Dr. James Putzel is Reader in Development Studies and, since October 2000, Director of the Development Research Centre in the Development Studies Institute at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

He heads the Centre’s research programme on Crisis and Breakdown in the Developing World – the Crisis States Programme. From 1996 to 1999, Dr. Putzel was a member of the British Academy’s Southeast Asia Committee and he was a Managing Editor of the Journal of Development Studies from September 1999 until January 2001. Recently he joined the Advisory Board of the Institute for Latin American Studies of the University of London. Dr. Putzel was Director of the Development Studies Institute from January 1999 until August 2001. Before that, he directed the Institute’s PhD programme.

Dr. Putzel is most well-known for his book, A Captive Land: the Politics of Agrarian Reform in the Philippines (1992). In 1999, he won the Dudley Seers annual prize for his article, ‘The Business of Aid: Transparency and Accountability in European Union Development Assistance" (Journal of Development Studies, vol.34). His article, “Accounting for the Dark Side of Social Capital” (Journal of International Development, vol. 9) has had a significant impact on recent development debates, as has his co-authored paper with Mick Moore, ‘Thinking Strategically About Politics and Poverty’ (IDS, 2000). Aside from agrarian reform, his recent research and publications range from work on the politics of financial crisis, to work on nationalism, comparative politics of development in Southeast and East Asia, democratic transition, developmental states, and the role of foreign aid and NGOs in development, with a particular focus on problems of institutional change. His current research is focusing on politics and governance in crisis states.

Dr. Putzel received his BA in East Asian Studies and MA in Political Science from McGill University. He received his D.Phil in Politics from the University of Oxford. In the late 1980s he was a Visiting Senior Lecturer in Political Science at the University of the Philippines and a Visiting Research Associate at the School of Economics. He has extensive experience in consultancy work for development oriented non-governmental, government and multilateral development organisations.