prepared for the UNRISD conference on Social Knowledge and International Policy Making: Exploring the Linkages

This draft document is not for citation or circulation without the prior consent of the author(s) The United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) is an autonomous agency engaging in multidisciplinary research on the social dimensions of contemporary prob-lems affecting development. Its work is guided by the conviction that, for effective development policies to be formulated, an understanding of the social and political context is crucial. The In-stitute attempts to provide governments, development agencies, grassroots organizations and scholars with a better understanding of how development policies and processes of economic, social and environmental change affect different social groups. Working through an extensiv