Institutional Architecture

Political Institutions

Political institutions are rules that steer political behaviour in different directions, such as federal versus unitary systems; proportional representation versus first past the post; presidential versus parliamentary systems. Social institutions are rules and norms governing social and cultural practices such as systems of marriage and burial and caste systems. Political institutions determine the distribution of political power, which includes the ability to shape economic institutions and the distribution of resources. Economic institutions are also embedded in social institutions, which influence and shape the functioning of economic institutions. IPPG researchers have been examining the interaction of political and social institutions with economic institutions and the effects of formal and informal political institutions and social institutions on pro-poor growth outcomes.

The IPPG project by Jean Claude Saha 'Growth and three-dimensional poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa: does legislative democracy play a role?', undertaken through AERC, falls under this area and is now complete; the related discussion paper and briefing paper are available.

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Last modified: 31 March 2009