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David Lewis

London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of International Development, Faculty Member

London School of Economics and Political Science, Social Policy, Faculty Member

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David Lewis is professor of social policy and development at the London School of Economics & Political Science

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Papers by David Lewis

From Ecosystems to Advicescapes: Business, Development and Advice in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh

The provision of entrepreneurship advice is a growing feature of private sector development in So... more The provision of entrepreneurship advice is a growing feature of private sector development in South Asia but has so far received little attention from researchers. The article explores the theme of business advice in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, drawing on recent ethnographic fieldwork among advice seekers to explore the significance of low-income households of business advice within the unfolding processes of both marketization and state support. It offers a theoretical innovation in the concept of 'advicescape', supported by ethnographic materials conveying local-level perspectives and experiences of business advice users. Despite the growth of a complex business support ecosystem in each country, the article finds that many such people are falling through the cracks, in that they face problems accessing advice, find its quality variable and instead rely heavily on informal advice. It ends with reflections on the now dominant business-anddevelopment approach, including a brief observation on improving the inclusivity and effectiveness of entrepreneurship advice.

Managed urban retreat: the trouble with crisis narratives

by David Lewis and Md Nadiruzzaman

Urban Geography, 2023

In response to narratives of the mass movement of people triggered by climate change, a number of... more In response to narratives of the mass movement of people triggered by climate change, a number of "managed retreat" models have been proposed as policy options, especially for densely populated urban areas in the Global South. Reviewing a case study from Mongla, a secondary city in southwestern Bangladesh, we argue that a "crisis narrative" unhelpfully informs current discourses of "climate migration", and oversimplify complex realities, creating the risk that urban policy makers design managed retreat interventions that are poorly informed and maladaptive in that they may be accepted too uncritically, take overly technical forms, and may exacerbate rather than reduce the risk faced by those they are purportedly intended to assist.

Assessing the impact of vegetable and fishpond technologies on poverty in rural Bangladesh

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Revisiting the Local Power Structure in Bangladesh: Economic Gain, Political Pain?

NGOs and management studies

Routledge Handbook of NGOs and International Relations, 2019

In this chapter I focus on the relatively neglected relationship between the study of development... more In this chapter I focus on the relatively neglected relationship between the study of development NGOs and the field of management science. First, I explore the traditional ambivalence that many development NGOs have felt towards management and discuss the reasons for this. Second, I provide a brief overview of the fledgling field of “NGO management” itself, and outline some of its main concerns. In conceptualising the field, I suggest a composite approach rather than viewing it as a distinct area of management, since its practice requires a spirit of improvisation. Third, I conclude by making the case for mainstream management scholars to engage more fully with the field of NGOs than they have done before. NGO management is concerned with issues as such as sustainability, social values, cultural diversity and public ethics that are each areas of increasing interest to mainstream management theorists. The study of NGOs may therefore offer important insights into management and organising beyond management’s historical focus on the world of for-profit business in Western settings. It may also challenge some of the assumptions made by mainstream management science researchers.

International Development NGOs: Policy Conflict and Convergence

Voluntary Organisations and Social Policy in Britain, 2001

This chapter is concerned with UK-based voluntary organisations involved with the provision of in... more This chapter is concerned with UK-based voluntary organisations involved with the provision of international development assistance to poor countries – sometimes called non-governmental international aid agencies — and explores the ways in which they both shape and are shaped by development policy. It will use the term ‘development NGOs’ to refer to organisations which are neither governmental nor commercial businesses and which are linked with the international development community of organisations and institutions — the ‘aid industry’. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are viewed as part of a ‘third sector’ which, despite its blurred boundaries, can be seen to have local, national and international dimensions. The chapter also makes a distinction between ‘Northern NGOs’ (NNGOs) which have their roots in the industrialised countries but which undertake development or emergency relief work in aid-recipient countries, and ‘Southern NGOs’ (SNGOs) which are non-governmental organisations which have emerged locally in the countries where NNGOs are active.

Akhtar Hameed Khan (1914-1999)

Akhtar Hameed Khan was a Pakistani official turned community development activist. After initiati... more Akhtar Hameed Khan was a Pakistani official turned community development activist. After initiating the government’s Comilla rural development experiment during the 1960s he went on to found the Orangi Pilot Project, an innovative NGO working in Karachi. An early example of the ‘social entrepreneur’, Khan’s reflexive style also influenced many alternative development practitioners. His interest in connecting religious philosophy with development ideas was ahead of its time, and his work life history demonstrates the power of ‘sector swapping’, in which he built on experience acquired in one institutional sector (government) to work creatively in another (NGOs).

Anthropologists’ encounters with NGOs: critique, collaboration, and conflict

In this essay, I reflect on anthropologists&#39; relationships with non-governmental organiza... more In this essay, I reflect on anthropologists&#39; relationships with non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The chapter focus on three types of anthropological interaction with NGOs: (1) direct anthropological interest in NGOs as increasingly important social and political actors; (2) the utility of studying NGOs as useful “portals” to other issues; and (3), the methodological issues generated by the ways in which anthropologists become involved with “their” NGOs in the field.

Organising and Representing the Poor in a Clientelistic Democracy: the Decline of Radical NGOs in Bangladesh

The Journal of Development Studies, 2017

This paper examines the political role of radical development NGOs that emerged in Bangladesh to ... more This paper examines the political role of radical development NGOs that emerged in Bangladesh to challenge the marginalization of subordinate groups and strengthen democratic processes. After briefly introducing the political context of Bangladesh and its NGOs, the paper identifies and defines a radical NGO sub-sector. It then reviews the activities of these organizations during the pre-1990 military government era and during the subsequent period of electoral democracy. Some important achievements are identified, but also many failures that have led to decline, leaving behind an NGO sector dominated by credit and service delivery organizations. The paper then explains this decline by focusing on three interrelated factors: (i) an institutional setting dominated by clientelistic structures that have undermined efforts to build horizontal alliances among excluded groups in civil society, or links between NGOs and political parties; (ii) a shift in donor support from mobilization to market-based service delivery agencies; and (iii) internal structures that have generated legitimacy and accountability problems by encouraging elite capture, co-option and personalised leadership in the radical sub-sector. It concludes with some brief reflections on the main implications of these failures. 1 The author gratefully acknowledges the contributions of Teddy Brett, Joseph Devine, Khushi Kabeer, Nazneen Kanji, and two anonymous referees during the preparation of this paper. However, any inaccuracies are the author's own. This paper draws on my interviews with NGO leaders and staff conducted during visits to Bangladesh in 2006 (UK Economic and Social Research Council ESRC Grant Reference RES-155-25-0064) and in 2015. I also draw on interviews conducted with Comilla Proshika staff under a Nuffield Foundation grant (Reference SGS/00456/G).

Local Political Consolidation in Bangladesh: Power, Informality and Patronage

Development and Change, 2019

During the past decade Bangladesh has shifted from a competitively clientelistic two-party system... more During the past decade Bangladesh has shifted from a competitively clientelistic two-party system towards a dominant-party democracy. This article analyses how the ruling party has consolidated partisan political control at the local level. Using qualitative field data from 2004 and 2016, and drawing on a post-structural analysis of the state, it shows how this extension of power has been achieved locally through interaction between formal and informal political initiatives. Four main types of informal activity are documented, through which the extent of local political competition has been reduced: circumvention, capture, brokerage and the creation of new organizations. These insights into the changing nature of Bangladesh's long-standing partisan politics highlight how the state's capacity to deliver local services, allocate resources and maintain stability has been enhanced through the ruling party's control of local government structures, its elimination of political opposition, and its reshaping of local patronage arrangements. The authors are grateful to three anonymous referees for their comments. We wish to thank Johan Norqvist and Olof Sandkull at the Embassy of Sweden, Dhaka, for originally commissioning the two studies on which this article is based.

‘Big D’ and ‘little d’: two types of twenty-first century development?

Third World Quarterly, 2019

Confusion between the idea of development as purposeful intervention and development as outcome h... more Confusion between the idea of development as purposeful intervention and development as outcome has been addressed by efforts to distinguish 'intentional' from 'immanent' development, and the distinction between 'big D' development as Western post-World War Two modernisation in the Global South, and 'little d' as the creation of winners and losers within unfolding capitalist change. As a heuristic device this distinction has been put to a variety of uses within development studies, but it has rarely been subjected to further scrutiny. This paper asks (1) whether the distinction remains coherent or risks being stretched too far, and (2) whether it remains relevant within the changing landscape of twenty-first century development. It first traces the historical evolution of the distinction, and then presents an exploratory case study of Bangladesh's garment sector in order to analyse the relationship between the two kinds of development empirically, identifying a number of contradictions and ambiguities. It finds that while the 'D/d' distinction remains useful at a general level, further conceptualisation is now needed, and its relevance may fade as the significance of Western aid declines.

Peopling policy processes? Methodological populism in the Bangladesh health and education sectors

World Development, 2018

Engagements with a Productively Unstable Category: Anthropologists and Nongovernmental Organizations

Current Anthropology, 2017

The category "NGO" (nongovernmental organization) is notoriously hard to fix. The term NGO-which ... more The category "NGO" (nongovernmental organization) is notoriously hard to fix. The term NGO-which defines these organizations in terms of what they are not-masks great diversity and assumes an unproblematic boundary. The use of the term persists, in no small part because several different types of actors involved in a range of fields depend on what we call the "productive instability" inherent to the NGO category. As a discipline, given our history and methodology, anthropology and anthropologists are uniquely poised to grapple with the ideas and practices associated with the inherently unstable category of NGO. Rather than attempting to fix the category or contest the boundaries implied by it, anthropologists are instead beginning to interrogate the meanings behind the contestations themselves. Rather than attempt precise classification or bemoan the uncertainty, we contend that the NGO category is "productively unstable." We argue that productive work lies ahead in charting similarities and differences within NGOs across aid and activism. This task mirrors an inherent messiness for both NGOs and anthropologists as we grapple with dilemmas of engagement. Such a critically engaged anthropology of NGOs also stands poised to offer useful guidance to the discipline as it struggles over "relevance" in this new century.

Understanding the role of non-government organizations (NGOs) as cultural brokers: a review of approaches

Nongovernmental Organizations, Definition and History

International Encyclopedia of Civil Society, 2010

Livelihood resilience in the face of climate change

Nature Climate Change, 2014

The resilience concept requires greater attention to human livelihoods if it is to address the li... more The resilience concept requires greater attention to human livelihoods if it is to address the limits to adaptation strategies and the development needs of the planet's poorest and most vulnerable people. Although the concept of resilience is increasingly informing research and policy, its transfer from ecological theory to social systems leads to weak engagement with normative, social and political dimensions of climate change adaptation. A livelihood perspective helps strengthen resilience thinking by placing greater emphasis on human needs and their agency, empowerment and human rights, and considering adaptive livelihood systems in the context of wider transformational changes. Navigating the resilience renaissance Resilience has become a popular research and policy concept within climate change adaptation and development contexts 1. Emerging from a wide range of disciplines 2 , resilience in policy-making has often been based on the property of systems to bounce back to normality, drawing on engineering concepts 3. This implies the return of the functions of an individual, household, community or ecosystem to previous conditions, with as little damage and disruption as possible following shocks and stresses. This stable-equilibrium view has been challenged by research on linked social-ecological systems (SES), which emphasizes non-linear change, the inevitability of uncertainty and surprise (which may destabilize attempts to manage the capacity of systems to cope with change), and interrelationships and dynamism of multiple cross-scale systems 4. Crucially, resilience is increasingly providing an integrative 'boundary concept' that brings together those interested in tackling a range of shocks and stresses, including food security, social protection, conflict and disasters 5. This perspective article argues that three key areas linked to livelihood approaches can help to overcome the challenges of employing resilience thinking in order to inform improved

Crossing the Boundaries between ‘Third Sector’ and State: life-work histories from the Philippines, Bangladesh and the UK

Third World Quarterly, 2008

The three-sector model-encompassing the private, public and nongovernmental or 'third' sectors-is... more The three-sector model-encompassing the private, public and nongovernmental or 'third' sectors-is important to much of the research that is undertaken on development policy. While it may be analytically convenient to separate the three sectors, the realities are more complex. Non-governmental actors and government/public sector agencies are linked in potentially important (though often far from visible) ways via personal relationships, resource flows and informal transactions. This paper seeks to understand these links by studying the 'life-work histories' of individuals who have operated in both the government and third sector. Two main types of such boundary crossing are identified: 'consecutive', in which a person moves from one sector to the other in order to take up a new position, and 'extensive', in which a person is simultaneously active in both sectors. Drawing on a set of recently collected lifework history data, the paper explores the diversity of this phenomenon in three countries. It examines the reasons for cross-over, analyses the experiences of some of those involved, and explores the implications for better understanding the boundaries, both conceptual and tangible, that both separate and link government and third sector in these different institutional contexts.

When the harvest is in: Developing rural entrepreneurship ed. Shailendra Vyakarnam IT Publications, London, 1990, 278 pp

Public Administration and Development, 1991

Encountering Order and Disjuncture: Contemporary Anthropological Perspectives on the Organization of Development

Oxford Development Studies, 2006

For anyone interested in development issues, the beginning of the 21st Century does not feel like... more For anyone interested in development issues, the beginning of the 21st Century does not feel like a particularly optimistic time. There has certainly been a bold recent shift in development policy towards a set of Millennium Development Goals that aim to reduce extreme poverty, enrol children in primary school, eliminate gender disparities, reduce infant, child and maternal mortality rates and provide access to reproductive health services. The UK government has also recently committed itself to large-scale increases in international development assistance over the next 5 years in an attempt to reach the United Nations aid target of 0.7% of GDP by the end of the decade. But as Gough & Wood (2004, p. 1) pointed out, "[t]he reality is more prosaic and, in many zones of the world, tragic". They went on to describe the recent rapid increases in global inequality, the continuing spread of HIV/AIDS, famine and conflict and the fact that in many areas where capitalist economic growth has taken place it has been associated with increased instability, insecurity and vulnerability. Few of the Millennium Development Goals appear likely to be met in practice. Nor, at a more theoretical level, has development studies managed completely to bounce back from the "impasse" that was identified in the 1990s (cf. Booth, 1994), despite a revisiting of older ideas and the emergence of a range of new approachesfrom insights from institutional economics to the rise of "post-development" perspectives. 1 Arguably, debates on the nature of development have been overtaken by a neo-liberal consensus that substitutes "globalization" for development and makes international markets the agents of change, and development largely a matter of securing the conditions

Exchanges of Professionals between the Public and Non-Governmental Sectors: Life-work Histories from Bangladesh

Modern Asian Studies, 2010

Using recently-collected ethnographic life history data, this paper analyses in historical contex... more Using recently-collected ethnographic life history data, this paper analyses in historical context the shifting boundary between governmental and non-governmental ‘worlds’ in Bangladesh. First, the paper explores the ways in which this boundary is an ambiguous one, and aims to show how it is constructed and maintained, through an analysis of new types of ‘boundary-crossing’ professionals who cross between the two sectors in the course of their career trajectories and their social relationships. Second, it suggests that such movements across this boundary throws light on changing professional identities in Bangladesh, such as what it means to work as a public servant or a development worker. High-achieving university graduates are now less likely to choose civil service careers than they once were, because new opportunities exist for them to work more flexibly as ‘non-governmental professionals’ in roles that may allow them to combine professional, consultant and activist identities.