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]).
Unlocking Civic Contributions to Development: Insights from Libya
1st Edition
By Anne-Marie Brinkman
December 08, 2026
Donors and international development organisations often rhetorically embrace inclusive and participatory theory, but struggle to put these concepts into practice when designing and implementing interventions. This book uses Libya as a case study to demonstrate that if people in conflict-affected ...
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...
The Failure of Public Finance Management in Afghanistan: Lessons for Other Conflict-Affected States
1st Edition
By Mohammad Qadam Shah
October 16, 2026
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...
Rural Development in Iran, 1960-2020
1st Edition
By Mostafa Azkia
September 28, 2026
This book is an authoritative account of rural development in Iran, spanning 60 years and 2 distinct political regimes. Professor Mostafa Azkia has spent many decades demonstrating the importance of participatory rural development, not only in addressing rural problems but also in reducing urban ...
Taxation, Human Rights, and Sustainable Development: Global South Perspectives
1st Edition
Edited
By Eghosa O. Ekhator, Newman U. Richards, Chisa Onyejekwe
September 28, 2026
This book investigates the relationship between human rights and taxation, exploring how human rights have been impeded or enhanced through tax laws and policies, and what this means for sustainable development in the Global South. Drawing on cases from across the Global South, the book ...
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 extensive ...
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 ...