This year’s students on the LSE course on activism, which I teach with Tom Kirk, are amazing. Recently ran a blogging workshop, and quite a few of them went on to produce lovely posts. Will stick my favourites up here over the next few weeks. First up, Salma Saleh  on music and politics, first published on the LSE International Development

Guest post by Tom Judd, one of my LSE activism students The tale of advocacy goes as far back as we can look. In ancient Egypt, around 1850 BC, a story known as the Eloquent Peasant emerged. It tells the story of a peasant who is cheated out of his land and has to use his eloquence to win justice.

Cycled across a freezing London recently to hear community organizing guru Hahrie Han launch her new book Undivided (review to follow) at an event organized by Act Build Change. It was well worth the cold ears and frozen feet. Han is US-based, the daughter of Korean immigrants and granddaughter of refugees from North Korea. She teaches at Johns Hopkins and

Another big book in international development just landed. Not in terms of size (330 pages) but significance. Naila Kabeer’s Renegotiating Patriarchy: Gender, Agency and the Bangladesh Paradox is a monumental achievement, literally: something the rest of us will be learning from, citing and pointing our students to for years to come. It’s even Open Access (viva LSE Press!). In a

As he climbs the greasy pole He fears for losing his soul It all ends in tears Betrayed by his peers Now Rory reflects on his role Think that’s my first limerick executive summary – hope you like it. I was a bit late to Politics on the Edge (my copy came via the local Oxfam shop), but was hooked

FP2P’s Duncan Green writes: Although we have never met, I love my correspondence with Masood Ul Mulk, who works to achieve change in some of the remotest regions of Pakistan, and thinks deeply about the process. Some of his wonderful anecdotes have ended up (with due credit) in my books. He recently sent me a 7000-word ‘long read’ reflection on

FCDO governance guru/wonk (gonk?) Ben Powis reflects on some of the whiplash moments he’s experienced in multiple countries. Moments in history come in many forms – and I have seen a few. The 2015 earthquake in Nepal, the 2021 coup in Myanmar, a new government in Zambia in 2021, and the COVID-19 pandemic, well…everywhere. Bangladesh is experiencing one such moment

Guest post by Mike Lewis One of this blog’s foundational themes is that economic facts don’t mean much without an analysis of power. At the same time, over the last fifteen years I’ve watched big NGOs develop specific ways to wield economic facts, perhaps even to fetishise them, as a way of influencing power. With the new government favouring a

Health Warning: Danny Sriskandarajah is both a friend, and my former boss at Oxfam GB, and this blog is hosted by Oxfam, so everything you’re about to read is horribly compromised. Still reading? OK then, here goes. The title pretty much tells you what’s inside. Power to the People is a big picture, determinedly optimistic call to arms that argues

Guest post from Greg Power In July the UK witnessed its highest ever rate of electoral turnover, with 335 MPs – or 51% – elected to the House of Commons for the first time.  This is exceptionally high by UK standards, which usually has a rate of around 20%.  But many parliaments routinely lose at least half their members at

Ducked out of my annual pilgrimage to the Edinburgh Fringe recently (highly recommended, as ever – highlight was being invited up on stage and asked to impersonate a Norwegian comedian’s cervix. Not something I’ll forget in a hurry….) to spend an hour or two with the Scottish Government development team. Really interesting. In some ways, the SG is prototyping post-$

Always wanted to write that book about progressive change but don’t know where to start? Oxfam’s Irene Guijt shares tips from an expert…