Dr. Lena Gutheil

• Lena Gutheil

Can Public Participation Deepen Democracy?

While public engagement has contributed to enhancing social justice in Nakuru City, Kenia, challenges in improving governance effectiveness and legitimacy persist. This is due to limited responsiveness of local elites, political and legal loopholes, and restricted public participation.

doi:10.18449/2023MTA-PB18

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• Lena Gutheil
• Margit van Wessel

Starting from the South – Why we Need to Rethink Civil Society Collaborations and Funding Structures

• German

Collaborations between civil society organisations in the development sector are often driven by priorities set in donor countries. In this Spotlight, Megatrends Afrika talked to Margit van Wessel, Wageningen University, about ways to make civil society collaborations more equal.

• Benedikt Erforth
• Lena Gutheil

The BMZ’s new Africa Strategy: Self-Critical, Credible and Values-Based?

• German

The BMZ has presented its new Africa strategy. The strategy turns away from focussing on private sector development, our authors comment in this Megatrends Afrika Spotlight. It promises global structural policy and multilateral cooperation - and a more self-critical attitude towards development.

• Lena Gutheil

The Impact of Urbanisation on Political Regimes in Africa: A Literature Review

The working paper finds that urbanisation does not automatically lead to democratisation, but structures the way citizens relate to the state. While urban density facilitates collective accountability demands, the link between urbanisation and individual accountability relationships with the state is less straightforward. The reviewed evidence suggests that the force to reckon with is not the middle class, but rather the poor masses. It is not enough for governments to cater to the elites anymore, as the share of the urban poor becomes too large to ignore.

doi:10.18449/2022MTA-WP03

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• Lena Gutheil

Civil society participation in urban governance in Africa. Supporting CSOs’ political voice for a transformation of citizen–state relations

• German

Urbanisation offers great potential for Africa’s economic and social development but the rapid transformation is also putting a strain on Africa’s cities. Citizens have long demanded participation in urban governance that goes beyond elections. Although participatory processes have become increasingly evident, they are still far from being institutionalised at scale. This policy brief argues that participatory processes need to be thoroughly embedded in politics in order to move beyond particularistic gains towards a structural improvement of relations between citizens, CSOs, and local governments.

doi:10.18449/2022MTA-PB05

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• Benedikt Erforth
• Lena Gutheil

Why we should talk about megatrends in Africa

• German

Megatrends have become ubiquitous phenomena in public policy debates. A thorough understanding of what this concept entails is often missing. We address this gap by unpacking the notion “megatrend” and tracing the significance it has for understanding the transformation of African societies.