Abstract
Using four African countries (Botswana, Kenya, South Sudan and Zimbabwe), as case studies, this interdisciplinary qualitative study sought to investigate how the political economy of the state-society complex affects public spending on child protection. To achieve this objective, a multi-disciplinary conceptual framework was constructed, premised on the hypothesis that decisions on the size and composition of budget allocations to child protection are influenced by several political economy variables. After exploring a wide range of literature on the subject, and noting the outspread of political economy as a subject, the study focused on three composite variables notably: (i) prevailing socio-cultural and legal constructions of childhood, (ii) fiscal politics throughout the budget cycle, and (iii) how the state is structured and power exercised in order to drive national development agendas...
D.Phil. (Development Studies)