Knowledge September 2011 | 107

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Political Economy
Analysis for Development
Effectiveness
By Olivier Serrat

Define:Political Economy
Economics—the social science that deals with the production,
Political economy distribution, and consumption of material wealth and with the
embraces the complex theory and management of economic systems or economies1—
political nature of was once called political economy.2 Anchored in moral
decision making to philosophy, thence the art and science of government, this
investigate how power articulated the belief in the 18th–19th centuries that political
and authority affect considerations—and the interest groups that drive them—
economic choices in have primacy in determining influence and thus economic
outcomes at (almost) any level of investigation. However,
a society. Political
with the division of economics and political science into
economy analysis distinct disciplines from the 1890s, neoclassical economists turned from analyses of
offers no quick fixes power and authority to models that, inherently, remove much complexity from the issues
but leads to smarter they look into.3
engagement. Today, political economists study interrelationships between political and economic
institutions (or forces) and processes, which do not necessarily lead to optimal use of
scarce resources.4 Refusing to eschew complexity, they appreciate politics as the sum

1
There is no universally accepted definition of economics. Two other characterizations that both place an accent
on scarcity consider it the study of (i) the forces of supply and demand in the allocation of scarce resources, and
(ii) individual and social behavior for the attainment and use of the material requisites of economic well-being
as a relationship between given ends and scarce means that have alternative uses. The field is subdivided into
microeconomics—which characteristically examines the behavior of individual consumers, groups of consumers,
or firms—and macroeconomics—which ordinarily looks at growth, inflation, unemployment, and the role of
government.

2
Antoine de Montchrestien (1575–1621), a French poet, dramatist, and economist, is credited with the first use
of the term.

3
Power refers to the ability of an individual or group to achieve outcomes reflecting objectives. (Some distinguish
hard and soft power.) Authority exists whenever an individual or group is permitted to control, command,
or determine. (Some distinguish formal and informal authority.) At heart, politics is but the struggle for the
acquisition and application of power and authority.

4
If economics is the study of the optimal use of scarce resources, subject to well-defined constraints and a market
environment, political economy embraces the complex political nature of decision making to investigate how
power and authority affect economic choices in a society.
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of activities—involving cooperation, conflict, and negotiation—that shape decisions touching the production,
consumption, and transfer of scarce resources, irrespective of whether the activities are formal or informal,
public or private, or a combination thereof.5 (Lest this compass be thought beyond reach, it should be pointed
out that politics are not normally random and therefore unpredictable.) In summary, they analyze and explain
the ways in which governments affect the allocation of scarce resources in society through laws and policies
and, by the same token, the ways in which the nature of economic systems and the behavior of people acting
on their economic interests impact governments and the laws and policies they formulate. Depending on the
outlook, they can thereby, for example, bring a focus to bear on outcomes—practices might be a better term—
such as inequality or exclusion.

It is only the novice in political economy A Précis on Political Economy Analysis

who thinks it is the duty of government Obviously, questions of power and authority come to the fore
to make its citizens happy.—Government when heterogeneity of interest leads to conflict6 among actors in
has no such office. To protect the weak a society.7 Political economy is founded on the predicament of
and the minority from the impositions of economic choices in a society comprising heterogeneous agents.
the strong and the majority—to prevent Its focus is different from that of welfare economics:8 the issue is
anyone from positively working to render not the technical problem of what implications different welfare
the people unhappy, (if we may so express weights might have but the political problem of how weights are
it,) to do the labor not of an officious ascribed and the processes associated with that. (Simplifying,
inter-meddler in the affairs of men, but of a technical and informational approaches ask “what” questions;
prudent watchman who prevents outrage— political economists ask “why” first, and then “how,” taking
these are rather the proper duties of a political feasibility into account. This shifts attention from what
government. is missing to what there is.)
In a nutshell, political economy analysis investigates the
—Walt Whitman
interaction of political and economic processes in a society; this
entails comprehending
• the power and authority of groups in society, counting the interests they hold and the incentives that
drive them, in conducing particular outcomes;
• the role that formal and informal institutions play in allocating scarce resources;
• the influence that values and ideas, including culture, ideologies, and religion, have on shaping human
relations and interaction.

5
The approach is impartial in that it neither presupposes nor favors a particular type of polity or mode of decision making, policy package or
development strategy, structure of incentives, or scale of application. However, by explaining outcomes, it helps diagnose possible sources
of positive change—or, conversely, opposition—as well as their dynamics.

6
Conflict may be defined as a disagreement, contest, or struggle between people with opposing beliefs, concerns, goals, ideas, interests,
needs, or values. Conflict often connotes with war or violence but it occurs more commonly at all levels of society in all sorts of situations.
(Some think it is an unavoidable aspect of everyday life.) Surface conflict has shallow or no roots; it often owes to misunderstanding and
can be addressed by improved communications and the conscious effort of opposing groups to understand one another. Latent conflict is
conflict below the surface; it might have to be brought out into the open before it can be effectively addressed. Open conflict is very visible
and has deep roots, sometimes spanning generations. Because it causes more physical, social, psychological, and environmental damage
than the other types, both its causes and effects need to be addressed.

7
This is where economics falls short: the optimal solutions it seeks, subject to technical and informational constraints, will not eventuate
where conflict exists yet collective choices must nevertheless still be made.

8
Welfare economics uses microeconomic techniques to evaluate, under conditions of competitive equilibrium and with due concern for
economic efficiency and the income distribution associated with that, what economic policies will create the highest overall level of social
good.

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Figure: The Wheels of Political Economy Analysis

Source: Author.

Naturally, bilateral and multilateral development agencies seek to maximize the quality and impact of the
assistance they extend.9 For this, since development is not a technocratic process but fundamentally political,
they must gain a "real-world" sense of what is possible; only then can they with knowledge expand the feasible
space for reform, engage, and help actors surmount what might otherwise be impossible.10 To this intent,
problem-driven, dynamic, and actionable political economy analysis can, for instance, (i) contribute to deeper
understanding of political context and how it affects pro-poor development assistance; (ii) lead to more politically
astute—and therefore more realistic and effective—country partnership strategies and related programming,
including the selection of lending and nonlending modalities, through the identification of pragmatic solutions
to challenges; (iii) support scenario planning and risk management by helping identify critical factors apt to
drive or obstruct positive change; (iv) broaden the scope for quality dialogue among and engagement by clients,
audiences, and partners around key political challenges and opportunities, for example, at country, sector or
thematic, and policy or project levels;11 (v) foster coherence across joint goals through a common analysis of
the underlying political and economic processes shaping development; and (vi) build coalitions for innovative
or "good enough" change. The boxes below illustrate how a political economy perspective might add value to
development work by changing the way it is conducted.

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Quite simply, even if it is never easy to achieve it in practice, development effectiveness refers to the extent to which development
interventions accomplish their objectives. The Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness of 2005 outlined five fundamental principles for
making aid more effective: (i) ownership—developing countries set their own strategies for poverty reduction, improve their institutions,
and tackle corruption; (ii) alignment—donor countries align behind these objectives and use local systems; (iii) harmonization—donor
countries coordinate, simplify procedures, and share information to avoid duplication; (iv) managing for results—developing countries and
donors shift focus to development results and results get measured; and (v) mutual accountability— developing countries and donors are
accountable for development results.
10
The mandates of bilateral and multilateral development agencies usually—and explicitly—preclude them from engaging in politics.
Notwithstanding, it is common sense that they must understand political economy contexts from a diagnostic—not prescriptive—
perspective if they are to successfully help design and implement development policies and strategies.
11
Of course, the different levels can be and often are combined. Broadly, country-level analysis would delve on interactions among structural
variables, institutional variables, and agents (aka actors or stakeholders). Sector- or thematic-level analysis would scrutinize roles and
responsibilities, ownership structure and financing, power relations, historical legacies, corruption and rent-seeking, service delivery,
decision making, implementation issues, and potential for reform. Policy- or project-level analysis would identify the problem, issue, or
vulnerability to be addressed; map out the institutional and governance weaknesses that cause it; and drill down to the specific issues that
constrain or might support progressive change. See also Department for International Development. 2009. Political Economy Analysis:
How-To Note. Available: www.odi.org.uk/events/documents/1929-dfid-note-political-economy-analysis.pdf. In guidance to its offices, the
department notes that several elements of the framework for political economy analysis cut across the three levels: they are (i) legitimacy;
(ii) inputs in the form of influences, demands, and oppositions; (iii) inputs in the form of supports and withdrawals; (iv) modes of inputs,
e.g., advice, conditionality, terms, threat, or treaties where inputs are external and discourse, ideas, petitions, or votes where they are
internal; (v) gatekeepers; (vi) decision-making power maps; (vii) lobbying; (viii) decision making; (ix) outputs; (x) capacity and the politics of
implementation; and (xi) feedback effects.

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Box 1: Caring for the Earth: A Marxist Critique

In 1980, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, the United Nations
Environment Programme, and the World Wildlife Fund published the World Conservation Strategy: Living
Resource Conservation for Sustainable Development.a The document stressed the interdependence of
conservation and development and greatly influenced thinking about the environment. Their new document,
Caring for the Earth: A Strategy for Sustainable Living,b conveys two important messages: care for the planet
on which we live, and sustainability in the use of its resources.
Caring for the Earth represents a departure from the World Conservation Strategy in that conservation is
now seen as a means to achieve genuine development and not vice versa. It is presented as both an analysis
and a plan of action. Although the strategy is aimed at everybody, its particular targets are those who will
decide on the next essential steps. It addresses leaders, ministers of government departments, heads of national
agencies, and intergovernmental organizations.

Caring for the Earth

Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste The stated purpose of Caring for the Earth is to help improve
the sky as well as the earth. the condition of the world’s people. The text has three parts.
—Henry David Thoreau Part I, The Principles of Sustainable Living, begins with a
chapter that defines principles to guide the way toward
sustainable societies. Part II, Additional Actions for Sustainable Living, describes corresponding actions
required in relation to the main areas of human activity, and some major components of the biosphere. Part
III, Implementation and Follow-up, proposes guidelines to help users to adapt the strategy to their needs and
capabilities and to implement it.
The principles to guide the way toward sustainable societies are the following:
• Respect and care for the community of life.
• Improve the quality of human life.
• Conserve the earth’s vitality and diversity.
• Minimize the depletion of nonrenewable resources.
• Keep within the earth’s carrying capacity.
• Change personal attitudes and practices.
• Enable communities to care for their own environments.
• Provide a national framework for integrating development and conservation.
• Create a global alliance.
The first part of Caring for the Earth elaborates on these nine principles for sustainable living. Respect
and care for the community of life is an ethical principle reflecting the relationships between mankind
and other forms of life. Improving the quality of human life requires short and long-term development.
Conserving the earth’s vitality and diversity raises issues of biodiversity and is related to minimizing the
depletion of nonrenewable resources. These two principles, in turn, imply that the planet has a particular
carrying capacity and that the human population should keep within that capacity. How to change personal
attitudes and practices is not easy; education is important and might also help enable communities to care
for their own environments. And so, suitable environmental and other education can provide in each nation
or region a national framework for integrating development and conservation. But because “no nation today
is self-sufficient,” there is a need to create a global alliance.
These nine principles to guide the way toward sustainable I think the environment should be put in the
societies are phrased as commands. The question, however, category of our national security. Defense
is whether it is sufficient to have concepts, principles, and of our resources is just as important as
targets. The answer is “no” because action is required to put defense abroad. Otherwise what is there to
the principles into practice and realize the targets identified. defend?
Paradoxically, however, it is perhaps at the action end that
—Robert Redford
Caring for the Earth is weakest as a self-proclaimed strategy

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for sustainable living. Only one chapter is given over to this, listing 132 actions that would be required to
pull off the strategy for sustainable development. It is, nonetheless, up to governments, nongovernment
organizations, and people to consider which of these actions they can and should take. Judging Caring for
the Earth by the standards called for by its avowed intentions, therefore, the reader may wonder what use to
make of such directives as to
• Develop the world ethic for living sustainably.
• Prepare for climate change.
• Develop more effective local governments.
• Build up the global alliance.

Marx to the Rescue

Still, the faults of Caring for the Earth are more serious than its failure to present anything more than a potpourri
of directives. Put bluntly, many conservationists now promoting conservation programs threaten merely to
pay lip service to the social contexts within which they propose to operate their systems of management.
Despite the superficially attractive approach of such initiatives as Caring for the Earth in seeking to enlist
the integration of development goals with conservation objectives and the participation of local people, some
of the assumptions that underlie these initiatives are disturbing. At heart, Caring for the Earth intimates that
the conservationists’ utopian vision of society must predominate. Although the document appraises aspects
of socioeconomic and political organization which have brought about environmental degradation and social
deprivation, the strategy it advocates does not even begin to examine the social and political changes that
would be necessary to meet the conservation goals set out
We never know the worth of water till the in Part II of the document. As seen by Marxists, Caring
well is dry. for the Earth reflects the narrow academic or ideological
—Thomas Fuller preoccupations of the specialists who formulated it.
Environmental problems are rarely environmental in origin.
A study of environmental destruction in southern Honduras by Susan Stonichc concludes that environmental
degradation arises from social structure and is intricately connected to land tenure, unemployment, poverty,
and demography. She identifies political and economic factors and export-promotion policies of international
lending institutions and aid agencies as the key element of a development policy for the whole of Central
America that is likely to lead to destruction of the remaining tropical forests, worsen poverty and malnutrition,
and increase inequality and conflicts within and between nations. To those that subscribe to the political
economy perspective, therefore, the biological explanation offered by conservationists and ecologists is
simplistic and overlooks the social context of development and land distribution within which worldwide
destruction of traditional agriculture and the rain forests is now occurring.
From a perspective that combines the concerns of political economy, then, the environmental management
proposed in Caring for the Earth is ahistorical in the sense that it ignores the importance of modes of
production. It presents environmental dilemmas in terms of fixed and unchanging limits upon human action.
This means that the document deals primarily with symptoms, not causes, and that it places the environment
above people despite recurring statements to the contrary. Such biological explanations are deterministic,
conceal the choices that are open to people to change their society and their own destiny, and can lead to
pessimism about man’s ability to create harmony with nature through social reform.
At root, documents such as Caring for the Earth offer no structural changes to redress “underdevelopment,”
to use a once popular coinage, and their appeals on behalf of the planet are little more than calls for the survival
of the industrial system. Changes are advocated without any analysis of how mismanagement came about
that would in all likelihood lead to increased polarization in the economy and the society penalizing people
for actions resulting from their own poverty. An alternative, political economy, perception would not have
social, economic, or technical factors explain environmental dilemmas but rather depict the environmental
situation examined as evidence of a social, economic, or political dilemma, laying emphasis on such factors
as inequality in resources and power and structural “underdevelopment.” David Pepperd contends that,

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as seen by Marxists, “This is politically reactionary, leading to repressive attitudes which are legitimated
through the appeal to an ‘objective’ science and a pretence that environmental problems are ‘above politics’.”
The environmental movement maintains a facade of technical objectivity which, a Marxist critique would
argue, provides new techniques for members of the elite to gain professional status, notably through articles
in specialized journals.
And, indeed, “Caring for the Earth is intended to be used by those who shape policy and make decisions
that affect the course of development and the condition of our environment.” Almost as an afterthought, it
is also considered to be of use to other citizens in communities and settlements everywhere. The approach,
which corresponds to the appeal for an “objective” science, is dogmatic. Readers are directed to engage in
certain activities and refrain from others.
Societies, however, are neither mere population aggregates nor unified biotic communities. Rather, they
are specified by their mode of production. Crisis tendencies and profit generation constitute the core of
societal development, which is dominated by the capital accumulation process. Questions to be asked and
answered are: What is the character of power and inequality? How do they relate to ecological patterns?
How do production and reproduction processes of capital
accumulation, as well as the processes of crisis adjustment, We do not inherit the earth from our
manifest themselves in sociospatial organization? Caring ancestors; we borrow it from our children.
for the Earth does not raise such questions, let alone attempt —Anonymous
to answer them, and its attempt to enthrone conservation
as a means to sustainable development is, at best, awkward. Conservation, which can be defined as the
management, protection, and preservation of the earth’s natural resources and environment, has opportunity
costs. These are the development benefits foregone. Yet, Caring for the Earth argues that its aim is sustainable
development.

What Next?
The dilemmas facing mankind are extreme but not new. Those living in affluence have often taken it for
granted that the poor should pay the price of their wealth and comfort. From a Marxist perspective, one would
say that class struggle, against which history is played out, continues unabated. And that in the struggle for
survival some countries and some social classes will manage better than others. But sustainable development,
if it is to find expression in reality, would require changes in modes of production and consumption as well
as new social and political structures.
To make development sustainable, progress must be made to integrate the perspectives of three
disciplines: (i) that of economists, whose methods seek to
And Man created the plastic bag and the maximize human welfare within the constraints of existing
tin and aluminum can and the cellophane capital stock and technologies; (ii) that of ecologists, who
wrapper and the paper plate, and this stress the preservation of ecological subsystems; and (iii) that
was good because Man could then take of sociologists, who emphasize that the key actors are human
his automobile and buy all his food in one beings, whose patterns of social organization are crucial for
place and He could save that which was devising viable solutions.
good to eat in the refrigerator and throw Sadly, sociological approaches, even when application
away that which had no further use. And oriented, have been largely timid, inactive, or simply reactive.
soon the earth was covered with plastic In the case of environmental sociology, an explanatory factor
bags and aluminum cans and paper plates is the difficulty of adapting bioecological concepts to the
and disposable bottles and there was human context, which can pose problems of inappropriate or
nowhere to sit down or walk, and Man illegitimate use. And, at a more fundamental level, harsher
shook his head and cried: “Look at this critics of the political economy approach to the environment
Godawful mess.” remark that natural resources were never at the center stage
—Art Buchwald of Marxist thinking and that the environment was in any
case rarely looked upon as a distributive issue. Nevertheless,

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sociologists such as Edgar Borgattae have sought to develop an important field called “proactive sociology”
to close the gap between sociological theory and practice. Rather than wait to study the aftereffects of
environmentally destructive activities or policies, when the problem is historically interesting but socially
irrelevant, proactive sociology would concern itself with the dynamics out of which dilemmas arise,
anticipating potential problem areas and their alternative solutions as the means to translate desired values
into effective policy. This would involve identifying possible futures and the consequences of action or
inaction for their attainment, a policy dimension that sociologists largely ignore.
Notwithstanding this critique of Caring for the Earth, therefore, it remains to be said that the document
and its forerunner, the World Conservation Strategy, are successful documents in environmental education.
Caring for the Earth significantly advances the framework established by the World Conservation Strategy.
To be fair, the reason for setting out the utopian model toward which we should progress is stated clearly:
“The world is running out of space and time.”

a IUCN-UNEP-WWF. 1980. World Conservation Strategy: Living Resource Conservation for Sustainable Development. Gland, Switzerland.
b IUCN-UNEP-WWF. 1991. Caring for the Earth: A Strategy for Sustainable Living. Gland, Switzerland.
c Susan Stonich. 1989. The Dynamics of Social Processes and Environmental Destruction: A Central American Case Study. Population and
Development Review. 15 (5). pp. 269–296.
d David Pepper. 1984. The Roots of Modern Environmentalism. Croom Helm.
e Edgar Borgatta. 1989. Toward a Proactive Sociology. Paper Presented at the 29th International Congress of the International Institute of
Sociology, Rome, Italy.

Source: Author. 1994. Unpublished.

Box 2: Deforestation Benefits

Forests provide countless products of vital use and are a source of livelihood to millions. For those reasons,
abuse of forest resources has intensified dramatically in the wake of improved methods of exploitation,
processing and transport, growth of external markets, and rapidly expanding populations. Since forests
also play a key role in the ecosystem, deforestation has led to desertification, soil erosion, flooding, loss
of biodiversity, and poorer environments for the poor. If that were not enough, some contend too that
deforestation changes the atmospheric oxygen and carbon dioxide balance—which alters the albedo and
accelerates the greenhouse effect. So, with growing unease about the consequences of deforestation, attention
is shifting from production to conservation. Sadly, an environmental management perspective that ignores
the environmental conflicts at hand sways it.

The Beneficiaries of Deforestation

Deforestation happens because it is profitable. That is why the perspective of those who gain from it, in
conflict with one another, is of interest. The beneficiaries are
• Governments, since pioneer settlements divert attention from pressing social problems;
• National treasuries, which derive foreign exchange earnings from forest products;
• Commercial loggers (legal and illegal);
• People employed in the logging and wood-processing industries;
• Commercial interests that use deforested lands to grow a product for the market, speculate on land
near roads and new settlements, and buy and sell charcoal or fuelwood;
• Local commercial businesses that benefit from frontier settlements;
• Urban consumers of charcoal and fuelwood, who pay a price that does not internalize the costs of
deforestation;
• Consumers in industrialized countries, who also profit because the prices of tropical forest products
do not reflect their true value;
• International corporations trading tropical forest products;
• Migrant farmers and shifting cultivators, who benefit from the removal of forest cover because it
allows them to farm.a

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Clearly, the process of deforestation is not amenable to

A virgin forest is where the hand of man technical solutions. It does not hinge on the relative merits of
has never set foot. different silvicultural practices or the choice of the discount
—Anonymous rate. It is fueled by conflicting interests over the use of forest
resources. So far, in many developing countries, the answer
has been that the forests belong to loggers and their allies—the interests of communities and the many sectors
that use or influence forests have never received much notice. Yet, to control the process of deforestation, it is
necessary to identify all those who benefit from it. Only then will policy, market, and institutional instruments
for sustainable development work.b

A Framework for Conflict Resolution

Demand for wood will rise by one third over the next 10
Man has been endowed with reason, with
years. Worsening conflicts among forest users might be
the power to create, so that he can add to
avoided if a cross-sectoral approach were adopted. Such an
what he’s been given. But up to now he
approach would identify all the sectors and groups that benefit
hasn’t been a creator, only a destroyer.
from forests; define the benefits and establish objectives for
Forests keep disappearing, rivers dry up,
sustaining and balancing them; and state how the objectives
wildlife’s become extinct, the climate’s
will be achieved. The intention would be to resolve conflicts
ruined and the land grows poorer and
by integrating compatible uses of forest resources or zoning
uglier every day.
where uses are incompatible. Solutions would permit the
establishment of a stable forest continuum accommodating —Anton Chekhov
changing circumstances. Backed by (now) informed policy,
market, and institutional instruments, the continuum would encompass protected forests in their natural state,
managed natural forests, shifting cultivation, agroforestry, and plantations.

Toward Sustainable Forest Strategies

Deforestation will be addressed most suitably by a multidisciplinary approach that emphasizes the
socioeconomic and political environment in which deforestation takes place, against a pragmatic realization
that societies (and forests) are dynamic. The advantages of social ingenuity over technical ingenuity should
not be overlooked. A stable system of markets, legal regimes (including property rights), financial agencies,
and institutions is a prerequisite to any economic and social progress. But developing countries are ill endowed
with this social capital. And their ability to create and maintain it is being eroded by the very environmental
problems they are hoping to address.

a
The benefits they derive are short-lived. The clearance process must be repeated elsewhere after a couple of years because of insect
plagues, weeds, and soil impoverishment.
b
Also, these instruments need to consider the motives of the agents of deforestation. The poor eke out a living and perform much of the
expansion of agriculture into previously forested areas. But logging, some agriculture, and some charcoal making are carried out for
commercial reasons.

Source: Serrat, O. 2001. Deforestation Benefits. Manila: ADB. Available: www.adb.org/documents/periodicals/ero/2001/deforestation.asp

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Box 3: A Note on Floods in Bangladesh

Flood losses in Bangladesh grow despite large investments in flood control infrastructure. There are only two
plausible explanations. They are a physically driven increase in the occurrence and importance of floods and
a man-driven increase in vulnerability caused by denser floodplain occupancy. Deforestation is occurring in
the Himalayan region. But, without evidence to support arguments that environmental degradation there is
exacerbating floods in Bangladesh, it is generally accepted that human actions are on the whole responsible.
Even though floodplains are one of the more obvious
What is the appropriate behavior for a hazard-prone environments, widespread invasion has occurred
man or a woman in the midst of this world, because of countless individual decisions based on the belief
where each person is clinging to his piece that locational benefits outweigh risks. Population pressures
of debris? What’s the proper salutation and general poverty have encouraged this expectation further.
between people as they pass each other in Once floodplains become urbanized, however, there follows
this flood? an almost inevitable demand for flood protection from (now
—Buddha organized and vocal) local communities. This is because the
construction of flood embankments or other physical controls
is perceived to render part of the floodplains safe. Next, land values rise and the development of floodplains
gathers steam (even though structural works cannot withstand the most powerful river flows and channel
changes that threaten human life in disaster years). Development encourages further human encroachments
and it becomes more and more difficult to shake off the massive structural legacy. Yet, in the meantime, flood
embankments and other physical controls isolate fish farmers and jute farmers from the beneficial spread of
monsoon floods in normal years.
International assistance may have advanced this trend. The Flood Action Plan prompted by heavy floods
in 1987 and 1988 recommended greater reliance on embankments along the major rivers. This worked well
at first. But some doubt the sustainability of the embankment program. It is long-term by nature and must
be sustained to make sense, with the embankments raised every year to cope with the rising channel beds
that result from deposition. And then again, history shows that the integrity of embankments is the exception
rather than the rule.
Bangladesh may be in a no-win situation and failure to understand environmental management issues
could have dire consequences. Experience confirms the need to develop more open systems of management
permitting flexible attitudes to turbulent environments, where local community needs define the modi vivendi.
Flood proofing—which entails going back to using floods as much as possible instead of trying to prevent
or control them—may be a more appropriate behavioral approach preferable to structural responses. The
latter usually aggravate the situation in many economic, social, ecological, and institutional ways and tend
to impact the poorest most severely because they are not empowered to participate in making the decisions
that shape their lives.
In Bangladesh, cost-benefit analysis of planned abandonment of the floodplain structures might show
acceptable financial and economic returns that equal or surpass those from further investments in flood
control infrastructure. Social analysis would reveal a complex of necessary concessions between winners and
losers but the opportunities to avoid poverty and conflict would then be richer overall. Ecological analysis
would undoubtedly indicate greater possibilities for a return to ecosystem health and vitality. Institutional
analysis would show also the need for a more open society where public servants serve the people better
and calm their engineering fervor to supply management services that encourage and sustain development
outside the floodplains.

Source: Serrat, O. 2001. A Note on Floods in Bangladesh. Manila: ADB. Available: www.adb.org/documents/periodicals/ero/2001/floods-ban.
asp

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Box 4: A Note on Land Degradation

Land producing economically useful crops, trees, or livestock can be managed to sustain yields. Techniques
that protect land even in fragile ecosystems exist. But, almost everywhere, land is being degraded through
overgrazing, overcultivation, destruction of woodland and vegetation, or poor irrigation practices. Why? It is
easy to blame ignorance, overpopulation, or short-term gain. But single explanations are always inadequate.
Reasons lie in the social, political, and economic circumstances that put pressure on the land users to manage
land in a non-sustainable way. So, understanding why land users degrade land means embracing the range of
relations affecting land users and their intercourse with the world at large.

A Chain of Explanations ...

Land degradation occurs because of repeated land use decisions under specific conditions. Subtle (and not so
subtle) incentives underpin each decision. Yet, they enter the picture somewhere along a chain of explanations.
To begin, physical changes in soil and vegetation leading to land degradation become noticeable at a site—for
example, sheet and gully erosion, or bush or weed encroachment. This leads to symptoms that impact the land
user, such as falling or increasingly variable yields, or increased morbidity and mortality of livestock. And,
sure enough, these symptoms are brought about by specific land use practices at the site (e.g., tree felling,
short fallowing periods, overstocking, plowing down slope, or planting crops that provide no ground cover
or protection for the soil when it rains). Why does the land user treat the land in this way? Causes are found
in his immediate circumstances, an important level of explanation and knowledge that has to do with access
to resources, skills, assets, and time horizons—to name a
Most research projects just look at impacts few—but also to the nature of agricultural society (including
on biodiversity and land degradation the distribution of rights to land, laws of inheritance, and
without integrating socioeconomic factors. the gender division of labor). Higher still, one can examine
Changes in social systems are all reflected how the state affects land management through laws on
in the environment. It is critical to link the tenure, prices, or agricultural extension. Finally, one can
two. study important international forces that act through the state
to affect land management. They relate to foreign debt, oil
—Jennifer Olson
prices, or structural adjustment programs. To sum up, the
chain of explanations pulls together:
• recognized physical changes at a site;
• symptoms affecting the land user;
• specific land use practices at the site;
• the resources, skills, assets, time horizon, and technologies of the land user;
• the makeup of agricultural society;
• the makeup of the state;
• the global economy.

… and Logical Interventions

In view of that, understanding why land degradation takes place necessitates a political economy perspective
locating analyses within specific social formations and explaining development processes in terms of the
costs and benefits that they carry for different social classes. Interventions can then be made at all points along
the chain. They would seek to address the policy, market, and institutional failures that break or pervert the
necessary correlations between scarcity and prices, costs and benefits, rights and responsibilities, and actions
and consequences.
Source: Serrat, O. 2001. A Note on Land Degradation. Manila: ADB. Available: www.adb.org/documents/periodicals/ero/2001/land_
degradation.asp

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 Political Economy Analysis for Development Effectiveness

Further Reading
ADB. 2008. Culture Theory. Manila. Available: www.adb.org/documents/information/knowledge-solutions/
culture-theory.pdf
―――. 2009a. Building Institutional Capacity for Development. Manila. Available: www.adb.org/documents/
information/knowledge-solutions/building-institutional-capacity-for-development.pdf
―――. 2009b. Understanding Complexity. Manila. Available: www.adb.org/documents/information/
knowledge-solutions/understanding-complexity.pdf
―――. 2010. Enriching Policy with Research. Manila. Available: www.adb.org/documents/information/
knowledge-solutions/enriching-policy-with-research.pdf
Department for International Development. 2009. Political Economy Analysis: How-To Note. Available: www.
odi.org.uk/events/documents/1929-dfid-note-political-economy-analysis.pdf

For further information

Contact Olivier Serrat, Head of the Knowledge Management Center, Regional and Sustainable Development Department,
Asian Development Bank (oserrat@adb.org).

Asian Development Bank

ADB’s vision is an Asia and Pacific region free of poverty. Its mission is
to help its developing member countries reduce poverty and improve
the quality of life of their people. Despite the region’s many successes, it
remains home to two thirds of the world’s poor: 1.8 billion people who
live on less than $2 a day, with 903 million struggling on less than $1.25
a day. ADB is committed to reducing poverty through inclusive economic
growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration.
Based in Manila, ADB is owned by 67 members, including 48 from the
region. Its main instruments for helping its developing member countries
are policy dialogue, loans, equity investments, guarantees, grants, and
technical assistance.

Knowledge Solutions are handy, quick reference guides to tools,

methods, and approaches that propel development forward and enhance
its effects. They are offered as resources to ADB staff. They may also
appeal to the development community and people having interest in
knowledge and learning.

The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do
not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Asian Development
Bank (ADB) or its Board of Governors or the governments they represent.
ADB encourages printing or copying information exclusively for personal
and noncommercial use with proper acknowledgment of ADB. Users are
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Tel +63 2 632 4444
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knowledge@adb.org
www.adb.org/knowledgesolutions

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