Anne Mette Kjær
Biographic Data
| ID | 199645 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Anne Mette Kjær |
| GIVEN NAMES | Anne Mette |
| FAMILY NAME | Kjær |
| SIGNATURE | KJÆR A M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Aarhus University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4254-5626 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 130 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2004 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Elgar Encyclopedia of African Politics
This informative Encyclopedia provides a comprehensive overview of the key political concepts, ideas, institutions, and processes in Africa. Leading scholars define core terms, trace the evolution of debates and discuss the ongoing relevance of these topics in contemporary academic and policy contexts.
Diverging Like-Mindedness? Development Policy Among the Nordics
The ‘Nordic exceptionalism’ in development aid is well known and characterized by its generosity and focus on poverty reduction and sustainable development. However, the individual Nordic countries’ development policies differ significantly, as the contributions to this special issue have uncovered. For example, Sweden and Norway have continuously upheld the volume of aid at above 1 per cent of GNI, while Denmark in the new millennium has cut the…
The Paradigm Shift of Danish Development Policy (1990–2020)
For decades, Danish Development Policy was characterized by continuity, backed, as it was, by a relatively stable consensus across the political spectrum. However, this changed in the new Millennium where a paradigm shift in Danish development policy took place. This article characterizes and explains the paradigm shift and identifies its main driving forces. Drawing on Peter Hall’s policy paradigm framework, I identify development policy changes…
When ‘Pockets of effectiveness’ matter politically
Nomination Violence in Uganda’s National Resistance Movement
Institutional explanations of intra-party violence rarely address political economy dynamics shaping the institutions in question, and therefore they fail to understand their emergence and their stability. Specifically, focusing on institutional factors alone does not enable a nuanced understanding of candidate nomination violence and why some constituencies are peaceful while others are violent. This article theorizes nomination violence in domi…
Electricity in Africa
The construction of the Bujagali dam near the source of the river Nile in Uganda was a very long process. Even if the government was seemingly committed to implementing electricity sector reforms a
Land governance as grey zone
Weak state capacity has often been in focus when explaining why land reform in sub-Saharan Africa is not implemented. However, an analysis of the deeper politics of land reform brings our attention to a set of incentives which allow rules governing land to be open to interpretation. This article demonstrates that in Uganda, the need to maintain the ruling coalition in a clientelist political settlement to build electoral support, and the desire t…
Land belongs to the people of Uganda
Politicians running for the 2016 elections in Uganda used land issues in various ways to mobilize votes. We explore the ways in which land was politicized during election campaigns, by examining the personal manifestos and rallies of candidates in the districts of Kaabong and Gulu, and in Kampala. Our main argument is that land was often constitutive of programmatic political debate, and was not only used in instrumental and patrimonial ways to m…
The Politics of African Industrial Policy
This book engages in the debate on growth versus economic transformation and the importance of industrial policy, presenting a comprehensive framework for explaining the politics of industrial policy. Using comparative research to theorize about the politics of industrial policy in countries in the early stages of capitalist transformation that also experience the pressures of elections due to democratization, this book provides four in-depth Afr…
The Economics and Politics of Local Content in African Extractives
Extractive foreign direct investment (FDI) is heralded as the new development opportunity in Africa. A key precondition for FDI's contribution, however, is that foreign investors create ‘local content’ by linking up to the local economy. Consequently, African host governments are contemplating ways in which they can promote local content. This paper examines local content policies and practices in three African countries – Tanzania, Uganda and Mo…
Political Settlements and Productive Sector Policies
Elections and landmark policies in Tanzania and Uganda
Much of the relevant literature on Africa downplays the salience of elections for policy-making and implementation. Instead, the importance of factors such as clientelism, ethnicity, organized interest group and donor influence, is emphasized. We argue that, in addition, elections now motivate political elites to focus on policies they perceive to be able to gain votes. This is based on analyses of six landmark decisions made during the last fift…
The reversal of agricultural reform in Uganda
This article explores the nature of ownership in a reform of the multi-donor-funded agricultural advisory service in Uganda. We argue that although there was a long process of programme formulation in which all stakeholders were heard, ownership was not as encompassing as it first appeared. In essence, the agricultural reform programme represented market-oriented values that were not echoed in large parts of the Ugandan polity. The eventual rever…
Rhodes' Contribution to Governance Theory
This article discusses Rod Rhodes' contribution to governance theory. Rod Rhodes' work on governance has been much quoted. He has contributed to setting a new governance agenda and to an ongoing governance debate. This debate has also had an impact on political practice. However, as this paper argues, Rhodes' definition of governance is problematic in that it is narrowly identified with networks, and it is not consistently applied. Rhodes' concep…
The Politics of Agricultural Policy Reform
The debate on the politics of reform in Africa often focuses on neo‐patrimonialism as the main impediment to reform. While not denying the importance of patronage, this article focuses on how elections have affected agricultural policy in Uganda. It particularly focuses on the implementation of a reform of agricultural extension services (NAADS) which has been affected by a series of government interventions. The authors argue that the need to mo…
Political Agency and the State in Development
Power and Politics in Weak States
Weak states—and the complex configurations of power and politics in these—pose enormous challenges for development cooperation agencies. Power analysis and ‘drivers of change’ studies are becoming mainstream tools, though it is less clear how they can be applied. Clear tensions and dilemmas are emerging from this new orientation. The authors discuss how far donors will be able to act upon the new ‘realist’ position, given their political mandate …
Old brooms can sweep too!' An overview of rulers and public sector reforms in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya
New leaders are often assumed to be better able to push for policy and sector reform because they are less tied in by established patronage networks. The article discusses this assumption by examining public sector reform in three East African countries under different leaders. It finds that while neo-patrimonialism is an important reason why public sector reform is often blocked, this paradigm cannot explain why some public sector reforms are ac…
The Economics and Politics of Local Content in African Extractives
Extractive foreign direct investment (FDI) is heralded as the new development opportunity in Africa. A key precondition for FDI's contribution, however, is that foreign investors create ‘local content’ by linking up to the local economy. Consequently, African host governments are contemplating ways in which they can promote local content. This paper examines local content policies and practices in three African countries – Tanzania, Uganda and Mo…
Political Settlements and Productive Sector Policies
Rhodes' Contribution to Governance Theory
This article discusses Rod Rhodes' contribution to governance theory. Rod Rhodes' work on governance has been much quoted. He has contributed to setting a new governance agenda and to an ongoing governance debate. This debate has also had an impact on political practice. However, as this paper argues, Rhodes' definition of governance is problematic in that it is narrowly identified with networks, and it is not consistently applied. Rhodes' concep…
Elections and landmark policies in Tanzania and Uganda
Much of the relevant literature on Africa downplays the salience of elections for policy-making and implementation. Instead, the importance of factors such as clientelism, ethnicity, organized interest group and donor influence, is emphasized. We argue that, in addition, elections now motivate political elites to focus on policies they perceive to be able to gain votes. This is based on analyses of six landmark decisions made during the last fift…
Land belongs to the people of Uganda
Politicians running for the 2016 elections in Uganda used land issues in various ways to mobilize votes. We explore the ways in which land was politicized during election campaigns, by examining the personal manifestos and rallies of candidates in the districts of Kaabong and Gulu, and in Kampala. Our main argument is that land was often constitutive of programmatic political debate, and was not only used in instrumental and patrimonial ways to m…
The Politics of Agricultural Policy Reform
The debate on the politics of reform in Africa often focuses on neo‐patrimonialism as the main impediment to reform. While not denying the importance of patronage, this article focuses on how elections have affected agricultural policy in Uganda. It particularly focuses on the implementation of a reform of agricultural extension services (NAADS) which has been affected by a series of government interventions. The authors argue that the need to mo…
Nomination Violence in Uganda’s National Resistance Movement
Institutional explanations of intra-party violence rarely address political economy dynamics shaping the institutions in question, and therefore they fail to understand their emergence and their stability. Specifically, focusing on institutional factors alone does not enable a nuanced understanding of candidate nomination violence and why some constituencies are peaceful while others are violent. This article theorizes nomination violence in domi…
Old brooms can sweep too!' An overview of rulers and public sector reforms in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya
New leaders are often assumed to be better able to push for policy and sector reform because they are less tied in by established patronage networks. The article discusses this assumption by examining public sector reform in three East African countries under different leaders. It finds that while neo-patrimonialism is an important reason why public sector reform is often blocked, this paradigm cannot explain why some public sector reforms are ac…
Electricity in Africa
The construction of the Bujagali dam near the source of the river Nile in Uganda was a very long process. Even if the government was seemingly committed to implementing electricity sector reforms a
Land governance as grey zone
Weak state capacity has often been in focus when explaining why land reform in sub-Saharan Africa is not implemented. However, an analysis of the deeper politics of land reform brings our attention to a set of incentives which allow rules governing land to be open to interpretation. This article demonstrates that in Uganda, the need to maintain the ruling coalition in a clientelist political settlement to build electoral support, and the desire t…
The reversal of agricultural reform in Uganda
This article explores the nature of ownership in a reform of the multi-donor-funded agricultural advisory service in Uganda. We argue that although there was a long process of programme formulation in which all stakeholders were heard, ownership was not as encompassing as it first appeared. In essence, the agricultural reform programme represented market-oriented values that were not echoed in large parts of the Ugandan polity. The eventual rever…
Diverging Like-Mindedness? Development Policy Among the Nordics
The ‘Nordic exceptionalism’ in development aid is well known and characterized by its generosity and focus on poverty reduction and sustainable development. However, the individual Nordic countries’ development policies differ significantly, as the contributions to this special issue have uncovered. For example, Sweden and Norway have continuously upheld the volume of aid at above 1 per cent of GNI, while Denmark in the new millennium has cut the…
The Paradigm Shift of Danish Development Policy (1990–2020)
For decades, Danish Development Policy was characterized by continuity, backed, as it was, by a relatively stable consensus across the political spectrum. However, this changed in the new Millennium where a paradigm shift in Danish development policy took place. This article characterizes and explains the paradigm shift and identifies its main driving forces. Drawing on Peter Hall’s policy paradigm framework, I identify development policy changes…
When ‘Pockets of effectiveness’ matter politically
Old brooms can sweep too!' An overview of rulers and public sector reforms in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya
New leaders are often assumed to be better able to push for policy and sector reform because they are less tied in by established patronage networks. The article discusses this assumption by examining public sector reform in three East African countries under different leaders. It finds that while neo-patrimonialism is an important reason why public sector reform is often blocked, this paradigm cannot explain why some public sector reforms are ac…
Power and Politics in Weak States
Weak states—and the complex configurations of power and politics in these—pose enormous challenges for development cooperation agencies. Power analysis and ‘drivers of change’ studies are becoming mainstream tools, though it is less clear how they can be applied. Clear tensions and dilemmas are emerging from this new orientation. The authors discuss how far donors will be able to act upon the new ‘realist’ position, given their political mandate …
The Politics of Agricultural Policy Reform
The debate on the politics of reform in Africa often focuses on neo‐patrimonialism as the main impediment to reform. While not denying the importance of patronage, this article focuses on how elections have affected agricultural policy in Uganda. It particularly focuses on the implementation of a reform of agricultural extension services (NAADS) which has been affected by a series of government interventions. The authors argue that the need to mo…
Political Agency and the State in Development
Rhodes' Contribution to Governance Theory
This article discusses Rod Rhodes' contribution to governance theory. Rod Rhodes' work on governance has been much quoted. He has contributed to setting a new governance agenda and to an ongoing governance debate. This debate has also had an impact on political practice. However, as this paper argues, Rhodes' definition of governance is problematic in that it is narrowly identified with networks, and it is not consistently applied. Rhodes' concep…
The reversal of agricultural reform in Uganda
This article explores the nature of ownership in a reform of the multi-donor-funded agricultural advisory service in Uganda. We argue that although there was a long process of programme formulation in which all stakeholders were heard, ownership was not as encompassing as it first appeared. In essence, the agricultural reform programme represented market-oriented values that were not echoed in large parts of the Ugandan polity. The eventual rever…
Elections and landmark policies in Tanzania and Uganda
Much of the relevant literature on Africa downplays the salience of elections for policy-making and implementation. Instead, the importance of factors such as clientelism, ethnicity, organized interest group and donor influence, is emphasized. We argue that, in addition, elections now motivate political elites to focus on policies they perceive to be able to gain votes. This is based on analyses of six landmark decisions made during the last fift…
The Politics of African Industrial Policy
This book engages in the debate on growth versus economic transformation and the importance of industrial policy, presenting a comprehensive framework for explaining the politics of industrial policy. Using comparative research to theorize about the politics of industrial policy in countries in the early stages of capitalist transformation that also experience the pressures of elections due to democratization, this book provides four in-depth Afr…
The Economics and Politics of Local Content in African Extractives
Extractive foreign direct investment (FDI) is heralded as the new development opportunity in Africa. A key precondition for FDI's contribution, however, is that foreign investors create ‘local content’ by linking up to the local economy. Consequently, African host governments are contemplating ways in which they can promote local content. This paper examines local content policies and practices in three African countries – Tanzania, Uganda and Mo…
Political Settlements and Productive Sector Policies
Land belongs to the people of Uganda
Politicians running for the 2016 elections in Uganda used land issues in various ways to mobilize votes. We explore the ways in which land was politicized during election campaigns, by examining the personal manifestos and rallies of candidates in the districts of Kaabong and Gulu, and in Kampala. Our main argument is that land was often constitutive of programmatic political debate, and was not only used in instrumental and patrimonial ways to m…
Land governance as grey zone
Weak state capacity has often been in focus when explaining why land reform in sub-Saharan Africa is not implemented. However, an analysis of the deeper politics of land reform brings our attention to a set of incentives which allow rules governing land to be open to interpretation. This article demonstrates that in Uganda, the need to maintain the ruling coalition in a clientelist political settlement to build electoral support, and the desire t…
Electricity in Africa
The construction of the Bujagali dam near the source of the river Nile in Uganda was a very long process. Even if the government was seemingly committed to implementing electricity sector reforms a
When ‘Pockets of effectiveness’ matter politically
Nomination Violence in Uganda’s National Resistance Movement
Institutional explanations of intra-party violence rarely address political economy dynamics shaping the institutions in question, and therefore they fail to understand their emergence and their stability. Specifically, focusing on institutional factors alone does not enable a nuanced understanding of candidate nomination violence and why some constituencies are peaceful while others are violent. This article theorizes nomination violence in domi…
Diverging Like-Mindedness? Development Policy Among the Nordics
The ‘Nordic exceptionalism’ in development aid is well known and characterized by its generosity and focus on poverty reduction and sustainable development. However, the individual Nordic countries’ development policies differ significantly, as the contributions to this special issue have uncovered. For example, Sweden and Norway have continuously upheld the volume of aid at above 1 per cent of GNI, while Denmark in the new millennium has cut the…
The Paradigm Shift of Danish Development Policy (1990–2020)
For decades, Danish Development Policy was characterized by continuity, backed, as it was, by a relatively stable consensus across the political spectrum. However, this changed in the new Millennium where a paradigm shift in Danish development policy took place. This article characterizes and explains the paradigm shift and identifies its main driving forces. Drawing on Peter Hall’s policy paradigm framework, I identify development policy changes…
Elgar Encyclopedia of African Politics
This informative Encyclopedia provides a comprehensive overview of the key political concepts, ideas, institutions, and processes in Africa. Leading scholars define core terms, trace the evolution of debates and discuss the ongoing relevance of these topics in contemporary academic and policy contexts.
Political science (16 works) · Economics (12 works) · Politics (12 works) · Law (11 works) · Political economy (10 works) · International Development and Aid (9 works) · Law (8 works) · Geography (7 works) · Public Administration (6 works) · Sociology (6 works)