In Pursuit of Development

Dan Banik speaks with Benjamin H. Bradlow, Assistant Professor of Sociology and International Affairs at Princeton University, about how cities can grow without leaving millions behind. At a moment when more than a billion people live in informal settlements or slum-like conditions, the conversation explores why access to housing, sanitation, transport, and other basic urban services remains so unequal across the world’s rapidly expanding cities. The discussion centers on Bradlow’s award-winning book, Urban Power: Democracy and Inequality in São Paulo and Johannesburg, which asks why some democratic cities are more effective than others at reducing urban inequality. Drawing on a comparison of São Paulo and Johannesburg, Bradlow explains how local state capacity, bureaucratic coordination, and the relationship between governments and civil society shape whether excluded communities gain access to the material foundations of urban life. Dan and Ben discuss informal settlements, affordability, infrastructure, and the role of housing movements in shaping urban governance. The episode offers a rich and accessible conversation on urban development, inequality, and the politics of inclusion, with lessons that extend far beyond the Global South. Host:Dan BanikLinkedIn Subscribe:Apple Spotify YouTubehttps://globaldevpod.substack.com/

Dan Banik speaks with Homi Kharas about one of the most important yet surprisingly underexplored forces in modern development: the rise of the global middle class. Drawing on Kharas’s book The Rise of the Global Middle Class: How the Search for the Good Life Can Change the World, the conversation traces how the middle class emerged as a powerful social and economic force, why its center of gravity is shifting toward Asia, and what that means for the future of development. Along the way, they reflect on how the middle class shapes demand, drives growth, influences politics, and changes what citizens expect from markets and the state. Homi Kharas is a senior fellow at Brookings and previously spent 26 years at the World Bank, including seven years as Chief Economist for East Asia and the Pacific and as Director for Poverty Reduction and Economic Management, where he led the Bank’s work on economic policy, debt, trade, governance, and financial markets. The episode also examines the tensions at the heart of this transformation. As more people move into middle-class life, new questions emerge about inequality, insecurity, democracy, consumerism, and whether middle-class expansion can be sustained in a world under growing environmental pressure. From the anxieties facing Western middle-class societies to the optimism and aspiration associated with middle-class growth in Asia, this is a wide-ranging conversation about prosperity, possibility, and the changing social foundations of the global economy.   Host:Dan BanikLinkedIn Subscribe:Apple Spotify YouTubehttps://globaldevpod.substack.com/

Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming how societies function — from healthcare and education to governance, public debate, and the future of work. But as AI systems become more powerful and more deeply embedded in everyday life, they also raise important questions about misinformation, democratic accountability, and the role of human judgment. In this episode, Dan Banik speaks with Francesco Marcelloni, Professor of Data Mining and Machine Learning at the University of Pisa and Academic Director of the Knowledge Hub on AI at the Circle U. European University Alliance. They explore how AI actually works, why the debate around the technology has become so polarized, and what it means for decision-making in governments, hospitals, universities, and businesses. The conversation examines both the risks and the opportunities of artificial intelligence, including its potential to improve medical diagnosis, support education, and help policymakers analyze vast amounts of data. Dan and Francesco also highlight why preserving human oversight, critical thinking, and democratic accountability will be crucial in the AI era. Host:Dan BanikLinkedIn Subscribe:Apple Spotify YouTubehttps://globaldevpod.substack.com/

India-China relations are entering a new phase of cautious re-engagement after five years of deep tension following the 2020 Galwan clash. Leaders have resumed meetings, direct flights have restarted, and diplomatic channels are active again. However, beneath these gestures lie enduring structural fault lines: a widening power asymmetry, unresolved border disputes, shifting public opinion in India, and Beijing’s tendency to view New Delhi through the prism of US–China rivalry. Dan Banik speaks with Manoj Kewalramani, Chairperson of the Indo-Pacific Studies Programme and a China Studies Fellow at the Takshashila Institution and author of Smokeless War: China’s Quest for Geopolitical Dominance. Together, they examine whether the current thaw represents meaningful stabilization or merely a fragile “cold peace.” The conversation explores how economic interdependence coexists with strategic mistrust, why India is pursuing de-risking rather than decoupling from China, and how domestic politics and public narratives shape policy choices in both countries. From a development perspective, the episode also asks whether policy lessons can travel across fundamentally different political systems. Can India draw operational insights from China’s infrastructure and governance successes without compromising democratic institutions? And is Beijing willing to accommodate India’s aspirations as an independent global power? Resources: Between Rivalry and Rapprochement: The Trials and Trajectory of India-China Relations (Kewalramani, 2026) Manoj Kewalramani's books and articles on China Host:Dan BanikLinkedIn Subscribe:Apple Spotify YouTubehttps://globaldevpod.substack.com/

In an era of intensifying great-power rivalry, shrinking foreign aid budgets, and declining faith in multilateralism, what role is left for global justice? In this wide-ranging conversation, the Yale philosopher Thomas Pogge joins Dan Banik in Oslo to examine whether morality still has a place in international politics or whether power has fully displaced principle. The episode explores the growing shift from soft power to hard power, the erosion of solidarity in global development, and the strategic competition between the United States, China, and Europe. Pogge reflects on why philosophers have become increasingly marginal in public life and argues that today’s global crises (from climate change to persistent poverty) cannot be solved by technocratic fixes alone. They require moral clarity, institutional imagination, and renewed commitment to shared values. The discussion also turns to the rise of the Global South and the need for stronger collective bargaining institutions, particularly within the African continent. Pogge outlines the Ecological Impact Fund — a bold new mechanism designed to reward green innovation based on real ecological impact in the Global South — and explains how rethinking intellectual property rules could accelerate climate and pollution solutions where they are needed most. Host:Dan BanikLinkedIn Subscribe:Apple Spotify YouTubehttps://globaldevpod.substack.com/

David McNair, Executive Director of ONE.org and veteran development campaigner, reflects on activism amid overlapping crises. He discusses rising African agency and local solutions. He traces long-term idea-shaping strategies, reforming global financial rules, debt distress drivers, and ways to mobilize political support for fairer finance.

David Engerman, historian and author of Apostles of Development, traces six South Asian economists from Cambridge to global institutions. He explores contested meanings of development. The conversation covers debates on markets versus states, trade versus protection, poverty versus inequality, the rise of the Global South category, and the intellectual friendships and rivalries that shaped modern development ideas.

Lindsey Moore, CEO of DevelopMetrics and former USAID economist, builds domain-trained AI to make development evaluations searchable. She discusses how AI can turn decades of reports into usable evidence. Short takes cover ethical, context-aware models, careful human labeling, and building shared evidence infrastructure for better decision workflows.

Arve Hansen, research professor at the University of Oslo who studies consumption and social change in Vietnam, joins to unpack Vietnam’s rapid shift from low- to middle-income. He discusses the everyday paradoxes of market reforms under socialism. Topics include mobility and the motorbike culture, rising car ownership, pollution and electrification, land and energy conflicts, and changing diets and middle-class aspirations.

Todd Moss, founder of the Energy for Growth Hub and former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, dives into Africa's energy challenges. He emphasizes that mere access to electricity often masks issues of reliability and affordability. While discussing the tension between household electrification and industrial power needs, Todd advocates for a hybrid approach that supports both. He also touches on innovative solutions like small modular reactors and the role of mining in energy infrastructure, highlighting the complexities of energy policy across the continent.