How regions, countries, and localities have confronted and overcome their own challenges is instructive for leaders and citizens facing challenges today. Drawing on both historical analysis and lessons from its work advising leaders, ISE continues to document a diverse set of cases of transformation and reforms. These cases provide insight into how leaders and citizens developed a reform agenda, the policies and institutions advanced reforms, how the market and citizens were engaged, and what communications strategies were employed. Explore the Country Transition and Transformation paper series for our analysis of successful transformations.
The Country Transitions and Transformations series charts how regions, countries, and localities have confronted and overcome the challenges of statebuilding. The case studies explore the economic, social, and political dynamics of large-scale transformations, offering key insights into “what works” for tackling the pressing issues of today. Cases range from the making of Turkey’s modern state to state-level reform in India and Finland’s consensus-building citizenship model. View the entire series here.
ISE’s country stocktakings evaluate opportunities for reform during pivotal periods in a country’s development trajectory. Stocktakings diagnose countries’ open moments and pathways for reform by assessing the performance and capability of various state functions and citizens’ view of the state while mapping the various international partners operating in the country and the alignment of key stakeholders around a potential reform agenda. View the Country Stocktaking series here.
The story of how Spain transitioned from a military dictatorship to a situational monarchy with a Parliamentary democracy is widely known. This paper scrutinizes the deeper process: how Spain developed its national institutions to build…
How did Himachal Pradesh evolve to become one of India’s wealthiest states, with low poverty levels and above-average literacy? The prospect appeared unlikely when 30 princely Hill states merged to form a state characterized by…
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…
How did Singapore transform itself from a breakaway island state few considered viable, wracked with ethnic tension, political and economic problems, to a thriving economic hub and global financial center? Which areas of economy and…
Despite Nepal’s economic potential, disagreement on forming an enabling environment for business is entrenching informal and corrupt rules. This impedes licit businesses, restricting trade and investment. This article proposes how the government should partner with…
Consensus is emerging on the centrality of state-building to development. At an operational level, however, the differing mandates and priorities of different donors are resulting in fragmented approaches – increasing the strain on already fragile…