Labour, International development and Africa: rethinking policy in opposition

15 February 2018

Dr William Brown, Senior Lecturer in Government and Politics, discusses the policy process by which Labour has conducted its UK development policy rethink, the key initiatives and policy changes it pursued between 2010 and 2017, and the significant current challenges the party faces. He presents his paper entitled: Rethinking Labour’s international development policy: opposition, policy process and challenges.

Dr Brown is in the Politics and International Studies discipline and is chair of the award-winning module DD313 International Relations. He researches on Africa and International Relations from substantive, policy and theoretical angles and has a particular focus on relations with aid donors, African agency and IR theory. You can read more about Dr Brown, his areas of expertise, research and publications here.

Paper abstract: Labour’s record on international development while in office was remarkable both for its prominence and its ambition, though not without its problems and tensions, and has been the subject of a substantial literature. However, in opposition, and in a markedly different domestic and international climate, Labour had to rethink its approach. Yet how Labour’s policy evolved in the years of opposition has not been explored in any depth in the academic literature. Under a new leadership facing major international and domestic policy challenges, the Party is still trying to fashion a new direction in UK development policy. This paper outlines the policy process by which Labour has conducted its policy rethink, the key initiatives and policy changes it pursued between 2010 and 2017, and the significant current challenges the party faces.

http://podcast.open.ac.uk/pod/International-Development-20140903#!309320290c