@gldinstitute.bsky.social
The Governance and Local Development Institute (GLD) is a research institute based at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and at Cornell University, US. GLD aims to explain variations in governance and local development to promote global human welfare.
Meet Sarah Thompson, Assistant Professor at Cornell University. She studies traditional governance and gender with a focus on South Asia and Pakistan. Her research investigates how key institutions can intervene to increase the political agency of women and indigenous populations.
➡️ bit.ly/FIGLD
Meet Selene Campion, Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Utah. She studies political behavior and comparative political economy in advanced democracies with a focus on distributive politics and non-programmatic politics.
➡️ Learn more: bit.ly/GLDSCFI
🚨Policy Brief No. 29🚨
Shen's brief examines how citizen input can shape climate adaptation planning in non-democratic contexts, using insights from China's 2021 Henan floods to show how extreme climate events can foster public participation in authoritarian settings.
Learn More: bit.ly/GLDPB29
Working Paper 84 examines how protest movement goals affect government responses, using the NAVCO 3.0 dataset. It finds that movements with maximalist goals encounter significantly more state repression than those with minimalist goals, such as specific policy reforms.
Read more 🔗: bit.ly/GLDWP84
📬GLD November Newsletter Highlights
📝 Working Paper No.84: Maximalist Goals Increase State Repression
📄 Policy Brief 29: Incorporating Citizens' Voices into Climate Change Adaptation Plans
🎙️Fellow Interviews: Sarah Thompson & Selene Campion
... and more: bit.ly/GLDNOV25
Meet Noura Wahby, Associate Professor in the Department of Land Economy at the University of Cambridge. Her work focuses on building an interdisciplinary approach to structural inequality, urban governance and grassroots mobilization
➡️Click here to learn more: bit.ly/GLDFINW
⏰ REMINDER: GLD Spring 2026 Internship Applications Due TODAY!
Don't miss your chance to join our team! Applications close October 31 at 17:00 CET 🎃
📅 Deadline: October 31 at 17:00 CET 🔗 Apply now: bit.ly/GLDS2026
Questions? Email contact@gld.gu.se
🚨New Policy Brief No. 28 written by @svshen.bsky.social is a fresh answer to a classic governance challenge—the principal-agent problem: How can principals deploy regularized campaigns to reduce discretion, curb capture, and reshape agent incentives—with lasting effects?
Learn More: bit.ly/GLDPB28
CALL FOR PROPOSALS | Open Worldwide 🌍
9th Annual GLD Conference
📍 Aspenäs Herrgård, Gothenburg, Sweden
📅 June 10-12, 2026
🎯 Theme: "Participation and Decision-Making: Studies on Citizen Engagement and Mobilization in Local Governance"
Apply Here: bit.ly/4gxyjdO
Join us for the GLD Virtual Annual Conference 2025!
Our fall series covers the big topics: Conflict, Climate Change, Pandemic response & Political Reform.
Open to all attendees. Join discussions on critical global issues with leading researchers and practitioners
Register now 👉 bit.ly/VACGLD25
The Comparative Politics Newsletter Is Out Now!
♦️Four interviews with Pathbreaking Women in Comparative Politics: Valerie Bunce, Barbara Geddes, Margaret Levi and Susan Rose-Ackerman
♦️2025 Section Awards
♦️Announcements
…and more: bit.ly/PBWiPGLD
New Episode Alert🚨
In this special edition of Governance Uncovered Nyché Andrew and Manasi Rao sit down with Professor Susan Rose-Ackerman. Come join us in exploring her impactful career and her pioneering research on corruption and democratic accountability.
Listen Here: bit.ly/4lpVxDl
🎙️NEW FELLOW INTERVIEW🎙️
Meet Dongshu Liu, Assistant Professor at the City University of Hong Kong. His research focuses on Chinese politics and political behavior in authoritarian regimes. Liu also studies political survival, and public opinion in China.
Click here for more: bit.ly/FIDLGL
GLD Summer Newsletter
📅 GLD Virtual Annual Conference: Register now!
📝 Working Paper No. 81: The Costs of Exit: Female Labour Migration and Gender Equality in Source Countries
📗Ellen Lust’s Everyday Choices is now available in Spanish!
📰 GLD Fellow Interviews
... and more: bit.ly/ksf76
New Episode of Governance Uncovered is Live!
In this episode, we are joined by Ryan Knox, Souraya Hammoud, and Gunnar Andersson
Their insights highlight the ongoing efforts to build local governance from the ground up.
Listen Here: bit.ly/GLDGU68
GLD June Newsletter Highlights
📊Join our Dataset Initiative
📑 NEW Working Paper No.80 explores new patterns of urban political reform in Southeast Asia
🎙️New Governance Uncovered podcast on lessons on decentralization and Inequality in the MENA region
... and more: bit.ly/GLDJUN25
🌍 Excited to share that our paper on local context and mobilization in poor communities has been published in World Development. Grateful to the collaboration with Ellen Lust and support from @gldinstitute.bsky.social
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
🖊️ Meet GLD Fellow Ashrakat Elshehawy, a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford’s King Center on Global Development, whose work combines political economy with computational social science across Western and Arabic languages.
Read more: bit.ly/3Hke19W
New Governance Uncovered episode🔊
In this episode we discuss "Mirages of Reform: The Politics of Elite Protectionism in the Arab World" with author Steve Monroe. Uncovering the gap between reform rhetoric and reality in Arab economies from Jordan to Morocco. Listen now! bit.ly/3SKOZTU
Working Paper 79 “Territorial Regimes Meet Crisis Management” analyzes Colombia's COVID-19 traffic-light system, revealing that effective territorial crisis governance requires more than smart frameworks. It demands robust informational capacity.
Read more 🔗: bit.ly/4jz6i5X
GLD May Newsletter Highlights
📝 NEW Working Paper No.79 explores Colombia's COVID-19 strategy and territorial governance approaches
🎙️ Latest New Governance Uncovered podcast on protectionism in the MENA
🖋️ Apply by June 8 for our Fall WiP Workshop Series!
... and more: bit.ly/GLDMAY25
📣 Seeking feedback on your governance or local development research? Join GLD's Fall 2025 Work-in-Progress Workshop Series! These hour-long sessions spotlight YOUR research, helping you build valuable connections while strengthening your work.
Apply by June 8, 2025, 11:59 PM CEST: bit.ly/3HkdZik
Are you looking for data on governance and service delivery in Tunisia? Check out our Local Governance Performance Index 2015 - Tunisia!
Access data: bit.ly/3YyKUWa
Supplemental Materials: bit.ly/3G9kXq1
Need data on parliamentary representation in Malawi? Check out our GLD Malawi Member of Parliament Survey Dataset - 2021-2022
Access data: bit.ly/4lztF12
Supplemental Materials: Policy Brief bit.ly/4jd7sEx
Need comprehensive governance data from Malawi? Explore our Local Governance Performance Index 2016 - Malawi
Access data: bit.ly/4cJ52uY
Supplemental Materials: bit.ly/3EiVxFX
Looking for Covid-19 impact data in Zambia? Check out our GLD-SAIPAR Covid-19 Survey in Zambia - 2020-2021
Access data: bit.ly/3Y7GhlT
Supplemental Materials: bit.ly/3EiWj5P, bit.ly/4ifbcnp
Interested in pandemic response data during political transitions? Discover insights from our GLD-IPOR Malawi Covid Panel Survey - 2020-2021
Access data: bit.ly/3EzMSPm
Supplemental Materials: bit.ly/3GnIvaB, bit.ly/4ifbcnp
Are you researching voter behavior during political transitions? Learn more about our Zambian Election Panel Survey - 2021
Access data: bit.ly/4ijLrTf
Supplemental Materials: bit.ly/42tx5cP
🌍 Are you looking for comparative governance insights across African nations? Take a look at the findings from our Local Governance Performance Index 2019 - Kenya, Malawi, and Zambia
Access data: bit.ly/4cE3hPy
LGPI Video: bit.ly/44oTQkL
📰NEW FELLOW INTERVIEW
Meet Anustubh Agnihotri from Ashoka University. Agnihotri offers unique insights as his research explores public bureaucracies, service delivery, and tech adoption in resource-limited settings.
Read More ➡️: bit.ly/4ilEYqJ
