This thesis focuses on the institutions-growth nexus in the developing countries from East Asia, Africa and Latin America. It comprises of three distinct chapters with specific interests. The first chapter investigates unique economic development of the East Asian countries in the past two decades which is, to my knowledge, still lacking empirical study particularly for the period after the Asian financial crisis. The second chapter explains the growth-effect of social capital (informal institutions) and the channel of the effect using panel data analysis which hitherto has been very limited in the literature. Finally, the third chapter tests spatial spillover effect of institutions towards growth by utilizing an unconventional weight matrix based on institutional distance, arguably the first of its kind. In general, this thesis finds empirical support for the hypothesis “institutions matter” for growth in the developing countries being studied. The first chapter finds evidence that institutions determine growth via the factor productivity channel. In all developing countries, secure property rights and bureaucratic efficiency affect growth significantly, whereas in the East Asian countries, political institutions, in addition to both qualities, also do. During the period of high growth in the East Asian region, secure property rights and autocratic government are found to strongly determine growth, but in the post-crisis period no clear evidence on the institutional importance. The second chapter shows that the generalized trust variable widely used to reflect social capital is not suitable in panel analysis. Using alternative measures of social capital, however, this chapter finds empirical evidence that social capital significantly determines growth in developing countries, and its indirect effect running via the property rights channel is essentially larger than its direct effect. The third chapter finds that institutions spatially affect growth via an indirect route, i.e. good institutions in a country lead to economic improvement in that country and generate effects on the neighboring countries’ growth. This chapter also shows that countries with similar political institutional settings have an increased spatial dependence and converge to similar levels of growth.

Since the late1990s, theorists have attempted to understand an apparent securitization of development within the policies produced by global governance networks and institutions (Beall et al., 2005; Duffield, 2007; Woods, 2005). The key assumptions central to much of the securitization of development debate are that; significant areas of the South are excluded from formal global economic networks, but are reintegrating through parallel economic activity; the discourses of security and development are linked by global governance institutions, such that significant areas of the South are conceived as an international security threat; the major agencies of global governance are unified through a liberal consensus, and pursue liberal change through the distribution of aid and through development programmes. This research is concerned with the ways in which this debate aids our understanding of contemporary global governance, and its limitations. This theoretical and empirical evaluation takes a number of forms including: an analysis of the policy discourse of key global governance institutions; an examination of world economic trends; a statistical project investigating the distribution of development aid; and a case study of development programming. This thesis argues that the securitization of development debate aids our understanding of global governance through its identification of both liberal societal transformation as a key rationale of global governance and the security development nexus as a central framework for North-South relations. It further provides important insights into the productive power of liberal global governance networks and develops a fruitful application of post-structural analysis to the problematic of global development. This research also identifies theoretical and empirical limitations within this debate. In light of these, an approach is proposed which takes greater account of firstly, the structural dynamics of the global economy and secondly, the internal contradictions and complexities inherent within the discourses of global governance. The former would involve greater engagement with the literature that demonstrates a complex and varied picture of global economic expansion and contraction. This research further suggests that the effect of the axiom that there can be no development without security is ambiguous. And also argues that the suggestion that global governance pursues liberal change through the distribution of aid needs qualification. Finally, further analysis to determine the utility of engaging with the governmentality literature is proposed.

This thesis comprises two Parts. The first develops a theoretical framework for analysing development policy and practice. A central argument is that a reason for widespread discontent with the so-called ‘Washington consensus’ is the exclusion of the majority of people from the governance of their development. An implication is that ‘development’ will continue to fail people until decision-making structures are altered to reflect the views of those that are seeking to ‘develop’. This perspective suggests the possibility of a ‘dual approach’ to policy that seeks to alter decision-making structures while working in the shadow of the consensus; a learning process of democratic engagement in development, both within and across localities. When extended to consider the contested theme of ‘globalisation’, our framework provides an analytical meeting ground for seemingly polar views, making a conceptual distinction between elite and democratic globalisation. The second Part of the thesis then advances and applies this framework through the exploration of specific issues and cases: the importance of communication for the governance of development; a specific case study of multinational engagement in local development processes; the role of ‘clusters’ in employment generation processes; and an analysis of the recent Argentinian economic crisis.