In Pursuit of Development

Corruption is often imagined as a bribe paid to speed up a permit, avoid a fine, or gain access to a public service. But some of the most damaging forms of corruption operate at a much higher level, where powerful political and business actors reshape the rules of the game itself. This is the world of state capture: a process through which public institutions are bent away from the public interest and made to serve narrow networks of power, privilege, and private gain.

Dan Banik speaks with Elizabeth Dávid-Barrett, Professor of Governance and Integrity and Director of the Centre for the Study of Corruption at the University of Sussex, about why state capture is one of the most serious threats to democracy, development, and public trust today. Drawing on cases from all around the world, they discuss how corruption can move from isolated transactions to systemic control over laws, public procurement, courts, banks, media, tax authorities, and accountability institutions.

The conversation explores how state capture differs from petty corruption, why democracies are vulnerable to being hollowed out from within, and how powerful actors use strategically divisive narratives to consolidate support. Liz explains why captured systems reward loyalty over merit, connections over competence, and impunity over accountability — with severe consequences for economic growth, inequality, public services, and citizen confidence.

Resources

State Capture and Inequality

State Capture and Development: A conceptual framework

State capture: how democracy can be systematically corrupted

Madagascar at a crossroads: breaking the cycle of state capture

Does state capture facilitate strategic corruption?

The political economy of open contracting reforms in low- and middle-income countries

The GI ACE program (with policy-relevant evidence on what works in fighting corruption).

Host:
Professor Dan Banik,
Centre for Global Sustainability, University of Oslo
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In this episode of In Pursuit of Development, Dan Banik speaks with Alanna O’Malley, Professor and Chair of Global Governance & Wealth and Head of Department of History at Erasmus University, about the hidden history of the United Nations and the decisive role of the Global South in shaping global governance. Drawing on her forthcoming book, Decolonising Global Order, The Invisible History of the United Nations and the Global South, she explains how actors from Africa, Asia, and Latin America helped transform debates on decolonisation, development, human rights, sovereignty, and economic justice — even as their contributions were often written out of mainstream histories.

Dan and Alanna explore why the UN looks very different when viewed from the Global South, why the institution cannot be understood only through the lens of Security Council politics, and why international law and multilateralism still matter deeply to many countries despite growing frustration with double standards and inequality. This is a wide-ranging conversation on the United Nations, global development, the crisis of multilateralism, and the long struggle to build a more representative and just international order.

Read a short article based on this episode at: https://globaldevpod.substack.com/  

Host:
Professor Dan Banik,
Centre for Global Sustainability, University of Oslo
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Why does tuberculosis remain one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases even though it is preventable and curable? In this episode of In Pursuit of Development, Dan Banik speaks with Madhukar Pai of the Department of Global and Public Health at the McGill School of Population and Global Health about why TB continues to thrive in conditions of poverty, undernutrition, overcrowding, and weak primary healthcare.
The conversation explores why the global burden of TB remains so heavily concentrated in a small number of countries, what makes early diagnosis and treatment so difficult in fragmented health systems, and why social protection may be just as important as medicine in reducing illness and death. Dan and Madhu also discuss the limits of donor-driven global health, the meaning of decolonizing global health, and the power asymmetries that still shape who sets priorities, who controls resources, and who bears the consequences when systems fail.
The episode also includes a reflection on the enduring legacy of Paul Farmer — physician, anthropologist, Harvard professor, and co-founder of Partners In Health — whose moral clarity and insistence on dignity in care continue to inspire global health practitioners around the world.
Topics covered: tuberculosis, TB, global health, poverty, undernutrition, social protection, India, primary healthcare, health systems, decolonizing global health, donor dependence, Paul Farmer, Partners In Health, development, public policy.

Host:
Professor Dan Banik,
Centre for Global Sustainability, University of Oslo
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What happens to development cooperation when aid budgets are cut, geopolitical tensions rise, and poverty reduction competes with a growing range of strategic priorities? In this episode of In Pursuit of Development, Dan Banik speaks with Elina Scheja, Chief Economist at the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), about the changing politics of foreign aid and the future of development in a far more fragmented world.

The conversation explores why today’s turbulence cannot be explained by a single leader or decision alone, but must instead be understood in light of deeper structural shifts in global economic and political power. Dan and Elina discuss the implications of aid cuts in the United States and Europe, the growing emphasis on national interest and “enlightened self-interest,” and the difficult choices donor countries now face as support for Ukraine, climate priorities, regional security concerns, and poverty reduction compete for limited resources.

They also examine a central question in global development today: Do we still need aid, and for whom? Elina argues that the answer is clearly yes, pointing to the hundreds of millions of people who remain trapped in extreme poverty and multidimensional deprivation. The discussion highlights why poverty cannot be understood through income measures alone, and why access to healthcare, education, decent work, voice, and security must remain central to any serious development agenda.

Another major focus of the episode is evidence and learning in aid policy. Dan and Elina reflect on how development agencies such as Sida can make better use of research, impact evaluation, institutional memory, and artificial intelligence to improve decision-making. Rather than treating evaluation as something that happens only at the end of a project, they argue for a more iterative and adaptive approach — one that uses evidence throughout the entire chain of development cooperation, from country selection and sectoral priorities to implementation and course correction.

The episode also turns to jobs, productive employment, and structural transformation. If citizens across the Global South are asking for opportunity rather than handouts, what should aid agencies do differently? Should they focus more on employment, infrastructure, and economic transformation? How can democracy, human rights, and job creation be understood not as competing priorities, but as deeply interconnected parts of inclusive development?

 

Host:
Professor Dan Banik,
Centre for Global Sustainability, University of Oslo
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Asia is often described as the great success story of modern development, a region of rapid growth, falling poverty, rising middle classes, and extraordinary transformation. But how accurate is that narrative today? And what does Asia’s experience really tell us about the future of development in a world marked by inequality, insecurity, demographic change, and technological disruption?

In this episode of In Pursuit of Development, Dan Banik speaks with Philip Schellekens, Chief Economist for Asia Pacific at UNDP. Prior to joining UNDP, Philip worked for more than two decades at the World Bank and the IMF, focusing on macroeconomics, governance, demography, and long-term structural change.

Together, they explore both the promise and the contradictions of Asia’s development story. The conversation examines why economic growth remains essential, but also why growth alone is never enough. They discuss persistent inequality, informality, and job insecurity across the region, as well as the challenges created by aging populations, democratic backsliding, slowing globalization, and the uneven effects of AI and new technologies.

The episode also asks a broader question that runs through this season of the show: how should we rethink development at a time when the global landscape feels more fragmented and more anxious, but still full of possibility? Drawing on examples from China, India, Bhutan, and the wider Asia-Pacific, Philip argues for a more holistic and future-oriented understanding of development, one that places governance, agency, decent work, and human well-being at the center.

Host:
Professor Dan Banik,
Centre for Global Sustainability, University of Oslo
Subscribe:
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https://globaldevpod.substack.com/