This overview summarizes the key
findings of the eight chapters and one policy note. It is
organized as follows. The first section provides a
background of Guangdong, while the second describes the
current situation of inequality in the province. Next is a
discussion of the potential impacts of the transfer of
industrial activities ('industrial transfer') in
mitigating regional disparity, followed by the

The World Bank's Communication for
Governance and Accountability Program (CommGAP) has spent
several years exploring the linkages between the media and
governance reform. The first stage of this process produced
public sentinel: news media and governance reform, an edited
volume that explored key issues surrounding the role of the
media in democratic governance and the policy interventions
that might enable this role. This how-to guide represents

The relatively slow pace of
Nigeria's development has often been attributed to the
phenomenon of the resource curse whereby the nature of the
state as a "rentier" dilutes accountability for
development and political actors are able to manipulate
institutions to sustain poor governance. The impact of the
political elite's resource-control and allocation of
revenues on core democratic mechanisms is central to

In the past decade, the Palestinian
Authority (PA) has worked to strengthen economic governance
and combat corruption, both essential to sustained economic
growth and improved delivery of public services. This report
finds the PA has made significant progress in its public
institutions, establishing a strong governance environment
in many critical areas. But it also identifies areas where
reforms are underway but incomplete or, in some areas, not

The theme of the 2011 Philippines
development report is 'generating inclusive growth,
uplifting the poor and vulnerable'. This theme is
follows from the priorities set in President Aquino's
Social Contract and the emerging 2011-2016 Philippines
Development Plan (PDP). The PDP details the vision of
inclusive growth and poverty reduction that underlies the
social contract (chapter one). Accordingly, the PDP focuses

Although charcoal is the single most
important energy source for millions of urban dwellers in
Tanzania, being used by all tiers of society from laborers
to politicians, it seems to be politically neglected and
even unwanted, given that it is not considered as a possible
mean to achieve long-term sustainable development, for
example as a low-carbon growth option contributing to energy
security, sustainable forest management, and poverty

In recent years, the number of studies
looking at the effect of politics on economic outcomes has
flourished. For developing economies, these studies are
useful to better understand why long overdue reforms are not
implemented. The studies analyze the overall context within
which reforms are being implemented and the underlying
incentive framework. However, it seems difficult to make
such studies actionable, especially in sectors where donors

Although many studies have explored the
impacts of political quotas for females, often with
ambiguous results, the underlying mechanisms and long-term
effects have received little attention. This paper uses
nation-wide data from India spanning a 15-year period to
explore how reservations affect leader qualifications,
service delivery, political participation, local
accountability, and individuals willingness to contribute

The institutional landscape of local
dispute resolution in Bangladesh is rich: it includes the
traditional process of shalish, longstanding and impressive
civil society efforts to improve on shalish, and a somewhat
less-explored provision for gram adalat or village courts.
Based on a nationally representative survey, qualitative
evidence from focus groups, and a telephone survey of 40
Union Parishad chairpersons (a little less than 1 percent of

This Country Economic Memorandum (CEM)
is the first for Burundi since the 1980s. It has been
developed in collaboration with the government of Burundi.
The CEM has been prepared in cooperation with the African
development bank and the U.K. department for international
development. Burundi is one of the poorest countries in the
world, and has suffered from many years of civil conflict
and its consequences. In the last years, peace has been

The note is designed to assist Bank task
teams, working together with their country counterparts, who
may have varying levels of experience with promoting the
Rule of Law (ROL); some would be familiar with the African
context but not ROL, and for others, vice-versa. This note
may also represent a first introduction to ROL reform; for
those who have worked on such projects in the past, it
should supplement existing knowledge about this emerging

This essay first sets out the
"business model" problems entailed by corruption
and their effects as well as implications for economic
growth. Key issues are the need for secrecy and co-operation
with partners in crime. Dealing with these leads to behavior
which is ostensibly bizarre and undermines economic
efficiency, but is in fact a rational way of managing
corrupt practices. However, different economic policies can