{"id":1240,"date":"2025-10-02T04:04:45","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T04:04:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/beyond-sachs-easterly\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T04:04:45","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T04:04:45","slug":"beyond-sachs-easterly","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/blogs\/theory-vs-policy\/beyond-sachs-easterly\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond Sachs Easterly"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"middle content\">\n<div class=\"column left\" id=\"columnleft\">\n<section class=\"block article author\">\n<div class=\"headline\">\n<h3>About the author<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"inline-content\">\n<div class=\"about-author\">\n<div class=\"tleft\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/files\/var\/broker\/storage\/images\/authors\/hounjet-marieke\/150274-2-eng-gb\/hounjet-marieke_author.jpg\" alt=\"\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"tright\">\n<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/authors\/hounjet-marieke\/\">Marieke Hounjet<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMarieke Hounjet is the Co-ordinator for theConsortium of British Humanitarian Agencies,based in L&#8230;\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/authors\/hounjet-marieke\/\">full profile<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<div class=\"block article author\">\n<div class=\"headline\">\n<h3>Tags<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"inline-content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<section class=\"content column wide left blog_post content view\" id=\"content\">\n<article class=\"fader\">\n<header class=\"contents\">\n<div class=\"share\">\n\t\t\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n    var addthis_config = {\n        ui_language = 'en'\n    }\n<\/script><\/p>\n<div class=\"addthis sharing\">\n\t<!-- AddThis Button BEGIN --><\/p>\n<div class=\"addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style\" addthis:title=\"Beyond Sachs &amp; Easterly\">\n\t<a class=\"addthis_button_twitter\" tw:via=\"thebrokeronline\"><\/a><br \/>\n\t<a class=\"addthis_button_facebook\"><\/a><br \/>\n\t<a class=\"addthis_button_pinterest_share\"><\/a><br \/>\n\t<a class=\"addthis_button_preferred_4\"><\/a><br \/>\n\t<a class=\"addthis_button_compact\"><\/a><br \/>\n\t<a class=\"addthis_counter addthis_bubble_style\"><\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n<p>\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\">var addthis_config = data_track_addressbar;<\/script><br \/>\n\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/files\/js\/300\/addthis_widget.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n\t<!-- AddThis Button END -->\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"addthis article_options\">\n\t\t<!-- \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/mandrill\/subscription\/add\/6006\/6049\">Subscribe<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t -->\n<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBeyond Sachs &#038; Easterly<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<p>\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/authors\/hounjet-marieke\/\">Marieke Hounjet<\/a>\t\t|<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t18 February 2025<br \/>\n\t<\/header>\n<div class=\"body contents\">\n\t<!-- body --><\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">As is probably a common trend with large conferences that address similarly large questions, both policy and research are problematised a lot. Hence it becomes almost an inappropriate environment for optimistic stories. Although such stories would be pleasant to hear every now and again, speakers have been strongly arguing why the stories need to be told as they are told. In one roundtable on the second conference day Bruce Jentleson (Duke University) commented on the theory vs policy debate that \u201cthe temptation is to go to Greece and write novels\u201d. However, in the same breath he said that the questions posed in this conference are not asking \u2018if\u2019 but \u2018how\u2019, which seems to be the academic way of being optimistic that things can be done.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">A panel on the second morning brought some attention back to the development debate, discussing approaches to foreign assistance \u2018beyond Sachs &#038; Easterly\u2019. The overarching argument was that both Sachs\u2019 macro planning and Easterly\u2019s attention to local innovation misses the middle. There are internal dilemma\u2019s to how aid institutions work here and now; namely, how donors engage in problematic bilateral relationships, and how aid sectors fit uncomfortably into the country\u2019s bigger picture. This makes the question regarding whoever is right (Sachs or Easterly) irrelevant for as long as \u201cthese big structures of governance\u201d remain unresolved.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">Like the other talks that I attended on the first day, this roundtable also had plenty of field research references, as well as a representative from the World Bank, Kai Kaiser. This created an atmosphere where scholarly and policy perspectives were balanced. In my last blog I referred to a point that again was stressed on day two, namely that a better understanding of how aid institutions work, in this case the World Bank, can enlighten both theory and policy. A tension Kaiser described was that the World Bank\u2019s commitment to anti-corruption \u2018reform\u2019, especially strong under Wolfowitz, contradicted in some ways the practical programming in which the World Bank needed to make do with what Merilee Grindle has named \u2018good enough\u2019 governance. As Kaiser explained, a way to approach programmes that have high corruption risks is to \u2018ring-fence\u2019 them, but in terms of country ownership and long term sustainable impact this is not considered effective.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">Even though the internal issues can illustrate the constraints aid institutions have to work with Paul Smoke (New York University) insisted that the way in which even policy-makers from the same institution follow a \u2018silo approach\u2019 is a marginalised topic in the literature. This seems surprising as a similar line was argued in a roundtable on the first day; hence not only \u2018peacebuilders\u2019 shy away from intermingling with \u2018development practitioners\u2019 similarly do World Bank employees working on different projects.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">Hence, when we are talking about \u2018capacity\u2019 Smoke says, and especially the frequent instances in which it is described how developing countries are lacking capacity, actually international development actors lack the capacity to address these issues of how they can work successfully both in cooperation with the country\u2019s government and not least each other.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">To conclude, where in the last blog it was argued that the burden in the theory vs policy debate lies with academics; here the burden is placed with aid agencies instead of developing country governments. However, if we take the advice of some of the speakers of this conference to heart, this indirectly means that also this burden lies in fact with academics, as they are supposed to produce theory that is relevant for the policy-makers of the above aid agencies. In other words, academics seem not to get away with only posing the \u2018how\u2019 question. It needs to be answered as well.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">\n<p>\t\t<!-- body -->\n\t<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<section class=\"commentform content column wide left\">\n<div class=\"disqus_content\">\n\t\t<a name=\"comments\" id=\"comments\"><\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"disqus_thread\"><\/div>\n<p>        <script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n            \/* * * CONFIGURATION VARIABLES: EDIT BEFORE PASTING INTO YOUR WEBPAGE * * *\/\n            var disqus_shortname = 'broker'; \/\/ required: replace example with your forum shortname\n            var disqus_identifier = '4700';\n            \/* * * DON'T EDIT BELOW THIS LINE * * *\/\n\t\t\tfunction trackComment(comment)\n            {\n                console.log(comment);\n            }\n\t\t\tfunction disqus_config() {\n                this.callbacks.onNewComment = [function() { \n                console.log(comment);\n                }];\n            }\n\t\t\t(function() {\n                var dsq = document.createElement('script'); dsq.type = 'text\/javascript'; dsq.async = true;\n                dsq.src = '\/\/' + disqus_shortname + 'https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/files\/blogs\/theory-vs-policy\/.disqus.com\/embed.js';\n                (document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0] || document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0]).appendChild(dsq);\n            })();\n        <\/script><br \/>\n        <!--\n        <noscript>Please enable JavaScript to view the <a href=\"http:\/\/disqus.com\/?ref_noscript\">comments powered by Disqus.<\/a><\/noscript>\n        <a href=\"http:\/\/disqus.com\" class=\"dsq-brlink\">comments powered by <span class=\"logo-disqus\">Disqus<\/span><\/a>\n        -->\n    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n","protected":false,"raw":""},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>About the author Marieke Hounjet Marieke Hounjet is the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template_3.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1240","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Beyond Sachs &amp; Easterly \/ Theory vs policy \/ Blogs - The Broker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As is probably a common trend with large conferences that address similarly large questions, both policy and research are problematised a lot. 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Although such stories would be pleasant to hear every now and again, speakers have been strongly arguing why the stories need to be told as they are told. 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