In many discussions of nations' development, we often focus on their economic and social development. Is it becoming wealthier? Is its society modernizing? Is it becoming more technologically sophisticated? Are social outcomes improving for the broad mass of the public? The process of development policy implementation, however, is always and inevitably political. Put simply, regime type matters when it comes to deciding on a course of development to follow. Further, political institutions matter. When a government's institutional capacity is low, the chances of success severely decline, regardless of the merits of the development plan.In The Oxford Handbook of the Politics of Development, two of America's leading political scientists on the issue, Carol Lancaster and Nicolas van de Walle, have assembled an international cast of leading scholars to craft a broad, state-of-the-art work on this vitally important topic. This volume is divided into five sections: major theories of the politics of development, organized historically (e.g. modernization theory, dependency theory, the Washington consensus of 'policies without politics,' etc.); key domestic factors and variables; key international factors and variables; political systems and structures; and geographical perspectives, inclusive of regional dynamics. A comprehensive and cross-regional examination on key issues of political development, this Handbook not only provides an authoritative synthesis of past scholarship, but also sets the agenda for future research in this discipline.

Preface, Nicolas van de WallePart I: Major Theories and Intellectual histories1. Modernization Theory: Does Economic Development Cause Democratization?Jose Antonio Cheibub and James Raymond Vreeland2. Dependency TheoryJames Mahoney and Diana Rodriguez-Franco3. StructuralismElliott Green4. Political DevelopmentRobert H. Bates5. The Washington Consensus and the New Political Economy of Economic Reform Kevin Morrison6. Penury Traps and Prosperity Tales: Why Some Countries Escape Poverty While Others Do NotM. Steven FishPart II: Domestic Factors7. Culture, Politics and DevelopmentMichael Woolcock8. Religion, Politics and Economic Development: Synergies and DisconnectsKatherine Marshall9. Does Inequality Harm Economic Development and Democracy?: Accounting for Missing Values, Noncomparable Observations, and EndogeneityChristian Houle10. Ethnicity and DevelopmentNic Cheeseman11. Civil Conflict and DevelopmentH?vard Hegre12. The Politics of The resource Curse: a ReviewMichael L. Ross13. Taxation and DevelopmentMick Moore14. How Do Governments Build Capabilities to Do Great Things?: Ten Cases, Two Competing Explanations, One Large Research AgendaMatt Andrews15. Leadership and the Politics of DevelopmentAdrian Leftwich and Heather Lyne De VerPart III: International Factors16. Colonialism and Development in AfricaLeander Heldring and James A. Robinson17. Investment and DebtLayna Mosley18. The Role of the State in Harnessing Trade-and-Investment for Development PurposesTheodore H. Moran19. International Financial Institutions and Market Liberalization in the Developing WorldStephen C. Nelson20. Foreign Aid and Democratization in Developing CountriesDanielle ResnickPart IV: Political Systems and Structures21. Organizing for Prosperity: Collective Action, Political Parties, and the Political Economy of DevelopmentPhilip Keefer22. Missing Links in the Institutional ChainAnirudh Krishna23. The Comparative Politics of Service Delivery in Developing CountriesEvan S. Lieberman24. Party systems and the Politics of DevelopmentAllen Hicken25. Populism and Political RepresentationKenneth M. RobertsPart V: Regional and Country Perspectives26. Africa's Political Economy in the Contemporary EraPeter M. Lewis27. The Politics of Development in Latin America and East AsiaJames W. McGuire28. Development and Underdevelopment in the Middle East and North AfricaMelani Cammett29. Rethinking the Institutional Foundations of China's Hypergrowth: Official Incentives, Institutional Constraints, and Local DevelopmentalismFubing Su, Ran Tao, and Dali L. Yang30. The Politics of Growth in South Korea: Miracle, Crisis, and the New Market Economy Stephan Haggard and Myung-Koo Kang