Tom Lavers

The University of Manchester, Global Development Institute, Faculty Member

University of Bath, Social & Policy Sciences, Alumnus

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My research interests focus on the social and political ramifications of structural transformation. In particular, I am interested in the role of state social policy in addressing the social upheaval usually associated with the transformation from a rural, agrarian society to an urban, industrial one, and the implications of changing socio-political constituencies for state-society relations. This focus has led me to conduct research on processes of agrarian transformation, including recent agricultural investment processes frequently described as ‘land grabs’, and my present interest in the political economy changes brought about by processes of urbanisation.

My PhD thesis examined the political economy of social policy and agrarian transformation in Ethiopia. The thesis investigated the Ethiopian government’s use of social policy, and in particular land policy, as a means of managing the processes of structural transformation and urban migration. In doing so, it analysed the rapid expansion of agricultural investments in Ethiopia in the context of Ethiopia’s smallholder-based agricultural development strategy, as well as linking the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP), one of the largest food and cash-for-work schemes in Africa to the debate on land ownership.

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Andreas Umland

National University of "Kyiv-Mohyla Academy"

Naim Kapucu

University of Central Florida

Oludamini Ogunnaike

University of Virginia

David Seamon

Kansas State University

Armando Marques-Guedes

UNL - New University of Lisbon

Par Engstrom

University College London

MARGO TAMEZ

University of British Columbia

Rachel E Smith

University of Aberdeen

Noe Cornago

University of the Basque Country, Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea

Akhil Gupta

University of California, Los Angeles

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Papers by Tom Lavers

The Political Economy of Social Policy and Agrarian Transformation in Ethiopia

&amp;amp;quot;This thesis is concerned with social policy during structural transformation, f... more &amp;amp;quot;This thesis is concerned with social policy during structural transformation, focusing on the case of Ethiopia. The thesis takes a realist, case-based approach to the study of social policy, which recognises that political actors construct the domain of ‘social’ policy within legitimising discourses in specific national-historical contexts. Social policy is a key aspect of state-society relations and an inherently political field of study. Consequently, the study integrates analysis of cleavages in domestic society along class and ethnic lines, the role of state organisations and international influences, and their impact on the social policy pronouncements by senior government officials and implementation of those policies on the ground. In the Ethiopian case, this approach highlights the centrality of land to social policy and state-society relations. In particular, state land ownership is a key part of the government’s development strategy that aims to combine egalitarian agricultural growth with security for smallholders. Nevertheless, the failure to expand the use of productivity-enhancing agricultural inputs, which constitute key complements to the use of land for social objectives, has led to differentiation in social policy provision along class, gender, age and ethnic lines. Micro-level case studies link the land question to food security, including the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP), and processes of agricultural commercialisation, notably the so-called ‘global land grab’. A main argument of the thesis is that the Ethiopian government is attempting to manage social processes in order to minimise the social and political upheaval involved in structural transformation, and that social policy is a central means by which it does so. The development strategy requires social policies that enable the government to control the allocation of factors of production, necessitating restrictions on the rights of individuals and groups. As such, this strategy is intricately intertwined with political authority.&amp;amp;quot;

Distributional Concerns, the ‘Developmental State’, and the Agrarian Origins of Social Assistance in Ethiopia

The Politics of Social Protection in Eastern and Southern Africa, 2019

Existing research tends to focus on the proximate drivers of social assistance expansion in devel... more Existing research tends to focus on the proximate drivers of social assistance expansion in developing countries—including donor advocacy and electoral incentives. This work risks neglecting deeper continuities with longstanding mechanisms by which states distribute resources and the broader political economic context. This chapter examines Ethiopia, home to one of the largest social assistance programmes in Africa, highlighting the deep roots of social assistance within state distributional strategies, particularly regarding land access and food insecurity. Analysis shows how changing political interests and ideology have resulted in the evolution from an ‘agrarian’ distributional regime—which sought to provide welfare through land access—to a ‘productivist-pauperist’ model as part of Ethiopia’s ‘developmental state’ strategy. This model targets social assistance narrowly to specific groups, yet seeks to ensure that support is put to productive use. The chapter draws on seventy key...

Aiming for Universal Health Coverage through insurance in Ethiopia: State infrastructural power and the challenge of enrolment

Social science & medicine, 2021

Many developing countries are considering insurance as a means of pursuing Universal Health Cover... more Many developing countries are considering insurance as a means of pursuing Universal Health Coverage. A key challenge to confront is how to achieve high levels of health insurance enrolment. For voluntary schemes this entails mass awareness raising and promotional activity, though as schemes move to compulsory enrolment, monitoring and enforcement are required. This paper focuses on Ethiopia, which has made state health insurance for the informal sector a central pillar of its Universal Health Coverage strategy. The paper shows that high enrolment requires particular forms of state capacity, captured by Michael Mann's concept of state 'infrastructural power'. The paper draws on detailed case studies of insurance implementation in the Tigray and Oromiya regions of Ethiopia to illustrate variation in state infrastructural power and the implications for health insurance. Findings suggest that the potential of state health insurance as a means of promoting health access for ...

Conflicting Priorities in the Promotion of Gender Equality in Ethiopia Uneven Implementation of Land Registration and the Impact on Women's Land Rights

The current Ethiopian government originated in a Marxist revolutionary movement, which early in i... more The current Ethiopian government originated in a Marxist revolutionary movement, which early in its struggle against the Derg regime recognized the widespread discrimination against women in Ethiopian society and placed gender emancipation at the centre of its revolutionary strategy. While political expediency and confrontation with patriarchal Ethiopian society has at times challenged its commitment to women, the EPRDF has, nevertheless, introduced a number of reforms which aim to promote gender equality. This includes recognition of equality between men and women in land rights, and a land registration programme that requires the names of both husbands and wives on certificates. This paper examines the gendered impacts of these reforms through analysis of three village-level case studies based on fieldwork conducted in 2009-10. The cases highlight the contingent nature of gender outcomes based on local state-society relations, and the government’s political and economic priorities, resulting in considerable variation within Ethiopia.

The role of foreign agricultural investment in Ethiopia’s smallholder-focused development strategy

The Politics of Bilateral Donor Assistance

This is not a formal UNRISD publication. The responsibility for opinions expressed in signed stud... more This is not a formal UNRISD publication. The responsibility for opinions expressed in signed studies rests solely with their author(s), and availability on the UNRISD Web site (www.unrisd.org) does not constitute an endorsement by UNRISD of the opinions expressed in them. No publication or distribution of these papers is permitted without the prior authorization of the author(s), except for personal use. 1 Currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Bath, this paper was written as background to UNRISD's Poverty Reduction and Policy Regimes project while the author was working as a Research Analyst at UNRISD. Comments and advice received from members of the UNRISD team, in particular Yusuf Bangura, Paolo de Renzio of the ODI and two anonymous reviewers are gratefully acknowledged.

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