Briefing Paper 12. Diverse State-Society Relations: Implications of Implementing the Paris Declaration

What are the implications of implementing the Paris Declaration across diverse country settings? Based on analysis of the implications of the aid effectiveness (AE) agenda, this paper builds on in-depth knowledge of civil society-state relationships, essential to implementing development goals such as the MDGs. It draws on ten of the most recent Development Assistance Committee (DAC) reviews together with other sources. The objective is to examine and locate the diverse kinds of experiences of civil society-state relationships in selected national contexts to assess the possible implications of implementing the Paris Declaration (PD) and the AE agenda across diverse regional settings.

It suggests that greater attention needs to be paid to socio-political context and the relevance of history to gauge how the potential effects of implementing the PD may vary. The analysis suggests that insufficient attention to contextualisation in implementation may risk undermining the achievement of the five principles underlying the AE agenda.