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Dr Jo Davies

jo-davies
  • Programme Director of the BSc International Development
  • Director of Academic Tutoring for International Development, Environmental Management, Animal Science and Agricultural Business Management
  • Deputy School Director of Academic Tutoring
  • Lead of International Development Teaching Forum
  • Member of the University Decolonising the Curriculum Working Group
  • Editorial Board: Racial Justice in Teaching and Learning
  • Module Convenor: Research Methods for International Development

Areas of interest

  • Inequality and political capture
  • Development finance
  • The role of the BRICS and the US in development initiatives
  • Trade preferences and global governance

Research projects

Jo's current work explores the politics of development finance and the impact of both political capture and bureaucratic politics across a range of actors: the Washington Consensus (as reflected by both the Bretton Woods institutions and individual western governments); the Chinese government; and the recipient African governments. She is also exploring the ways in which calls for alternative sources of development finance reflect the contrasting approaches of the BRICS and the West. This work includes analysis of trade preferences, inequality and global governance. Her work on this topic has been referenced in the United Nations Human Development Report.

Background

She has joined the School from Oxfam GB, where she was working on a £20 million DFID-funded 'Payment by Results' development programme, designed to deliver sustainable Water, Sanitation and Hygiene interventions in rural Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Prior to this role, Jo was based at the African Studies Centre, University of Oxford. She was involved in a project in collaboration with the Parliamentary Centre of Canada: 'Perceptions of Corruption in Africa'. She was responsible for authoring the final report based on over one hundred interviews in the field of serving African MPs from 14 countries.

She has also worked on the 'Diplomats at War' project with staff at the Joint Services Command and Staff College at Shrivenham. This was an extension of the research in her book 'Constructive Engagement?' which explored US policy in South Africa, Angola and Namibia, and involved interviewing senior members of both the Reagan and Bush Administrations.

Jo has acted as peer reviewer for African Affairs and Journal of Southern African Studies, and is an Associate at Macat Analysis.

Academic qualifications

Jo has a BSc in Politics and International Relations from the University of Southampton, an MA and a PhD in International Relations from the University of Wales, Swansea.

Publications