The Second International Symposium on Development and Governance in the BRICS
Call for papers
International Development Aid in the BRICS
Date: 23-24 September 2017
Host and Venue: Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Deadline for submission of abstract: 15 April 2017
Background and Coverage
The group of countries that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, or BRICS, has become a major player on the international stage. The BRICS states comprise approximately 3 billion people (~40% of the World’s population) and in terms of GDP account for 16 trillion dollars (~20% of the World’s economy). Thus, what happens in the BRICS countries has a huge influence in the world’s economic, political, social and environmental affairs. Over the last decade the loose coalition has evolved to become a formal partnership on both economic and political fronts. The first formal meeting of the then-four BRIC countries took place in 2006 during the United Nations General Assembly. This was followed in 2009 by the first summit of BRICS’ heads of state, an event which has been convened annually ever since. In September 2017, the ninth BRICS Summit will be hosted in Xiamen, China.
In the last three decades, BRICS partners have significantly increased their political, financial and economic influence worldwide. Some have become important aid donors to developing states and significant investors in both emerging and developed economies. China, in particular, is now one of the leading investors worldwide. Recently, the BRICS created the New Development Bank (NDB) and China played a leading role in the establishment of the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). There is hope that the BRICS’ investments may assist in transforming the international aid landscape to become more pluralistic and equitable. The BRICS states have also expressed interest in using aid to transfer some of their successful experiences to emerging economies and to exert soft power in stimulating their growth. In pursuit of this objective, BRICS’ agencies and officials are paying considerably more attention to the effectiveness of aid and investment in other countries. On the other hand, whilst many countries recognize the importance of BRICS in the international aid landscape, concerns have also been expressed about the impact of BRICS’ aid on the recipient countries.
However, research on the potential impacts of the flow of international development aid to, from, and between BRICS countries has been limited. Adding complexity to this process, some BRICS states are both recipients of aid and simultaneously aid donors and confront the dual task of governing the inflows and outflows of aid. The BRICS have increasing, but limited, experience in aid governance, development management, and measurement of the effectiveness of aid. Following the “First International Symposium on Development and Governance in the BRICS” held at Fudan University in 2016, this second symposium, therefore, aims to explore the varied dimensions of international development aid in the BRICS and to analyze their theoretical and practical implications for public administration and development. To that end, the symposium has a central focus on the governance and performance of development aid in the context of the emergence of BRICS. Papers may focus on general aspects of international development aid in and from the BRICS, or on specific studies in one or more sectors or regions.
Research papers for the symposium may examine different aspects of the current state of international development activity undertaken by BRICS countries, including, but not limited to:
● the type of BRICS Official Development Assistance (ODA) and the quality of its performance,
● organizational issues related to the domestic and international decisions on ODA,
● different BRICS experiences of ODA on the ground,
● the similarities and differences of ODA within the BRICS countries,
● comparisons between BRICS and traditional OECD-Development Assistance Committee (DAC) countries,
● the impact of BRICS on the ways traditional DAC donors operate,
● South-South and triangular cooperation involving one or more BRICS states,
● studies related to the new institutions led by BRICS (e.g. NDB and AIIB) or comparisons between them and traditional multilateral institutions.
This call invites researchers with an interest in international development aid in BRICS to submit abstracts and papers on the themes identified above. Papers should demonstrate strong connections to public administration research and theories. The best papers will be peer reviewed and will be considered for publication in a special issue of the journal Public Administration and Development – PAD (Wiley). Thus, we encourage potential authors to become familiar with PAD’s scope and editorial lines (wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pad). We will also explore the possibility of publishing an edited book based on the symposium.
Symposium Co-chairs
Yijia Jing, Fudan University, China
Jose A. Puppim de Oliveira, Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV), Brazil
Scientific Committee
Chris Alden, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
Alexey Barabashev, Higher School of Economics, Russia
Nilima Gulrajani, Overseas Development Institute, UK
Yijia Jing, Fudan University, China
Navdeep Mathur, Indian Institute of Management
Jose A. Puppim de Oliveira, Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV), Brazil
Christopher Tapscott, University of the Western Cape, South Africa
Schedule
*Submission of abstracts for the symposium: Apr 15, 2017
*Feedback on the abstract: May 15, 2017
*Submission of first drafts of the papers: Aug 1, 2017
*Feedback on the first draft: Sep 1, 2017
*Submission of the revised article: Sep 16, 2017
*Symposium in Shanghai planned on 23-24 Sep, 2017
*Submission of the final version of the chapter/paper: Nov 30, 2017
CONTRIBUTIONS FORMAT AND PROCEDURES
Extended abstracts should be between 300 and 500 words and should include the main points that will be covered in the article. Theories/perspectives, research methods, results and findings should also be briefly described.
Articles should be between 5,000 and 7,000 words.
Abstracts and papers should be submitted by email only. Please email your abstract to: brics_pa@fudan.edu.cn
Label your message “Abstract for the BRICS symposium 2017”.
Abstracts and papers should be submitted in MS Word format (version 97-2003 or any more recent version). Save the file as the last name of the first author.
LOGISTICS
We will offer three-night hotel on Sep 22, 23 and 24 and provide conference meals for a limited number of selected papers (one author per paper).
Some relevant references
Bond, P. (2016). BRICS banking and the debate over sub-imperialism. Third World Quarterly, 37(4), 611-629.
Bräutigam, D. (2009). The dragon’s gift: the real story of China in Africa: Oxford University Press.
Bräutigam, D. (2011). Aid ‘With Chinese Characteristics’: Chinese Foreign Aid and Development Finance Meet the OECD-DAC Aid Regime. Journal of International Development, 23(5), 752-764.
Collins, P. (1985).”Brazil in Africa: Perspectives on the Growth and Prospects of Economic Cooperation between Developing Countries,” Development Policy Review (ODI), (London), No.1. 1985.
Chaturvedi, S. and A. Mulakala (eds). (2016) India’s Approach to International Cooperation. Routledge Contemporary South Asia Series.
Cheru, F. (2016). Emerging Southern powers and new forms of South–South cooperation: Ethiopia’s strategic engagement with China and India. Third World Quarterly, 37(4), 592-610.
Eyben, R., & Savage, L. (2013). Emerging and Submerging Powers: Imagined Geographies in the New Development Partnership at the Busan Fourth High Level Forum. The Journal of Development Studies, 49(4), 457-469.
Fuchs, A., & Vadlamannati, K. C. (2013). The Needy Donor: An Empirical Analysis of India’s Aid Motives. World Development, 44, 110-128.
Gosovic, B. (2016). The resurgence of South–South cooperation. Third World Quarterly, 37(4), 733-743.
Gulrajani, N. (2015). Dilemmas in Donor Design: Organisational Reform and the Future of Foreign Aid Agencies. Public Administration and Development, 35(2), 152–164.
Mawdsley, E. (2010). Non-DAC donors and the changing landscape of foreign aid: the (in)significance of India’s development cooperation with Kenya. Journal of Eastern African Studies, 4(2), 361-379.
Mawdsley, E.. From Recipients to Donors: The Emerging Powers and the Changing Development Landscape, Zed.
Mawdsley, E., 2014. Human rights and south-south development cooperation: Reflections on the “rising powers” as international development actors. Human Rights Quarterly, v. 36, p.630-652.
Prizzon, A, Greenhill R and Mustapha, S. (2016) An age of choice for development finance – evidence from country case studies. ODI Working Paper.
Saidi, M. D., & Wolf, C. (2011). Recalibrating Development Co-operation: How Can African Countries Benefit from Emerging Partners? (1815-1949).
Woods, N. (2008). Whose aid? Whose influence? China, emerging donors and the silent revolution in development assistance. International Affairs, 84(6), 1205-1221.
