Routledge Explorations in Development Studies
About the Book Series
The series features innovative and original research at the regional and global scale. Its scope extends to scholarly works that take an interdisciplinary and comparative approach.
In terms of theory and method, rather than basing itself on any one orthodoxy, the series draws broadly on the tool kit of the social sciences in general, emphasizing comparison, the analysis of the structure and processes, and the application of qualitative and quantitative methods.
The series welcomes submissions from established authors in the field as well as from junior authors. To submit proposals, please contact the Development Studies Editor, Helena Hurd ([email protected]).
Development Studies in Collaboration: Contributions from Tanzania and Zambia
1st Edition
Edited
By Tiina Kontinen, Shukrani Mbirigenda, Nyamwaya Munthali
October 29, 2026
This book considers the future of Development Studies, centering the perspectives of Tanzanian and Zambian scholars and their collaborators, to address global challenges and search for the field’s local relevance. As the field continues to face multiple crises and transformative demands, especially...
America and the Birth of Global Aid
1st Edition
By Luke Fletcher
July 23, 2026
This book investigates the birth and early evolution of the international aid regime in the 1940s and 1950s, considering how America established a postwar economic order in which aid was balanced against the establishment of the IMF as an instrument of economic discipline. Through the combination ...
Arts-based Research in Global Development: Performing Knowledge
1st Edition
Edited
By Vicki-Ann Ware, Kirsten Sadeghi-Yekta, Tim Prentki, Wasim al Kurdi
July 20, 2026
This book brings together a range of arts and development scholars and practitioners to explore the unique ways in which arts-based research methods can make a unique positive contribution to effective global development practice. Since the 1970s, global development has witnessed an increase in the...
Civil Society and Local Ownership in the Global South: Responses to Conflict and Militarism
1st Edition
Edited
By Ibrahim Natil
July 20, 2026
This book assesses local civil society responses to conflict, militarism, climate change, and disease in the global south. Grounded in empirical analyses of civil society developments in Sub-Saharan African countries, Jordan, Lebanon, Yemen, Palestine, and Syria, the book demonstrates that civil ...
Human Rights and the United Nations: Paradox and Promise
1st Edition
Edited
By Abigail B. Bakan, Yasmeen Abu-Laban
July 20, 2026
This book considers the complex and contradictory role of the United Nations when it comes to human rights around the world. It depicts the United Nations as a global arena in which state and non-state actors continuously contest issues around human rights. This ongoing contestation simultaneously ...
Youth Voice and Participatory Arts in Global Development
1st Edition
By The May Group
July 20, 2026
Youth Voice and Participatory Arts in Global Development looks at how arts-based methods can promote youth voice and engagement in global development. This book argues that engaging young people’s diverse voices, ideas and knowledges in matters that affect them is vital in enabling young people to ...
The Politics of Public–Private Partnerships and International Development: Insights from Ethiopia
1st Edition
Edited
By Jon Harald Sande Lie, Paul Beaumont, Marit Tolo Østebø
July 14, 2026
With the launch of Agenda 2030, public–private partnerships (PPPs) were heralded as an important means of realising the UN Sustainable Development Goals and providing more sustainable development financing in the global south. This book explores PPPs from the bottom up, drawing on ...
Monetizing and Localizing Foreign Aid: Evolving Paths and the Professionals Treading Them
1st Edition
By Molly Sundberg
April 08, 2026
This book investigates the uneasy coexistence of two current policy pathways within international development: to monetize aid and simultaneously to localize it. It explores these paths through the experiences of the development experts who are treading them, notably those who hail from aid ...
Development Discourse and Global History: From Colonialism to the Sustainable Development Goals
2nd Edition
By Aram Ziai
September 25, 2025
Development Discourse and Global History introduces readers to the shifting ways in which people have been talking and writing about ‘development’ over time, and the rules governing the conversation. Drawing on the methods of Michel Foucault, Ziai’s ground-breaking book traces the origins of ...
Why States Matter in Economic Development: The Socioeconomic Origins of Strong Institutions
1st Edition
By Jawied Nawabi
August 29, 2025
This book examines the underlying conditions that give rise to states that are effective, efficient, and bureaucratically inclusive with their developmental policies. In spite of humanity’s significant advancements in science, technology and institutionalization of universal human rights ...
Effective Development Co-operation: New Evidence from the Global South
1st Edition
Edited
By Debapriya Bhattacharya, Towfiqul Islam Khan, Najeeba Mohammed Altaf
August 28, 2025
This book considers how development cooperation principles and practices can be made more inclusive and impactful. Amplifying voices from across the global south, the book combines key thematic discussions with new case studies spanning three continents and three key sectors: agriculture, education...
The Failure of Public Finance Management in Afghanistan: Lessons for Other Conflict-Affected States
1st Edition
By Mohammad Qadam Shah
July 24, 2025
In rebuilding conflict-affected states, a major portion of foreign aid focuses on reforming public finance management systems and supporting annual budgets. However, how budgets are allocated and how reforms take shape in practice remain critical questions. This book analyzes the politics of reform...