Leadership and Power in International Development

We live in an era of drastic changes in relationships between countries and of unprecedented responses to both old and emerging global challenges. Working alongside leaders in developing countries, leaders in international foreign aid and development organizations, non-governmental organizations, and private foundations and companies have driven dramatic changes in our approach to these challenges and to international development more generally. Yet little has been written from the perspective of the leaders telling their stories about leading and navigating the tangle of forces acting upon the course of international development. And even less is known about how leading in international development contexts should be modelled in a way that fosters the development of the next generation of leaders.

Leadership and Power in International Development: Navigating the Intersections of Gender, Culture, Context, and Sustainability brings scholarship up-todate with practice, collecting the stories and reflections of twenty leaders from Africa, Asia, Europe, Canada, and the United States, many of whom have extensive experience leading within major international organizations. In clear, straightforward narratives, the contributors gathered here highlight their diverse experiences with context, culture, power, gender and sustainability, and they offer strategies and lessons learned derived from their own challenges and successes. Building on these narratives, the book offers a new model or framework for leading in international development contexts.

Through an innovative practice to theory process, the first chapter of the book, written by co-editor Julia Storberg-Walker, provides an original analysis of the chapter narratives, and presents a framework for successfully leading international development projects in the 21st century. The framework can be used for designing leadership development programs as well as for future research in leading in international development contexts. Leadership and Power in International Development is essential reading for development leaders, practitioners, and scholars as they continue to confront the complexity of contemporary power-politics.

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