Papers by Simon Lightfoot
Brill | Nijhoff eBooks, Sep 14, 2017
It is now more than ten years since the states in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) moved from rec... more It is now more than ten years since the states in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) moved from recipients of development aid to donors of development aid. The chapter shows that in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia there has been an increase in aid levels and the creation of legal and administrative structures for development policy. The states under study have clear priority areas for their bilateral aid, focusing on the Eastern Neighborhood and areas of strategic interest. Overall, the chapter argues that a combination of low EU priority, soft law, and lack of political drivers in the accession states created weak foundations for development policy that have had a long lasting legacy. International recognition of the status of being a donor via membership of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) for some states does little to mask the weaknesses, and more work needs to be done to provide the policy with firm political foundations.
Journal of International Development, Jul 1, 2011
ABSTRACT This article provides a state of the art on the emergence of non-Development Assistance ... more ABSTRACT This article provides a state of the art on the emergence of non-Development Assistance Committee (DAC) donors and the extent to which their aid activities conform to OECD Development Assistance Committee norms (DAC-ability). It outlines the main dimensions and lines of debate regarding the relationship between the DAC, and those donors that are non-DAC members and situates the papers in this policy arena. It identifies the soft law that guides the DAC's norms and standards before summarising the key debates around non-Development Assistance Committee (DAC) donors perceived deviance form DAC norms and their impact on developing countries. Finally, it examines how these tensions might be resolved in the forthcoming High Level Forum in Busan, South Korea. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The Political Quarterly, Apr 9, 2017
In this paper we explore the implications of Brexit for the UK and the EU's development policies ... more In this paper we explore the implications of Brexit for the UK and the EU's development policies and strategic directions, focussing on the former. While it is likely that the operational process of disentangling the UK from the various development institutions of the EU will be relatively straightforward , the choices that lie ahead about whether and how to cooperate thereafter are more complex. Aid and development policy touches on a wide range of interests-security, trade, climate change, migration, gender rights and so on. We argue that Brexit will accelerate existing trends within UK development policy, notably towards the growing priority of private sector-led economic growth strategies and blended finance tools. There are strong signals that UK aid will be cut, as successive Secretaries of State appear unable to persuade a substantial section of the public and media that UK aid and development policy serves UK interests in a variety of ways.
European Foreign Affairs Review, Apr 1, 2017
The EU is a major donor of development aid, so it can be argued to have a major role in shaping g... more The EU is a major donor of development aid, so it can be argued to have a major role in shaping global development norms. By examining the EU normative leadership role in the Busan Forum on Aid Effectiveness using four leadership categories we argue that the EU could be seen to be playing a more subtle leadership role than in previous aid summits, reflecting some issues regarding the ability of the EU to construct and support unified agendas in this field, but also showing some evidence of having learnt from other international summits, such as the Copenhagen climate change summit, and adapting its position towards the emerging donors accordingly. This case study both inform our understanding of the EU's global leadership in development aid but also adds to the growing literature on the EU's relations with the OECD-DAC and the relationship between the DAC and the so-called Non-DAC donors. 1 A very early version of this article was first presented at the British International Studies Association and the International Studies Association Joint International Conference Edinburgh 2012. The members of the POLIS reading group, especially Alex Beresford, provided extremely helpful comments to help reshape the paper into an article and then Jan Orbie, Lonne Poissonnier, Adam Moe Fejerskov and Niels Keijzer helped us shape it into its current form. The journal referees and editors' comments helped us produce this final piece. All errors remain our own. Simon Lightfoot
The European Journal of Development Research, Oct 31, 2018
Journal of Common Market Studies, Feb 27, 2014
The EU played an instrumental role restarting the international development policies in Central a... more The EU played an instrumental role restarting the international development policies in Central and Eastern European member states, but questions remain about how far this policy area has been Europeanized since accession. Focusing on the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, the paper investigates why the new donors have been reluctant to adopt the EU's development acquis more fully. The paper traces the process of the EU's development policy rulemaking and subsequent national rule implementation to understand the socialization opportunities these processes offer. The conclusions reveal thrre reasons why socialization has been weak: (1) perceptions among the new member states on the development acquis' procedural legitimacy; (2) low domestic resonance with the development acquis; and (3) inconsistencies in the activities of norm entrepreneurs. The paper contributes to our understanding of development policy in the EU, in particular how decision making takes place within the Council and its Working Groups post enlargement.
East European Politics and Societies, Feb 19, 2016
Link to publication on Research at Birmingham portal General rights Unless a licence is specified... more Link to publication on Research at Birmingham portal General rights Unless a licence is specified above, all rights (including copyright and moral rights) in this document are retained by the authors and/or the copyright holders. The express permission of the copyright holder must be obtained for any use of this material other than for purposes permitted by law. • Users may freely distribute the URL that is used to identify this publication. • Users may download and/or print one copy of the publication from the University of Birmingham research portal for the purpose of private study or non-commercial research. • User may use extracts from the document in line with the concept of 'fair dealing' under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (?) • Users may not further distribute the material nor use it for the purposes of commercial gain. Where a licence is displayed above, please note the terms and conditions of the licence govern your use of this document. When citing, please reference the published version. Take down policy While the University of Birmingham exercises care and attention in making items available there are rare occasions when an item has been uploaded in error or has been deemed to be commercially or otherwise sensitive.
Journal of Contemporary European Research, Jul 23, 2020
This article introduces the special issue on the evolution of European Union development policy, ... more This article introduces the special issue on the evolution of European Union development policy, against the background of fundamental challenges that have emerged since the 2009 Lisbon Treaty. The special issue's objective is to highlight the complex dynamics of a policy area that is called on to address the massive challenges of poverty, inequality, healthcare capacity, climate change, insecurity and weak governance in countries of the global south, and at the same time support European foreign policy objectives including political stability, migration management, access to resources and markets. In this introductory article, we attempt to sketch the broad outlines of the conceptual and practical dilemmas faced by a policy area that is supposed to be able to fix almost any problem. We observe that European development policy's evolution is driven by the tension between its raison d'être as a concrete expression of global solidarity and international cooperation, and its increasing instrumentalisation in the service of European economic and security interests. We highlight some of the key challenges that have emerged in the last decade, including rising populist nationalism and Brexit within Europe, the changing nature of relationships between Europe and countries who receive EU aid, and the changing nature of development cooperation itself, exemplified by the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. We outline the specific contributions the articles in this special issue make to research and policy debates on the themes we raise in this introduction. We conclude that the battle between the forces of solidarity and instrumentality has evolved EU development policy into an impossibly complex arena of competing norms, practices and institutions, which raises many open questions for future research.
European Foreign Affairs Review
The EU is a major donor of development aid, so it can be argued to have a major role in shaping g... more The EU is a major donor of development aid, so it can be argued to have a major role in shaping global development norms. By examining the EU normative leadership role in the Busan Forum on Aid Effectiveness using four leadership categories we argue that the EU could be seen to be playing a more subtle leadership role than in previous aid summits, reflecting some issues regarding the ability of the EU to construct and support unified agendas in this field, but also showing some evidence of having learnt from other international summits, such as the Copenhagen climate change summit, and adapting its position towards the emerging donors accordingly. This case study both inform our understanding of the EU’s global leadership in development aid but also adds to the growing literature on the EU’s relations with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development – Development Assistance Committee (OECD-DAC) and the relationship between the DAC and the so-called Non-DAC donors.
Global Affairs, 2021
EU development policy conforms reliably to a stable and predictable policy-cycle between 1957 unt... more EU development policy conforms reliably to a stable and predictable policy-cycle between 1957 until the early 2000s. After that, we see a shift towards more explicitly frame-based outputs utilising the mechanism of policy nexuses in which EU development policy. This article, drawing on a range of primary policy documents and key case studies, illustrates the difference between the first era by which EU development retains a stable process within the boundaries of the policy cycle and the subsequent shift to the use of 'framing' to bind a series of separate activities to the core of development policy via the use of 'policy nexuses'. The article concludes with reflections on the resulting seminal changes to the EU's overall approach to development, and its implications for the EU as a development actor.
EU International Development Cooperation post-2020, 2020
This article introduces the special issue on the evolution of European Union development policy, ... more This article introduces the special issue on the evolution of European Union development policy, against the background of fundamental challenges that have emerged since the 2009 Lisbon Treaty. The special issue's objective is to highlight the complex dynamics of a policy area that is called on to address the massive challenges of poverty, inequality, healthcare capacity, climate change, insecurity and weak governance in countries of the global south, and at the same time support European foreign policy objectives including political stability, migration management, access to resources and markets. In this introductory article, we attempt to sketch the broad outlines of the conceptual and practical dilemmas faced by a policy area that is supposed to be able to fix almost any problem. We observe that European development policy's evolution is driven by the tension between its raison d'être as a concrete expression of global solidarity and international cooperation, and its increasing instrumentalisation in the service of European economic and security interests. We highlight some of the key challenges that have emerged in the last decade, including rising populist nationalism and Brexit within Europe, the changing nature of relationships between Europe and countries who receive EU aid, and the changing nature of development cooperation itself, exemplified by the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. We outline the specific contributions the articles in this special issue make to research and policy debates on the themes we raise in this introduction. We conclude that the battle between the forces of solidarity and instrumentality has evolved EU development policy into an impossibly complex arena of competing norms, practices and institutions, which raises many open questions for future research.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2020
The European Journal of Development Research, 2018
Journal of International Relations and Development, 2018
Negotiations leading to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have dominated the diplomacy of ... more Negotiations leading to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have dominated the diplomacy of global development in the past years. The paper looks at the actions and motivations of a relatively new development actor, Hungary, which co-chaired the UN General Assembly's Open Working Group on SDGs, and thus had a highly visible position during the talks. Hungary had a key priority of having an SDG on water related issues, driven mainly by its perceived comparative advantage in the sector. Using the insights of the literature on small state influence in multilateral negotiations, the paper argues that Hungarian diplomats used alliance building as well as reputational and framing strategies to counter the structural disadvantages of the country's small state status, and were successful in shaping the final outcome. However, the Hungarian government did not act out of a strong commitment to sustainable global development, but rather used the forum to brand itself as an expert on water issues, with the hope of future business benefits.
The Political Quarterly, 2017
In this article we explore the implications of Brexit for the UK and the EU's development pol... more In this article we explore the implications of Brexit for the UK and the EU's development policies and strategic directions, focusing on the former. While it is likely that the operational process of disentangling the UK from the various development institutions of the EU will be relatively straightforward, the choices that lie ahead about whether and how to cooperate thereafter are more complex. Aid and development policy touches on a wide range of interests—security, trade, climate change, migration, gender rights, and so on. We argue that Brexit will accelerate existing trends within UK development policy, notably towards the growing priority of private sector‐led economic growth strategies and blended finance tools. There are strong signals that UK aid will be cut, as successive secretaries of state appear unable to persuade a substantial section of the public and media that UK aid and development policy serves UK interests in a variety of ways.
East European Politics and Societies: and Cultures, 2016
The accession of the East-Central European (ECE) countries carried a promise of enhancing and enr... more The accession of the East-Central European (ECE) countries carried a promise of enhancing and enriching the EU’s Eastern policy. The new member states had the strongest interests among EU member states to ensure that countries in the East are prosperous, stable, and democratic. Yet, the EU’s Eastern policy has been largely criticised for its ineffectiveness. So why have they not been able to address the shortcomings in the EU’s Eastern policies? The article argues that the ECE countries supported the way the EU’s Eastern policies were conceived and implemented because they saw it as a potent vehicle to promote their own transition experience not only in the region but also within the EU. We argue that the ECE states have experienced three types of challenges when promoting their transition experience. First, uploading to the EU level remained largely at a rhetorical level. Second, there are conceptual and practical difficulties in defining what constitutes transition experience and ...
Comparative European Politics, 2016
Accession to the EU has had ambiguous effects on civil society organizations (CSOs) in the East C... more Accession to the EU has had ambiguous effects on civil society organizations (CSOs) in the East Central European countries. A general observation is that accession has not led to the systematic empowerment of CSOs in terms of growing influence on national policy making. This paper investigates the determinants of successful CSO advocacy by looking at international development and humanitarian NGOs (NGDOs) in the Czech Republic and Hungary. Reforms in the past decade in the Czech Republic have created an international development policy largely in-line with NGDO H ve been unresponsive to reform demands from civil society. The paper argues that there is clear evidence of NGDO influence in the Czech Republic on international development policy, which is due to the fact that Czech NGDOs have been able solve problems of collective actions, while the Hungarian NGDO sector remains fragmented. They also have relatively stronger capacities, can rely on greater public support and can thus present more legitimate demands towards their government.
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Papers by Simon Lightfoot