From dysfunctional to functional corruption: The politics of reform in Lebanon’s electricity sector
In Lebanon, the electricity sector’s dysfunction and inefficiency mask deeper political economy challenges, including rampant rent-seeking, captured institutions and a fractured state. Over decades, corruption and mismanagement in Lebanon’s electricity sector has contributed to the draining of public finances and has deprived the Lebanese people of their right to reliable and affordable electricity.
Amidst the poor general state of the sector, one area of Lebanon has managed to operate a private utility that provides a reliable and high-quality electricity service – Électricité de Zahlé (EDZ). Our study explores how it has been possible to establish EDZ’s functional, but problematic, service provision within the complex sectarian political context of Lebanon. We draw existing development and political economy literature to understand the rents and types of corruption in the sector and how the changes implemented by EDZ have been consistent with the nature of Lebanon’s political settlement.
New briefing paper - Models for tackling Lebanon's electricity crisis
On 4 February 2021, the Issam Fares Institute at the American University of Beirut (AUB), in collaboration with The Policy Practice (TPP) and the SOAS Anti-Corruption Evidence (ACE) consortium, hosted a webinar entitled ‘Models for tackling Lebanon’s electricity crisis’.
This briefing paper summarises the views of the key speakers and discussants. It draws together the key threads of the discussion – identifying the commonalities and the points of disagreement – and provides some tentative suggestions about the way forward for the sector.
Latest Political Economy Analysis in Action online training course launched
We are delighted to let you know that The Policy Practice and ODI will run our next Political Economy Analysis in Action online training course from 6 September – 17 December. Please find attached a course flyer. Please click here to register by 2 July.
Political economy analysis (PEA) is now recognised as essential to the design and adaptive management of development and foreign policy interventions. It is about understanding the contexts in which development and foreign policy happen, the incentives that determine how the relevant actors behave, and drawing well-grounded operational conclusions for policy, strategy, programme design and implementation.
This course will equip participants with the tools and the confidence to undertake a PEA, and to apply it to policy and programmes in a wide range of contexts. It will cover ten sessions over a 15-week period, requiring about 4 hours of study per week (with a mix of self-study, online Study Group discussions and tasks and webinars, supported by an inter-active platform).
Latest Political Economy Analysis in Action online training course launched
Last week, we hosted the live launch webinars for our two online Political Economy Analysis in Action courses. One course has been specifically tailored for UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office staff. The other is our Open PEA course with a diverse cohort of participants from civil society, the private sector, bilateral and multilateral agencies.
We have revised our course material to reflect the wider set of objectives and interests in foreign policy as well as development interventions and we’ve updated our online PEA library .
We look forward to interacting with our 140+ course participants over the next four months.
If you or your colleagues are interested in participating in this course or a tailored one in the future, please email training@thepolicypractice.com to join our waiting list, or visit our training page for further details.