In Pursuit of Development
DAN BANIK
If you are interested in democracy, governance, poverty eradication, and climate change, this is your go-to podcast for a deeper understanding of the politics of global development. Our world is facing a double challenge: to eradicate hunger and poverty and to stabilize the global climate. We are constantly warned that as the adverse impacts of climate change will only worsen soon, we must redouble our focus and energy in promoting a sustainable development agenda. Many also urge us to transform our policies and practices related to food and agriculture, health, energy, infrastructure development and consumption patterns. But how can we achieve such ambitious transformations, and what are the main challenges ahead? In each episode, we will discuss the experiences of developing and “emerging economies” in Africa, Asia and Latin America. While we will examine major global challenges and highlight various “problems”, we will also highlight “solutions” and “what works” on the ground. This podcast, hosted by Professor Dan Banik from the Centre for Development and the Environment at the University of Oslo, will enable you to examine development interventions critically. It will also help you better understand how “promising” policies, programs, and practices can be deployed in a range of international contexts.
- 43 minutes 28 secondsClimate, conflict and the development squeeze – Florian Krampe
Dan Banik and Florian Krampe explore how climate change is reshaping development and security debates -- not as a single cause of conflict, but as a force that intensifies existing vulnerabilities in fragile and conflict-affected contexts. Moving beyond environmental impacts alone, the discussion examines how climate stress interacts with poverty, inequality, weak governance, and insecurity, with far-reaching consequences for livelihoods, stability, and peace.
Dr. Florian Krampe is Director of Studies for Peace and Development at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Together, Dan and Florian discuss why climate action and development priorities are too often treated as separate agendas, how shrinking aid budgets and unequal access to climate finance undermine resilience in low-income countries, and why rising defense spending risks crowding out investments in health, energy, education, and climate adaptation.
The episode also turns to Europe’s changing security landscape and the growing disconnect between military preparedness and broader understandings of security. Drawing on research and real-world examples, the conversation explores environmental peacebuilding and asks when climate-related interventions can reduce risks, support cooperation, and contribute to more sustainable peace outcomes.
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17 December 2025, 6:00 am - 39 minutes 58 secondsAid at the breaking point – Nilima Gulrajani
Foreign aid is under pressure. Budgets are shrinking, politics are hardening, and trust between donors and recipients is wearing thin. In this episode of In Pursuit of Development, Dan Banik speaks with Nilima Gulrajani, Principal Research Fellow at the Overseas Development Institute, about what aid has achieved, where it’s faltering, and how it must evolve in a fractured world.
Drawing on more than twenty years of research on aid architecture, bilateral reform, and the rise of Southern providers, Nilima unpacks the deep tension between altruism and national interest and what happens when generosity becomes geopolitics. Together, Nilima and Dan explore how development aid can stay credible and effective amid a “broken social contract,” why smarter debt policy may matter more than bigger budgets, and what smart development power might look like for mid-sized donors such as Norway or Sweden.
As multilateralism weakens and the UN system faces acute financial strain, the conversation turns to who will step up (e.g., Gulf funds, Southern providers, or new hybrid coalitions) and how reform, not reinvention, could restore both trust and purpose to global cooperation.
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10 December 2025, 6:00 am - 49 minutes 38 secondsHow Latin America sees the new Global South – Benedicte Bull
Dan Banik sits down with Benedicte Bull, professor of political science at the University of Oslo’s Centre for Global Sustainability, to unpack how Latin America understands (and helps redefine) the idea of the Global South.
Once used loosely to describe developing nations, the term has gained new political weight as global power becomes more diffuse and as countries in the South push back against the dominance of Western-led institutions. Drawing on years of research on Latin American elites, politics, and relations with China and the United States, Benedicte explains how the region navigates this shifting landscape: balancing economic pragmatism with questions of identity, solidarity, and autonomy.
The conversation moves from trade and diplomacy to development and sustainability, exploring how China’s growing influence has changed local economies and what this means for industrial capacity, climate policy, and inequality. Together, they reflect on the region’s long intellectual tradition, from dependency theory to modern debates on environmental justice, and why Latin American experiences continue to shape the global conversation on growth, democracy, and fairness.
** Check out this recent special issue of The Forum for Development Studies co-edited by Benedicte and Dan: The Rebirth of the Global South: Geopolitics, Imageries and Developmental Realities (2025)
🎧 In Pursuit of Development explores the ideas, policies, and people shaping global progress. Subscribe, rate, and share the show to help others join the conversation.
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6 December 2025, 6:01 am - 46 minutes 23 secondsBorders, bargains, and the business of smuggling – Max Gallien
Smuggling is often portrayed as a shadowy threat to state authority — a world of criminals, traffickers, and dangerous border crossings. But in many parts of North Africa, smuggling is a fundamental part of the political economy. It sustains livelihoods, shapes state–society relations, and reveals how power actually works at the margins.
In this episode, Dan Banik speaks with political scientist Max Gallien about his acclaimed new book, Smugglers and the State: Negotiating the Maghreb at Its Margins. Drawing on extensive fieldwork in Tunisia and Morocco, Max shows how states do not simply fight smuggling. They regulate, tolerate, and sometimes rely on it. Together, Dan and Max unpack the “informal authoritarian bargains” that allow illegal and semi-legal economies to operate with the state’s active knowledge, and how these arrangements distribute opportunity, risk, and legitimacy in borderland communities.
The conversation explores why smuggling persists, how border closures and security interventions reshape local economies, and what all of this means for development policy at a time when fences and walls are rapidly multiplying.
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3 December 2025, 6:00 am - 46 minutes 57 secondsSolidarity in a divided world – Cecilia Bailliet
In this episode, Dan Banik speaks with Cecilia Marcela Bailliet, the UN Independent Expert on Human Rights and International Solidarity and Professor at the University of Oslo’s Faculty of Law about what solidarity truly means in an era of geopolitical tension, shrinking aid budgets, and growing inward-looking politics. Cecilia argues that solidarity is far more than a political catchphrase. It is an enabling right that links human rights, peace, and development, and demands concrete action to include those who are excluded.
Together they explore how solidarity can take shape locally and globally, how civil society continues to push back despite tightening restrictions, and how corporations, technology, and even artificial intelligence can either strengthen or undermine our collective responsibilities. The conversation also touches on double standards in international responses, the rise of exclusionary “nativist solidarities,” and why building a culture of peace remains essential in today’s fractured world.
This wide-ranging discussion invites listeners to rethink what we owe one another and why solidarity, properly understood, might be one of the most powerful tools we have for shaping a more just and humane future.
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29 November 2025, 6:00 am - 49 minutes 21 secondsWhen evidence meets Washington politics – Dean Karlan
In this episode, Dan Banik speaks with economist Dean Karlan, the Frederic Esser Nemmers Distinguished Professor at Northwestern University and former Chief Economist of USAID, about his effort to build a new evidence-driven office inside the world’s largest bilateral aid agency. Drawing on his experience from 2022 to 2025, Dean reflects on the ambition behind creating the Office of the Chief Economist, the challenges of navigating congressional holds and bureaucratic resistance, and the excitement of assembling a team committed to cost-effectiveness and rigorous, science-based decision-making.
Dan and Dean explore what it means to introduce institutional reform in an agency as sprawling and politically exposed as USAID, how internal processes shape billions of dollars in global programming, and why transparent learning (including acknowledging failure) remains essential but difficult in development. They also discuss the dramatic shift that followed recent political changes in Washington, the speed with which parts of USAID’s architecture were dismantled, and what this means for partner countries, soft power, and the future of global development cooperation.
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26 November 2025, 6:00 am - 43 minutes 46 secondsChina’s evolving role in global development finance – Hong Bo
As globalization gives way to fragmentation, the politics of finance and development are shifting fast. Tariffs, trade wars, and geopolitical rivalries are redrawing economic maps, while traditional sources of aid are shrinking. In this environment, low- and middle-income countries are searching for new partners and new pathways to growth—and China’s role looms large.
Over the past two decades, China has financed and built roads, railways, power grids, and digital infrastructure across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. But since the pandemic, its overseas investments have evolved: fewer mega-projects, greater attention to debt risks, and a growing emphasis on clean energy, technology, and localized, value-added production.
In this episode, Dan Banik speaks with Hong Bo, Professor of Financial Economics at SOAS, University of London, about the changing nature of Chinese investment and what it reveals about the future of global development finance. They discuss how sovereign risk shapes investment decisions, why small and “green” projects are replacing large ones, and how African and other developing countries can strengthen their bargaining power in negotiations. The conversation also touches on the politics of transparency, the role of private Chinese investors, and the possibilities for industrialization in a world of shrinking aid and shifting alliances.
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19 November 2025, 6:00 am - 56 minutes 34 secondsPower, policy, and the future of global development – Rachel Glennerster
In this episode of In Pursuit of Development, Dan Banik sits down with Rachel Glennerster, President of the Center for Global Development (CGD), to discuss how the global development landscape is being reshaped by shifting politics, tighter budgets, and new sources of innovation and influence. From Washington to New Delhi, the narrative of development is evolving—no longer centered solely on aid, but on how countries and coalitions define and deliver progress on their own terms.
Rachel shares insights from her time in government, academia, and policy research, reflecting on how development agencies can make tough choices, simplify their missions, and stay focused on impact when resources are scarce. She and Dan delve into the future of the World Bank, IMF, and USAID, the need for smarter prioritization among donors, and the vital importance of protecting evidence-based interventions that save lives and expand opportunity.
The conversation also moves beyond institutions to the tools and partnerships shaping tomorrow’s development practice—from artificial intelligence and climate innovation to South–South Cooperation, where countries like India, China and Kenya are sharing solutions across continents.
Rachel Glennerster on X and Linkedin
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12 November 2025, 6:00 am - 42 minutes 57 secondsDemocracy against the odds – Happy Kayuni
Malawi has once again gone to the polls, reaffirming its reputation as one of Africa’s most enduring democracies. In September 2025, former president Peter Mutharika returned to power after defeating Lazarus Chakwera in a peaceful transfer of power that defied global trends of democratic decline. Despite widespread poverty, inflation, and economic stagnation, Malawians continue to place their trust in the ballot box.
In this episode, Dan Banik speaks with Happy Kayuni about why democracy endures in Malawi, how civic faith survives amid hardship, and what this resilience reveals about the future of democracy in developing countries.
Resources:
- Political Transition and Inclusive Development in Malawi: The Democratic Dividend (Open access, Edited by Dan Banik and Blessings Chinsinga)
- Happy Kayuni on X and LinkedIn
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8 November 2025, 6:00 am - 50 minutes 17 secondsThe protest that changed Serbia – Nemanja Džuverović
One year after a deadly train-station collapse in Novi Sad that killed sixteen people, Serbia’s student-led protests have become a powerful challenge to corruption, impunity, and democratic decay.
In this episode, Dan Banik speaks with Nemanja Džuverović, Professor of Peace Studies at the University of Belgrade, about how grief turned into the country’s largest civic movement in decades. Together they explore what the protests reveal about Serbia’s political system, the rise of “stabilocracy,” and the fragile state of democracy across the Balkans.
Dan and Nemanja — colleagues in the Circle U European University Alliance’s Democracy Hub — also discuss shifting global alliances, China’s growing presence, and why young Serbians are losing faith in the European project.
A story of resilience and renewal, this conversation offers rare insight into how civic courage can revive democracy from the ground up.
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5 November 2025, 6:00 am - 41 minutes 46 secondsWhy choosing sides is out of style – Jorge Heine
In this episode, Dan Banik speaks with Jorge Heine, a seasoned diplomat, former Minister of State, and Chile’s ambassador to China, India, and South Africa — three pivotal countries at the center of today’s shifting world order. Drawing on his extensive diplomatic experience, Heine discusses the growing influence of the Global South and the resurgence of active non-alignment as nations navigate an era defined by U.S.–China rivalry. Together they explore how countries across Asia, Africa, and Latin America are redefining their foreign policies—resisting pressure to choose sides while advancing their own development agendas. Heine, who is also the co-author (with Carlos Fortin and Carlos Ominami) of the timely new book The Non-Aligned World: Striking Out in an Era of Great Power Competition, argues that this movement signals a more confident and connected Global South, reshaping global governance, development finance, and the balance of power in the twenty-first century.
Resources:
- The Non-Aligned World: Striking Out in an Era of Great Power Competition (Polity, 2025)
- Jorge Heine, Global Development Policy Center, Boston University
- Jorge Heine on X and LInkedIn
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