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Making bureaucracy work for the least advantaged: In conversation with Akshay Mangla

24 October 2023, 5:30 pm–7:00 pm

Dr Akshay Mangla in conversation with Prof. Rainer Kattel and Dr Kate Roll

Join UCL IIPP in conversation with Dr Akshay Mangla, Associate Professor of International, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford on 'Making bureaucracy work for the least advantaged' with Professor Rainer Kattel and Dr Kate Roll.

This event is free.

Event Information

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All

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Yes

Cost

Free

Organiser

IIPP Comms

Watch the video here

Join this fascinating discssion on Tuesday 24th October 2023 at 17:30-19:00 (BST) UK Time online on Zoom or in person at UCL IIPP 11 Montague Street WC1B 5BP.

About Making bureaucracy work for the least advantaged

Dr. Akshay Mangla (Saïd, Oxford) will be presenting on his book, Making Bureaucracy Work: Norms, Education, and Public Service Delivery in Rural India, the winner of the 2023 Best Book Award from the International Public Policy Association and the 2023 Best Book Award from the Academy of Management Public and Nonprofit Division. Making Bureaucracy Work investigates when and how public agencies effectively implement primary education in rural India. This book advances a novel theoretical argument anchored on differences in bureaucratic norms, the informal rules of the game that guide how public officials understand their policy mandates and relate with marginalized citizens. Through carefully designed comparative field research, the study reveals the complex ways bureaucratic norms interact with socioeconomic inequalities on the ground, illuminating the possibilities and obstacles for bureaucracy to promote inclusive development. 

Meet the panel:
  • Speaker: Akshay Mangla, Associate Professor of International Business, University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School and Research Fellow, Green Templeton College
  • Discussant: Kate Roll, Associate Professor and Head of Teaching, UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose
  • Chair: Rainer Kattel, Professor of Innovation and Public Governance and Deputy Director, UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose

This seminar is convened by Carolina Alves, Associate Professor in Economics, UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose.

Limited spaces available for in person attendance at IIPP HQ (11 Montague Street, WC1B 5BP). 

Read more about IIPP Conversations 2023-24

About the Speakers

Akshay Mangla

Associate Professor of International Business at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford

Akshay Mangla
Akshay Mangla is an Associate Professor of International Business at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. He specialises in comparative politics and the political economy of development, with regional expertise in South Asia. His research seeks to understand when, why and how public agencies and private actors work collectively to address complex societal problem and promote inclusive development, particularly in settings of inequality. He investigates these questions through qualitative and mixed methods field research. Akshay’s current research examines institutional reforms to build state capacity in India, spanning a range of governmental functions and services, including education, child welfare, policing and women’s security. He is a Principal Investigator for the UK FCDO-funded What Works Hub for Global Education (based at the University of Oxford) and an Associate Editor of the journal Indian Politics and Policy. Prior to joining Oxford, Akshay was an Assistant Professor at Harvard Business School. He holds a PhD in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Learn more about Akshay’s research on his website. More about Akshay Mangla

Kate Roll

Associate Professor at UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose

Kate_Roll_Staff
Dr Kate Roll is a political scientist interested in vulnerability, with a particular focus on how people gain greater social and economic security. Her wide-ranging research asks questions such as: Who gets what after war and why? And who carries risk when corporations sell through the poor? Her multi-disciplinary work brings together politics, innovation, and development studies. Committed to grounded research, she has conducted studies in Timor-Leste, Indonesia, the Philippines, Nepal, and Kenya.

Dr Roll holds an MPhil in International Development Studies (2011; distinction) and a DPhil in Politics (2015) from the University of Oxford. Dr Roll’s doctoral fieldwork involved logging over 1,000 km on a motorbike, crisscrossing Timor-Leste to survey and interview over 220 former combatants – now one of the largest studies of its kind. Her BA from Brown University is in International Relations (2006; honours, Phi Beta Kappa), where her award-winning thesis focussed on how private military companies establish legitimacy.

More about Kate Roll

Rainer Kattel

Professor of Innovation and Public Governance and Deputy Director at UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose

Rainer Kattel
Rainer Kattel is Deputy Director and Professor of Innovation and Public Governance at the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP). He has studied at the University of Tartu, Estonia, and the University of Marburg, Germany, in philosophy, political philosophy, classics and public administration.
He led Ragnar Nurkse School of Innovation and Governance for 10 years, building it into one of the leading innovation and governance schools in the region. 

Professor Kattel has also served on various public policy commissions, including the Estonian Research Council and European Science Foundation. He has worked as an expert for the OECD, UNDP and the European Commission, and served as a member of E-Estonia Council advising the Prime Minister of Estonia. Currently, he leads the Estonian Government’s Gender Equality Council.

He has published extensively on innovation policy, its governance and specific management issues. In 2013, he received Estonia's National Science Award for his work on innovation policy. Rainer received his BA in political philosophy in 1996, MA in Classics in 1998, and PhD in Public Administration in 2001 (all University of Tartu, Estonia).

More about Rainer Kattel