ISE’s support for citizen-centered governance is deeply informed by robust engagement with citizens themselves. Civil society organizations, social movements, and activist groups constitute the crucial mechanisms of how citizens demand greater inclusion, accountability, and change from their state. In turn, citizens have a set of responsibilities to the state and to each other. ISE’s work focuses on how states and citizens better harness inclusive politics, particularly involving women and youth, to build governance agendas that benefit all citizens.
For the last two decades there has been consensus on the centrality of governance to countries’ ability to provide security, prosperity and well-being for their citizens. The promotion of good governance, however, particularly in developing…
Citizens as National and Global Stakeholders Conceptions of citizenship have evolved beyond the boundaries of the nation state to encompass relationships across multiple organizations and global actors. In the process traditional rules and rights have…
Confronted by set of deeply entrenched obstacles, the government of Bihar adopted a carefully structured approach to state-building. In this paper we assess the measures it took to consolidate the rule of law, build key…
One of the most interesting characteristics of Finland’s long-term ascent of many of the world economic and governance indicators has been how, instead of focusing on problems, it tended to adopt a pragmatic, solution-based approach.…
We explain why Karnataka is an instructive case study, containing both positive and negative lessons. In the last decade income growth has been spectacular; self-interested policy making have led it to be branded India’s most…
The EU accession process has been truly remarkable in its scale and scope. The nature of the changes it has brought about across diverse societies through incentives, normative pressure, conditionality and social learning is unmatched…