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Challenge of Developing Countries from the Bottom-up

McGill’s Institute for the Study of International Development explores development policies and achievement of sustainable national development.

The Institute for the Study of International Development (ISID) at McGill University will host the conference The Challenge of Developing Countries from the Bottom-up” to examine the needs of international development in today’s increasingly complex world. The event will bring together more than a dozen of the world’s top figures in international development. Speakers will discuss methods of generating national development in sustainable ways through the participation of experts from the non-profit, private and public sectors, local and transnational civil society actors, and the international development community. The conference will be held at Centre Mont-Royal, 2200 Mansfield Street, Montreal on March 21-22, 2013.

Published: 15 March 2013
“The conference will begin to reassess the roles of development assistance and of the private sector in promoting sustainable development in a world dramatically conditioned by post-2008 austerity in developed countries, the rise of emerging economies and growing recognition of the need for host community buy-in,” says Prof. Philip Oxhorn, ISID Founding Director.

(The event will be held in English).
 
Confirmed speakers at this event include:
 
Thursday, March 21:
 
Adam Habib: Vice-Chancellor of the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa and a recognized expert in the fields of democratization and its consolidation in South Africa, contemporary social movements, philanthropy and its impact on poverty alleviation and development, institutional reform, changing identities and their evolution in the post-apartheid era, and South Africa’s role in Africa and beyond.
 
Samir Makdisi: Professor Emeritus of Economics, Distinguished Senior Fellow, at Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Relations; and Founding Director of the Institute of Financial Economics, both at the American University of Beirut (AUB).
 
Friday, March 22:
 
Sajjad Zohir: Research Director at the not-for-profit Economic Research Group (ERG). Mr. Zohir is a recognized scholar in the areas of policy, rural development and microfinance.
 
Ran Tao: A specialist from the Renmin University of China, Prof. Tao is an expert on the Chinese economy, the political economy of China’s economic transition, land and household registration reform in China’s urbanization, local governance and public finance in rural China.
 
 
Panels include:
From Local to National: Addressing the Governance Gap
As the Arab Spring reminds us, development involves more than generating economic growth. Responsive, accountable governments are essential for achieving truly sustainable development while managing popular expectations.
 
Balancing the State and the Market: The Roles of Public Policy and the Private Sector
More than ever before, serious attention is being paid to the need to develop new development policies that seek to balance the role of the state with a dynamic role for the private sector in the pursuit of sustainable development. This reflects many changes in international and national contexts, and stands in sharp contrast to the recent past when markets and state policies were often viewed as mutually exclusive.
 
The Importance of Regional Governance: Understanding Recent Successes
As part of the ongoing reassessment of development policies, state decentralization has often been seen as playing an essential role. Yet policymakers have tended to focus on the local or municipal level. In contrast, this panel will look at successful development outcomes achieved at the subnational level by states in federal systems.
 
ISID conference:

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