"An exploration of the association between fuel subsidies and fuel riots", World Development
In recent years, dozens of countries have been rocked by riots, often associated with popular demand for fuel. A paper, published today in World Development, by The Policy Practice Director Neil McCulloch (and co-authors Davide Natalini, Noami Hossain and Patricia Justino) uses a new international dataset on fuel riots to explore the effects of fuel prices and price regimes on fuel riots. Unsurprisingly, we find that large domestic fuel price shocks - often linked to international price shocks - are a key driver of riots. But we also show that fuel riots are closely associated with domestic price regimes. Countries that maintain fixed price regimes – often net energy exporters - tend to have large fuel subsidies. When such subsidies become unsustainable, domestic price adjustments are large, often leading to riots.
The full article is available Open Access here.
The Politics of the Energy Transition in the Global South Webinar Series
The Policy Practice, in partnership with the Thinking and Working Politically Community of Practice (TWP-CoP) and other partners is running a series of workshops looking at different aspects of the energy transition from a political economy perspective.
The first webinar was on The Political Economy of Country Platforms. It was held on 15 January and was led and hosted by ODI. The slides from the webinar can be found here. A write up with the key takeaway message of the webinar can be found here.
Governance in a new development paradigm: Reformer leadership and partnership humility
This Working Paper, written by TPP Principal Wilfred Mwamba, calls for a major shift in how international actors support governance. It shows reforms only endure when domestic reformers lead, urging partners to drop “performance theatre” and back genuine, locally led, politically grounded change.
Reducing violence against defenders of the Amazon: a political economy approach
This Working Paper by TPP Principal Niki Palmer explores why environmental defenders in Brazil’s Amazon face persistent violence. It shows how powerful economic interests and competing ideas about the Amazon fuel conflict and impunity. It outlines three realistic pathways to strengthen protections, shift incentives toward conservation and reduce violence.