - An Introduction for Practitioners
Seminar on corruption and anti-corruption in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Natural resources, corruption and trust
Workshop on building civil society for anti-corruption reform in Macedonia
Shortcuts to categories: Journal Articles Books and Anthologies Book Chapters Reports CMI Reports U4 Publications Theses Other Publications Conference Papers/ Presentations Newspaper Op-Eds Newspaper Articles Popular Presentations and Lectures Blog posts U4 Workshops
Journal Articles
Books and Anthologies
Book Chapters
Reports
Other Publications
Conference Papers/ Presentations
Newspaper Op-Eds
Newspaper Articles
Popular Presentations and Lectures
Blog posts
U4 Workshops
Political scientist focused on policy effectiveness, anti-corruption, and the politics of resource extraction, using political economy and political ecology approaches.
Williams' PhD is from the Department of Development Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. The thesis combined ethnography in Central Sulawesi and Jakarta with satellite and survey data, producing a political ecology of REDD+ in Indonesia.
He is author of the monograph The Politics of Deforestation and REDD+ in Indonesia: Global Climate Change Mitigation (Routledge 2023). He has published in the peer-reviewed outlets: The Journal of Development Studies, Energy Policy, Environmental Impact Assessment Review, Annual Review of Environment and Resources, and Energy Research and Social Science. He is also co-editor of two edited volumes (Edward Elgar Publishing), titled Corruption, Natural Resources and Development: From Resource Curse to Political Ecology and Corruption, Grabbing and Development: Real-World Challenges.
Williams' main research interest is in the uneven politics of natural resource-driven economic development, particularly corruption, neoliberal environmentalism, hypercapitalist growth, Indigenous Peoples' rights, green energy transitions and inequality. Geographically, his primary focus is on Indonesia and Southeast Asia, but he has also had assignments across Africa and Latin America.
Williams has served as project lead/PI at CMI for longer-term research projects funded by Norad and USAID, as well as shorter reviews and evaluations. He also coordinates U4's thematic work on Corruption and Anti-Corruption Efforts in Natural Resources and Energy Sectors.
Williams was previously Senior Research Coordinator at Transparency International in Berlin where he was responsible for TI's first policy position and working paper series and worked on projects in Asia-Pacific. He also holds an MA in International Relations from the University of Kent (UK).