IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/unu/wpaper/wp-2010-082.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Elite Capture or Capture Elites? Lessons from the 'Counter-elite' and 'Co-opt-elite' Approaches in Bangladesh and Ghana

Author

Listed:
  • Sam Wong

Abstract

Community-based development has been criticized for its inadequate understanding of power relationships at the local level, which thus leaves room for elite capture. This paper compares and contrasts two case studies, both of which take power seriously in their institutional designs. The solar home system in Bangladesh, represents the 'counter-elite' approach and explicitly excludes local elites from the decision-making process.

Suggested Citation

  • Sam Wong, 2010. "Elite Capture or Capture Elites? Lessons from the 'Counter-elite' and 'Co-opt-elite' Approaches in Bangladesh and Ghana," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2010-082, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2010-082
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/wp2010-82.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dilip Mookherjee & Pranab K. Bardhan, 2000. "Capture and Governance at Local and National Levels," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(2), pages 135-139, May.
    2. Platteau, Jean-Philippe & Gaspart, Frederic, 2003. "The Risk of Resource Misappropriation in Community-Driven Development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(10), pages 1687-1703, October.
    3. Iversen, Vegard & Chhetry, Birka & Francis, Paul & Gurung, Madhu & Kafle, Ghanendra & Pain, Adam & Seeley, Janet, 2006. "High value forests, hidden economies and elite capture: Evidence from forest user groups in Nepal's Terai," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 93-107, June.
    4. d'Exelle, B. & Riedl, A.M., 2008. "Elite capture, political voice and exclusion form aid: an experimental study," Research Memorandum 024, Maastricht University, Maastricht Research School of Economics of Technology and Organization (METEOR).
    5. Fritzen, Scott A., 2007. "Can the Design of Community-Driven Development Reduce the Risk of Elite Capture? Evidence from Indonesia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 1359-1375, August.
    6. Sneddon, Chris & Fox, Coleen, 2007. "Power, Development, and Institutional Change: Participatory Governance in the Lower Mekong Basin," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 2161-2181, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Andersson, Krister P. & Smith, Steven M. & Alston, Lee J. & Duchelle, Amy E. & Mwangi, Esther & Larson, Anne M. & de Sassi, Claudio & Sills, Erin O. & Sunderlin, William D. & Wong, Grace Y., 2018. "Wealth and the distribution of benefits from tropical forests: Implications for REDD+," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 510-522.
    2. Whaley, Luke & Cleaver, Frances & Mwathunga, Evance, 2021. "Flesh and bones: Working with the grain to improve community management of water," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    3. Aidan Craney, 2020. "Local Participation or Elite Capture in Sheep’s Clothing? A Conundrum of Locally Led Development," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(4), pages 191-200.
    4. Arjan de Haan & Ward Warmerdam, 2012. "The politics of aid revisited: a review of evidence on state capacity and elite commitment," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series esid-007-12, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    5. Thomas Vervisch & Kristof Titeca & Koen Vlassenroot & Johan Braeckman, 2013. "Social Capital and Post-Conflict Reconstruction in Burundi: The Limits of Community-based Reconstruction," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 44(1), pages 147-174, January.
    6. Radisti A. Praptiwi & Carya Maharja & Matt Fortnam & Tomas Chaigneau & Louisa Evans & Leuserina Garniati & Jito Sugardjito, 2021. "Tourism-Based Alternative Livelihoods for Small Island Communities Transitioning towards a Blue Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-11, June.
    7. Saguin, Kidjie, 2018. "Why the poor do not benefit from community-driven development: Lessons from participatory budgeting," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 220-232.
    8. Shames, Seth & Bernier, Quinn & Masiga, Moses, 2013. "Development of a participatory action research approach for four agricultural carbon projects in east Africa," CAPRi working papers 113, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    9. Parmar, Divya & Banerjee, Aneesh, 2019. "How do supply- and demand-side interventions influence equity in healthcare utilisation? Evidence from maternal healthcare in Senegal," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    10. Jusrut, Poonam, 2022. "Localization of elite capture in wood charcoal production and trade: Implications for development outcomes of a forest management program in rural Senegal," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    11. Bala Yanusa Yusuf & David Hulme, 2019. "Service delivery reform in Nigeria: The rise and fall of the Conditional Grant Scheme to Local Government Areas (CGS to LGAs)," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series esid-114-19, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    12. Alexandra Titz & Terry Cannon & Fred Krüger, 2018. "Uncovering ‘Community’: Challenging an Elusive Concept in Development and Disaster Related Work," Societies, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-28, August.
    13. Sakketa, Tekalign Gutu, 2018. "Institutional bricolage as a new perspective to analyse institutions of communal irrigation: Implications towards meeting the water needs of the poor communities," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 9(C), pages 1-11.
    14. Fahd Zulfiqar & Abbas Moosvi, 2022. "Understanding Elite Capture," PIDE Knowledge Brief 2022:67, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Grillos, Tara, 2017. "Participatory Budgeting and the Poor: Tracing Bias in a Multi-Staged Process in Solo, Indonesia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 343-358.
    2. Baldwin, Kate & Karlan, Dean & Udry, Christopher & Appiah, Ernest, 2023. "How political insiders lose out when international aid underperforms: Evidence from a participatory development experiment in Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    3. Sheely, Ryan, 2015. "Mobilization, Participatory Planning Institutions, and Elite Capture: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Rural Kenya," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 251-266.
    4. Andersson, Krister P. & Smith, Steven M. & Alston, Lee J. & Duchelle, Amy E. & Mwangi, Esther & Larson, Anne M. & de Sassi, Claudio & Sills, Erin O. & Sunderlin, William D. & Wong, Grace Y., 2018. "Wealth and the distribution of benefits from tropical forests: Implications for REDD+," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 510-522.
    5. Kahsay, Goytom Abraha & Bulte, Erwin, 2021. "Internal versus top-down monitoring in community resource management: Experimental evidence from Ethiopia," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 111-131.
    6. Araujo, M. Caridad & Ferreira, Francisco H.G. & Lanjouw, Peter & Özler, Berk, 2008. "Local inequality and project choice: Theory and evidence from Ecuador," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(5-6), pages 1022-1046, June.
    7. King, Elisabeth & Samii, Cyrus, 2014. "Fast-Track Institution Building in Conflict-Affected Countries? Insights from Recent Field Experiments," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 740-754.
    8. Grillos, Tara & Bottazzi, Patrick & Crespo, David & Asquith, Nigel & Jones, Julia P.G., 2019. "In-kind conservation payments crowd in environmental values and increase support for government intervention: A randomized trial in Bolivia," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 1-1.
    9. Wilfahrt, Martha, 2018. "The politics of local government performance: Elite cohesion and cross-village constraints in decentralized Senegal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 149-161.
    10. Jochem, Torsten & Murtazashvili, Ilia & Murtazashvili, Jennifer, 2016. "Establishing Local Government in Fragile States: Experimental Evidence from Afghanistan," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 293-310.
    11. Manzoor Ahmed, 2023. "Political Economy of Elite Capture and Clientelism in Public Resource Distribution: Theory and Evidence from Balochistan, Pakistan," India Quarterly: A Journal of International Affairs, , vol. 79(2), pages 223-243, June.
    12. Theesfeld, Insa & Pirscher, Frauke (ed.), 2011. "Perspectives on institutional change - water management in Europe," Studies on the Agricultural and Food Sector in Transition Economies, Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO), volume 58, number 109519.
    13. Ben D'Exelle & Marrit Berg, 2014. "Aid Distribution and Cooperation in Unequal Communities," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 60(1), pages 114-132, March.
    14. Labonne, Julien & Chase, Robert S., 2009. "Who is at the Wheel When Communities Drive Development? Evidence from the Philippines," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 219-231, January.
    15. Ben D'Exelle & Marrit Berg, 2014. "Aid Distribution and Cooperation in Unequal Communities," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 60(1), pages 114-132, March.
    16. Lund, Jens Friis & Saito-Jensen, Moeko, 2013. "Revisiting the Issue of Elite Capture of Participatory Initiatives," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 104-112.
    17. Manzoor Ahmed, 2023. "Political Economy of Discretionary Allocation of Annual Development Programmes: Theory and Evidence from Balochistan (Article)," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 62(2), pages 167-197.
    18. Classen, Lauren & Humphries, Sally & FitzSimons, John & Kaaria, Susan & Jiménez, José & Sierra, Fredy & Gallardo, Omar, 2008. "Opening Participatory Spaces for the Most Marginal: Learning from Collective Action in the Honduran Hillsides," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(11), pages 2402-2420, November.
    19. Beath, A. & BenYishay, A. & d’Adda, G. & Grosjean, P. & Weber, R.A., 2018. "Can vouchers reduce elite capture of local development projects? Experimental evidence from the Solomon Islands," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 117-131.
    20. Baird, Sarah & McIntosh, Craig & Özler, Berk, 2013. "The regressive demands of demand-driven development," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 27-41.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2010-082. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Siméon Rapin (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/widerfi.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.