Prof Anthony Bebbington

Tony Bebbington is a Geographer engaged in conversations with a range of disciplines and policy spheres concerned with international development.  Before working in development studies at Manchester he has held academic positions as Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Colorado Boulder (1999-2203), and Research Officer at the Centre for Latin American Studies at Cambridge (1989-1992).  He has been a Research Fellow at the Overseas Development Institute (1992-4) and International Institute for Environment and Development (1994-5) and a Social Scientist in the World Bank's Social Development Department (1995-6, 1999-2000).  He is also currently a member and Research Affiliate of the Centro Peruano de Estudios Sociales (CEPES) in Peru.  He has collaborated with a wide range of Latin American and other institutions over the years – perhaps most importantly CEPES (Peru), the Grupo de Investigaciones Agrarias (Chile), RIMISP-Latin American Centre for Rural Development (Chile), PRISMA-the Salvadoran Programme for Research in Development and the Environment (El Salvador), Comunidec (Ecuador), Oxfam UK-Peru (Peru), the Colombian-DfID programme for NGO strengthening (Colombia) and the UN Economic Commission for Latin America.  Internationally his recent collaborations have included the World Bank (Social Development Department and World Development Report teams), the International Food Policy Research Institute and Oxfam US.

Rural development and rural livelihoods; nongovernmental organizations; social movements and indigenous organizations; extractive industries, social justice and territorially based rural development; policy processes within development bureaucracies; political ecology; the World Bank.

My current research revolves around social movements, NGOs and social justice on the one hand, and processes of policy debate and formulation within development and public institutions on the other. The following are my on-going and recent research projects:

1.  Conflicts over the countryside: civil society and the political ecology of rural development in the Andes.

This project, supported by an ESRC Professorial Research Fellowship (2007-2009), addresses the structure and dynamics of social conflicts around the relationships between natural resource extraction, agriculture and development strategies in the Andean region.  It also aims to develop a coherent body of knowledge on the factors driving the geography of NGOs and social movements in the region and their interventions in issues of rural development and resource extraction.  The larger goal, on the basis of these two bodies of knowledge, is to develop theoretical and empirical understandings of the relationships between civil society and political economy under conditions of neo-liberalism, and the implications that these relationships hold for the future trajectories of rural

2. Social Movements and Poverty in Peru and South Africa

Social movements have been viewed as vehicles through which the concerns of poor and marginalized groups are given greater visibility within civil society, have been lauded for being the means to achieve local empowerment and citizen activism, and have been seen as important in holding the state to account and constituting a grassroots mechanism for safeguarding democracy.  However, remarkably little attention has been paid by professional researchers and development commentators to: (i) establishing the overall significance of social movements to poor people; and (ii) the strategic choices facing such grassroots movements, their preferred strategies and the effectiveness of these strategies in given political and economic contexts. 
This research, conducted jointly with Diana Mitlin, CEPES in Peru and PLAS in South Africa, explores these knowledge gaps with reference to social movement activity in Peru and South Africa.  It has the following research objectives :

• To map the overall significance of social movements for poverty reduction
• To document and analyse the strategies used by these social movements
• To identify those social movement strategies that are recognized to have secured enhanced inclusion and recognition, and the redistribution, transfer or generation of material benefits
• To analyse the influence of state regime type on social movements' choice of strategy and the relative success of these strategies
• In all the above, to consider ways in which social movement strategies and activities incorporate the poorest.

3.  Glocalization and environmental governance: relationships of scale in environmental social movements and environmental governance in Peru and Bolivia. This project is supported by the International Development Research Centre ( Canada ) through its Collaborative Research Programme on Social Movements, Environmental Governance, and Territorially Based Rural Development, coordinated through RIMISP, the Latin American Centre for Rural Development. For the broader programme of research see www.rimisp.cl/seccion.php?seccion=308. Our project studies the nature of relationships within and between local, national and transnational actors in environmental movements negotiating and contesting the forms taken by current patterns of mineral extraction in the Andes . The research involves a collaboration with Global Greengrants Fund ( www.greengrants.org ), Oxfam America 's South America programme (www.oxfamamerica.org/whatwedo/
where_we_work/south_america) and the Centro Peruano de Estudios Sociales ( www.cepes.org.pe ). The main report from this research can be found, along with other papers from the same programme, at: www.rimisp.org/seminariotrm/,

4.  NGOs, research and the public sphere. The role of NGOs in fostering democratizing forms of development is a longstanding area of interest of mine. My current work hinges around two related initiatives. The first, conducted jointly with Diana Mitlin and Sam Hickey, is a conference and set of forthcoming publications that explore the role of NGOs in fostering development alternatives. The second is a programme with research oriented environment and development NGOs from Central America and Mexico that will explore the emergence, roles and trajectories of such NGOs and the ways in which they have affected policy processes and more broadly the construction of public spheres in which the links between development and the environment are debated. This initiative is supported by the Ford Foundation and the International Development Research Centre of Canada.

5.  Mobile livelihoods and the geographies of nongovernmental organizations in post-conflict Ayacucho, Perú. This research, supported by the British Academy, project will study the relationships between the spatial distribution of NGO interventions and livelihood strategies in post-conflict Ayacucho, a highland region at the centre of Peru's civil war. From 1980-1993, the rural population of Ayacucho fell by 23.3%, due to killings and out-migration; public and non-governmental development organizations also abandoned the countryside. Since 1993 (when levels of violence began to decline), people have returned to rural areas, though migration now plays a more important role in the ways in which they make a living than it did prior to 1980. This research will ask: (1) how has the distribution of NGOs in Ayacucho changed since 1993; (2) what factors and forces have determined the geography of where, and how, NGOs do and do not work; (3) what livelihoods have people re-built in the post-conflict period, what is the role of mobility in these livelihoods, and how far do these livelihoods take advantage of NGOs' activities? The research departs from the hypothesis that NGOs have difficulty in responding to the mobility of livelihoods in post-conflict Ayacucho because: the spatial distribution of NGOs does not respond to the ways in which rural women and men have re-built their livelihoods; and these NGO geographies reflect both a misperception of rural livelihoods, and institutional pressures on NGOs to work in some areas and not others.

6.  Statecraft in the South. This Economic and Social Research Council Seminar Series, coordinated jointly with Willy McCourt of SED, explores that conditions leading to long run success in public policy formation and implementation in the global South. With partners at the Institute for Development Studies at the University of Sussex , the International Institute for Environment and Development, and the International Development Department at the University of Birmingham , it explores policies related to poverty reduction, land tenure and redistribution, and government decentralization. Papers from the different seminars in the series, along with the seminar series background paper, can be found in our forthcoming book (A Bebbington and W McCourt (eds.) 2007 Development Success: Statecraft in the South, London.  Palgrave)

7.  In addition, over the last few years I have been involved in the following projects that are now completed:

1. Local public spaces for debate and democracy (Espacios públicos de concertación local) in Latin America . This study, supported by the InterAmerican Foundation and conducted jointly with Gonzalo de la Maza ( Chile ) and Rodrigo Villar ( Colombia and USA ) analyses the emergence form and function of new public spaces in Latin America that enable more democratic and inclusive forms of public debate. Papers and case studies have been drawn from Colombia , Chile , Brazil , Mexico , Peru and Ecuador. The papers for this research can be found at: www.innovacionciudadana.cl/latinoamerica/espacios.asp. Several of the papers are also available in published form in Number 40/41 of the journal Debate Agrario at: www.cepes.org.pe/debate/debate.htm
2. The World Development Report 2006 on Equity and Development. I was a part time team member of the team. This is supported by the Department for International Development of the UK.
3. How pro-poor is the World Bank Country Programme in Indonesia. This study, conducted with Armando Barrientos, considered the different ways in which poverty is conceptualized within the country programme, and how these conceptualizations affect the Bank's projects and policies in Indonesia . In particular we were interested in looking at the links between poverty research and poverty reduction and governance programmes managed by the country office. Some of the findings will soon be published as a Global Poverty Research Group working paper at www.gprg.org/pubs/workingpapers/default.htm.

I am interested in supervising doctoral research students working on topics related to: social movements, NGOs, civil society, natural resource extraction, environmental conflicts, poverty and livelihoods, multilateral development organizations, and culture, politics and development. 
I am especially committed to working with students whose research interests lie in Latin America.
My current and recent students, or students linked to my research projects, include:

Recent PhD Students

Leonith Hinojosa Valencia (Ph.D. 2006) Institutions, Markets and Economic Development in the Southern Peruvian Andes

Scott Nelson (PhD, 2006) Emerging Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in the Field of Agri-Biotechnology: ICRISAT and the Remaking of Indian Agriculture

Elizabeth Olson (Ph.D, 2005.) 'Religion, livelihoods and development in post-conflict Peru', now Lecturer, Department of Geography, Lancaster University.

Donna Rubinoff (Ph.D, 2004) 'Cybernetworking and rural development in Latin America', now Lecturer, University of Colorado at Boulder.

Jeffrey Bury (Ph.D, 2001) 'Transnational corporations and livelihood transformation', Peru, now Assistant Professor of Geography, University of California at Santa Cruz.

Thomas Perreault (Ph.D. 1999) 'Cultural identity and resource management in Ecuador', now Associate Professor of Geography, Syracuse University.

Current PhD Students

Ximena Warnaars, Mining conflicts and indigenous peoples in Ecuador (with Penny Harvey, Anthropology).

Kirsten Howarth, Post –peace violence in El Salvador (with Tim Jacoby).

Johan Oldekop, Ecological modeling of conservation and development in Ecuador (with Richard Preziosi, Life Sciences).

Jorge Castro, working on rural territorial development, armed conflict and peace in the Magdalena Medio, Colombia (co-supervised with Phil Woodhouse).

George Holmes, working on resistance to protected areas in the Dominican Republic (co-supervised with Dan Brockington).

Eric James, working on NGO management in areas of armed conflict (co-supervised with Tim Jacoby).

Maura Duffy, working on Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution: Power to the People? (co-supervised with Tanja Mueller).

Rory Stanton (ongoing), working on Development programming and diaspora communities (co-supervised with Uma Kothari).

Books and Edited Collections

2008 "Can NGOs Can NGOs Make A Difference? The Challenge of Development Alternatives". A Bebbington, S. Hickey and D Mitlin (eds). London. Zed.

2008 "Institutional Pathways to Equity: addressing inequality traps" Anthony J. Bebbington, Anis A. Dani, Arjan de Haan, and Michael Walton (eds.). London/Washington. Palgrave and World Bank.

2007 "Mining and development in Peru, with special reference to the Rio Blanco Project, Piura". A. Bebbington, M. Connarty, W. Coxshall, H.O'Shaugnessy, M. Williams. London. Peru Support Group.
Translated and published in Peru as:
"Minería y Desarrollo en Perúcon especial referencia al Proyecto Río Blanco, Piura". A. Bebbington, M. Connarty, W. Coxshall, H.O'Shaugnessy, M. Williams. Lima. Instituto de Estudios Peruanos/CIPCA/Oxfam International/Peru Support Group.

2007 "Development success: statecraft in the South." A Bebbington and W. McCourt (eds.). London. Palgrave Macmillan.

2007 "Una ecología política de la minería moderna: movimientos sociales, empresas y desarrollo territorial". A. Bebbington (ed.). ; Lima. Instituto de Estudios Peruanos.

2007 "Investigación y cambio social: desafíos para las ONG en Centroamérica y México", A. Bebbington (ed.). Guatemala City. Editorial de Ciencias Sociales.

2006 "The search for empowerment. Social Capital as idea and practice at the World Bank." (with M Woolcock, S Guggenheim and E. Olson (eds.)) West Hartford. Kumarian

2001 "El capital social en los Andes". Quito. Abya-Yala, (with V.H.Torres) (eds.).

2000 "Los campesinos y las políticas públicas: encuentros y desencuentros". La Paz. Editorial Plural (with D. Muñoz con A. Espinar, M. Canedo and S. Croxton).

Guest Edited Thematic Issues of Refereed Journals

Forthcoming "Social Movements and the Dynamics of Rural Development in Latin America" A.Bebbington, R. Abramovay, M. Chiriboga (eds.) World Development.

2001 "Transnational livelihoods and landscapes: political ecologies of globalization", Ecumene Vol. 8 No. 4 (with S. Batterbury) (eds.).

"Environmental histories, access to resources and landscape change", Land Degradation and Development vol. 10 No. 4 (with S. Batterbury) (eds.).

Refereed Journal Articles and Chapters

Forthcoming "Social Movements and the Dynamics of Rural Development in Latin America" A.Bebbington, R. Abramovay, M. Chiriboga (eds.) World Development

Forthcoming "Mining and social movements: struggles over livelihood and rural territorial development in the Andes" A. Bebbington, D. Humphreys Bebbington, J. Bury, J.Lingan, J.P.Muñoz and M. Scurrah World Development

Forthcoming “Social capital and development studies III: social capital and the state (seen from Peru)” Progress in Development Studies

Forthcoming "Please Mr. Bebbington, don't come here and tell us what to do." Antipode

Forthcoming "Social capital II" in N. Thrift and R. Kitchin (eds.) International Encyclopedia of Human Geography. Oxford. Elsevier.

2008 "Social Dimensions of Rural Resource Sustainability: Lessons from extractive industry conflicts in Latin America." Pp. 237-273 in G. Cornia and J. Riddell (eds.) Toward a Vision of Land in 2015: International Perspectives. Boston. Lincoln Institute.

2008 "Social capital and development" pp. 132-136 in R. Potter and V. Desai (eds.) The Companion to Development Studies – 2nd Edition. London. Hodder Arnold.

2008 "Landscapes of possibility? Livelihood and intervention in the production of Andean landscapes" pp. 51-76 in In J. L. Wescoat and D.M. Johnston (eds.) Political economies of landscape change. Places of integrative power. Dordrecht. Springer Publishers.

2008 "La Sostenibilidad Social De Los Recursos Rurales: Apreciaciones A Partir De Los Conflictos Mineros En Latinoamérica" Debate Agrario42: 31-78.

2007 "Social movements and the politicization of chronic poverty" Development and Change 38(5): 793-818

2007 "Reclaiming Development? NGOs and the Challenge of Alternatives."  D. Mitlin, S. Hickey and A. Bebbington World Development 35(10): 1699-1720.

2007 "Introduction: Can NGOs make a difference. The challenge of development alternatives" A. Bebbington, S. Hickey and D. Mitlin pp. 3-37 in A. Bebbington, D. Mitlin, S. Hickey (eds.). Can NGOs Make A Difference? The Challenge of Development Alternatives London. Zed.

2007 "Producing knowledge, generating alternatives? Challenges to research oriented NGOs in Central America and Mexico" C. Bazán, N. Cuellar, I. Gómez, C. Illsley, I. Monterroso, J. Pardo, J.L. Rocha, P. Torres, A. Bebbington in: A. Bebbington, S. Hickey and D. Mitlin (eds.) Can NGOs Make A Difference? The Challenge of Development Alternatives. London.Zed Press.

2007 "Elementos para una ecología política de los movimientos sociales y el desarrollo territorial en zonas mineras" pp. 23-46 in A. Bebbington (ed.) Minería, movimientos sociales y respuestas campesinas: una ecología política de transformaciones territoriales. (editor) Lima. Instituto de Estudios Peruanos.

2007 "Conclusiones: minería, neoliberalización y reterritorialización en el desarrollo rural" A. Bebbington and L. Hinojosa V. pp. 281-313 in A. Bebbington (ed.) Minería, movimientos sociales y respuestas campesinas: una ecología política de transformaciones territoriales. Lima. Instituto de Estudios Peruanos.

2007 "Producción de conocimiento, generación de alternativas" C. Bazán, N. Cuellar, I. Gómez, C. Illsley, I. Monterroso, J. Pardo, J.L. Rocha, P. Torres, A. Bebbington pp. 13-52 in A. Bebbington (ed.) Investigación y cambio social: desafíos para las ONG en Centroamérica y México Guatemala City. Editorial de Ciencias Sociales.

2007 "Reflexiones finales: desafíos pendientes para los centros que trabajan en medio ambiente y desarrollo" L. Hinojosa and A Bebbington pp.361-381 in A. Bebbington (ed.) Investigación y cambio social: desafíos para las ONG en Centroamérica y México Guatemala City. Editorial de Ciencias Sociales.

2007 "A framework for understanding development success" W. McCourt and A. Bebbington pp. 1-29 in Development success: statecraft in the South. A. Bebbington and W. McCourt (eds.). London. Palgrave Macmillan.

2007 "Explaining (and obtaining) development success" A. Bebbington and W. McCourt pp. 211-245 in Development success: statecraft in the South. A. Bebbington and W. McCourt (eds.). London. Palgrave Macmillan.

2007 "Sociedad(es) y desarrollo(s): El reto del papel de la sociedad civil en el desarrollo” in C. Zorro Sánchez (ed.) El desarrollo: perspectivas y dimensiones. Aportes interdisciplinarios. Bogota. Universidad de los Andes.

2007 "Los movimientos sociales frente a la minería: disputando el desarrollo territorial andino" Bebbington, A., Humphreys Bebbington, D., Bury, J., Lingan, J., Muñoz, J.P. and Scurrah, M. pp. 283-315 in J. Bengoa (ed.) Territorios rurales: Movimientos sociales y desarrollo territorial rural en América Latina. Santiago. Editorial Catalonia.

2007 "Of texts and practices: empowerment and organizational cultures in World Bank-funded rural development programmes" A. Bebbington, D. Lewis, S. Batterbury, E. Olson and S. Siddiqi, Journal of Development Studies 43(4): 597-621.

2007 "Social capital and development studies II: can Bourdieu travel to policy?" Progress in Development Studies vol. 7 no. 2: 155-162.

2007 “Livelihoods and resource accessing in the Andes: desencuentros in theory and practice” ch.. 8 in I. Gough and J.A. McGregor (eds.) Well-Being in Developing Countries: From Theory to Research Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.

2006 "El desarrollo de base y los espacios públicos de concertación local en América Latina", Debate Agrario 40/41 (with G. Delamaza y R. Villar).

2006 "Los Espacios Públicos De Concertación Local Y Sus Límites En Un Municipio Indígena: Guamote, Ecuador", Debate Agrario 40/41.

2006 "Transnational Development Networks" Environment and Planning A 38(5) (with U Kothari).

2005 "Michael Cernea" pp. 67-73 in D Simon (ed), Fifty Key Thinkers in Development, London, Routledge.

2006 "NGOs and civil society", pp. 417-423 in D.A. Clark (ed.) The Elgar Companion to Development Studies. Cheltenham. Edward Elgar (with S. Hickey).

2006 "Local capacity, village governance and the political economy of rural development in Indonesia." World Development 34(11): 1958-1976) (with L. Dharmawan, E. Farmi and S. Guggenheim).

2005 "Global networks and local developments. Agendas for Development Geography", Space and Place in Development Geography, pp15-30.

2005 "Estrategias de vida y estrategias de intervención: capital social y programas de superación de la pobreza", Chapter 1 in I. Ariagada (ed.) Aprender de la experiencia: el capital social en la superación de la pobreza. Santiago. United Nations Commission on Latin America.

2005 "Donor-NGO relations and representations of livelihood in nongovernmental aid chains", World Development, Vol. 33, No. 6.

2004 "NGOs and uneven development: geographies of development intervention" Progress in Human Geography 28(6): 725-745.

2004 "Social capital and development studies 1: critique, debate, progress?" Progress in Development Studies 4(4): 343-349.

2004 "Village politics, culture and community driven development: insights from Indonesia." Progress in Development Studies 4(3): 1-19 (with L. Dharmawan, E. Farmi and S. Guggenheim).

2004 "Exploring Social Capital Debates at the World Bank". Journal of Development Studies 40(5): 33-64 (with Guggenheim, S., Olson, E., Michael Woolcock).

2004 "Movements, modernizations, markets and municipalities: indigenous organizations and agrarian strategies in Ecuador, then and now" in R. Peet and M. Watts (eds.) Liberation ecologies: environment, development, social movements. London. Routledge.

2004 "Livelihood transitions, place transformations: grounding globalization and modernity", pp. 173-192 in R. Gwynne and C. Kay (eds.) Latin America Transformed. Globalization and Modernity, Arnold (second edition).

2004 "Theorizing participation and institutional change: ethnography and political economy" in S. Hickey and G. Mohan (eds.) Participation: from tyranny to transformation? Exploring new approaches to participation in development. London: Zed.

2003 "El capital social en el desarrollo: téoria, concepto, estrategia" in I. Arriagada and F. Miranda (eds.) Capital Social: potencialidades analíticas y metodológicas para la superación de la pobreza. Santiago. United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America.

2003 "Practice, power and meaning: frameworks for studying organisational culture in multi-agency rural development projects", Journal of International Development 15: 541-557 (with D. Lewis, S. Batterbury, A. Shah, E. Olson, M. S. Siddiqi and S. Duvall).

2003 "Global networks and local developments. Agendas for Development Geography". Tijdschrift voor Economische et Sociale Geografie Vol. 94 No. 3: 297-309.

2002 "Reflexiones sobre la relacion Norte-Sur en la construccion de conocimientos sobre las ONG en America Latina" en ABONG (ed.) ONGs e universidades: desafios a cooperacâo nâ America Latina. ABONG-ALOP. Sao Paulo.

2002 "Sharp knives and blunt instruments: social capital in development studies." Antipode 34(4): 800-803.

2002 "Induced social capital and federations of the rural poor in the Andes" pp. 234-278 in C.Grootaert and T. van Bastelaer (eds.), Social Capital and Poverty: An Empirical Assessment. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press (with T. Carroll).

2002 "Geographies of development in Latin America?". Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers Yearbook Vol 27 pp. 105-148.

2001 "Globalized Andes? Landscapes, livelihoods and development", Ecumene Vol. 8. No. 4. pp. 414-436.

2001 "Development alternatives: practice, dilemmas and theory", Area. Vol. 33 No. 1: 7-17 (with D. Bebbington).

2001 "Indigenous technical knowledge" in N. Smelser and P. Balte (eds.) International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Oxford. Elsevier.

2001 "Rural development" in N. Smelser and P. Balte (eds.) International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Oxford. Elsevier.

2000 "Peasant federations and rural development policies in the Andes", Policy Sciences, Vol 33, No 3/4, 2000: 435-457 (with T. Carroll).

2000 "Re-encountering development: livelihood transitions and place transformations in the Andes" Annals of the Association of American Geographers Vol. 90 No. 3. Pp. 495-520.

Recent Working Papers

2006 "Where Does Development Success Come From? Explanations And Practical Implications", (Anthony Bebbington and Willy McCourt), IDPM Discussion Paper 70.

2006 "Social movements and chronic poverty across the urban-rural divide: concepts and experiences", (Diana Mitlin and Anthony Bebbington), CPRC Working Paper No. 65 and Background Paper for Chronic Poverty Report 2 (2007).

2006 "Social movements and the politicization of chronic poverty policy", CPRC Working Paper No. 63 (PDF) and Background Paper for Chronic Poverty Report 2 (2007).

2006 "Reclaiming development? NGOs and the challenge of alternatives", (Diana Mitlin, Sam Hickey and Anthony Bebbington). Global Poverty Research Group Working Paper 43 (PDF). Oxford. GPRG.

2005 "El desarrollo de base y los espacios públicos de concertación local en América Latina", (Anthony Bebbington; Gonzalo Delamaza y Rodrigo Villar). Santiago. Programa de Ciudadanía y Gestión Local (PDF).

2005 "Los espacios públicos de concertación local y sus limites en un municipio indígena: Guamote, Ecuador". (Anthony Bebbington). Santiago. Programa de Ciudadanía y Gestión Local (PDF).

2005 "Knowledge generation for poverty reduction within donor organizations". (A Bebbington and A. Barrientos). Global Poverty Research Group Working Paper 23 (PDF). Oxford. GPRG.

2004 "Use of civil society organizations to raise the voice of the poor in agricultural policy". (A. Bebbington and J. Thompson with others). DfID RNRA Team Working Paper 1 (PDF). London . DfID.