Cultural evolution in development cooperation The case of marriage legislation in Malawi

Lightning Talk Inaugural Conference of the Cultural Evolution Society, Jena 13–15/09/2017 Daniel Nowack 15/09/2017

Introduction of speaker ➢ Daniel Nowack (M.A.) ➢ German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik in Bonn ➢ our work‘s focus: Development cooperation & policy

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Cultural Evolution in Democracy Promotion Current project: Democracy promotion in comparative perspective (case studies)

Source of pictures: Wikimedia Commons

Democratization/democracy promotion = cultural evolutionary phenomena, e.g. norm diffusion (Leininger, 2014)

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Cultural Evolution in Democracy Promotion Case study overview: Reform of marriage law in Malawi ➢ reform passed 2015 ➢ outlaws child marriages

➢ process started already 2006 ➢ impetus gained 2012/2013 strong coalition of international organizations (IOs) & domestic civil society (CSOs)

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Cultural Evolution in Democracy Promotion IOs & CSOs acted as “transmission agents“ “cultural entrepreneur” (Mokyr, 2013), “cultural interpreter” (Becker et. al. 2014), “political / policy entrepreneur” (Mintron & Norman, 2009; Shearer, 2015)

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Cultural Evolution in Democracy Promotion Transmission pathways IOs & CSOs Lobbying

Sensitization

Dissemination

Content bias Content bias

Content bias

Parliamentarians Conformist bias

Chiefs

Prestige bias

Local communities

Consultation & accountability

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Cultural Evolution in Democracy Promotion The importance of power ➢ Powerful actors & organizations (Lewens, 2015) 

Funding, technical support, closing space for CSOs

➢ Methodological individualism vs. holism (Lewens, 2015)

Policeman faces demonstrators in Senegal, 2012 Scene from the documentary „Incorruptible“ (2015)

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Cultural Evolution in Democracy Promotion Possible Cultural Evo.-Pol. Science Links (non-exclusive & non-exhaustive) ➢ Democracy promotion E.g. Carothers (1999); Leininger (2010); Freyburg (2011); Beichelt (2012); Fish (2012)

➢ Civil society (civic culture / social capital) E.g. Almond & Verba (1963); Taylor (1990); Walzer (1991); Putnam (1993)

➢ Policy research literature E.g. Bandura (1977); Bennett & Howlett (1992); Hall (1993); Greener (2001);

➢ Epistemic communities / transnational networks E.g. Haas (1992); Thomas (1997); Earl (2004); Khagram et al. (2002)

➢ Norms / norm diffusion E.g. Axelrod (1986); Checkel (1997); Gilardi (2012); Leininger (2014)

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Thank you for your attention! German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) Tulpenfeld 6 D-53113 Bonn Telephone: +49 (0)228-949 27-0 [email protected] www.die-gdi.de twitter.com/DIE_GDI www.facebook.com/DIE.Bonn www.youtube.com/DIEnewsflash © German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)

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References Almond, G. A., & Verba, S. (1963). The civic culture. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Axelrod, R. (1986). An evolutionary approach to norms. American Political Science Review, 80(4), pp. 1095–1111.

Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Becker, P., Goldschmidt, N., & Lenger, A. (2014). Institutional change and cultural roots (preliminary draft version of 17/01/14). Retrieved September 9, 2017, from http://www.wiwiss.fuberlin.de/forschung/pfadkolleg/Archiv/_NEU_Veranstaltungen/konferenzen/conference2014_bac k/conference_program/papers_passwort/Papers/Becker_-Goldschmidt_-Lenger_Revised.pdf Beichelt, T. (2012). The research field of democracy promotion. Living Reviews in Democracy: pp. 1– 13. Bennett, C. J., & Howlett, M. (1992). The lessons of learning: Reconciling theories of policy learning and policy change. Policy Sciences, 25: pp. 275–294. Carothers, T. (1999). Aiding democracy abroad: The learnung curve. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Checkel, J. T. (1997). International norms and domestic politics: Bridging the rationalistconstructivist divide. European Journal of International Relations, 3:pp. 473–495. © German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)

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References Earl, J. (2004). Cultural consequences of social movements. In D. A. Snow, S. A. Soule, & H. Kriesi (Eds.): The Blackwell Companion to social movements (chapter 22, pp. 508–530). Fish, S. M. (2012). Encountering culture. In Z. Barany & R. G. Moser (Eds.), Is democracy exportable? Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Freyburg, T. (2011). Transgovernmental networks as catalysts for democratic change? EU functional cooperation with Arab authoritarian regimes and socialization of involved state officials into democratic governance. Democratization, 18(4): pp. 1001–1025.

Gilardi, F. (2012). Transnational diffusion: Norms, ideas, and policies. In W. Carlsnaes, T. Risse, & B. Simmons (Eds.): Handbook of International Relations. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications. Greener, I. (2001). Social learning and macroeconomic policy in Britain. Journal of Public Policy, 21: pp. 133–152.

Haas, P. N. (1992). Banning chlorofluorocarbons: Epistemic community efforts to protect stratospheric ozone. International Organization, 46(1): pp. 187–224. Hall, P. (1993). Policy paradigms, social learning, and the state. Comparative Politics, 25: pp. 275– 296. © German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)

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References Khagram, S., Riker, J. V., & Sikkink, K. (2002). Restructuring world politics: Transnational social movements, networks, and norms. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Leininger, J. (2014). A strong norm for democratic governance in Africa. Stockholm, SW: International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. Lewens, T. (2015). Cultural Evolution: Conceptual challenges. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Mintron, M., & Norman, P. (2009). Policy entrepreneurship and policy change. Policy Studies Journal, 37(4): pp. 649–667.

Mokyr, J. (2013). Culture, institutions, and modern growth. In S. Galiani & I. Sened (Eds.), Institutions, property rights, and economic growth (pp. 151–191). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Putnam, R. D. (1993). Making democracy work: Civic traditions in modern Italy. Princeton, NY: Princeton University Press. Shearer, J. (2015). Policy entrepreneurs and structural influence in integrated community case management policymaking in Burkina Faso. Health Policy and Planning, 30: pp. Ii46–ii53. Taylor, C. (1990). Modes of civil society. Public Culture , 3(1): pp. 95–118. © German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)

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References Thomas, C. W. (1997). Public management as interagency cooperation: testing epistemic community theory at the domestic level. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory: JPART, 7(2): pp. 221–246. Walzer, M. (1991). The idea of civil society. Dissent: pp. 293–304.

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