Dr Kathryn Hochstetler, London School of Economics's Professor of International Development, will be speaking on the topic “Possibilities and Limits of the Democratic Developmental State”  as part of the Democracy and Difference Seminar Series 2016-17.

Twenty-first century developmental projects like those of the Brazilian Workers’ Party take place in a regulatory context that – at least on paper – demands new scrutiny of their environmental and community impacts. Dr Hochstetler will present the results of a research project that examines the 302 electricity projects financed by the Brazilian National Development Bank (BNDES) between 2002 and 2012 to see how often, and under what circumstances, these developmentalist infrastructure projects in fact faced challenging scrutiny on environmental and community impact grounds. She concludes that the Brazilian experience demonstrates that the ideals of the democratic developmental state are easier to fit together in theory than in practice.

The series is convened by Nancy Bermeo, Maya Tudor, Ezequiel Gonzalez Ocantos and Jody LaPorte, and jointly supported by Blavatnik School of Government, Department of Politics and International Relations, and Nuffield College.

Open to all. Advanced sign-up is required – please email events@bsg.ox.ac.uk

Lunch is provided.