06 November 2018
09:00 Europe/Oslo
Event
The New Politics of Development: Fragility, Taxation and State-building
The TaxCapDev Research Network invites you to this two-day conference on taxation and state building in fragile states.
Language: English
Forskningsparken, Oslo
Seminar
Without revenues, states cannot function. Efficient domestic resource mobilization in the form of improved tax regimes and natural resource management therefore constitutes the key to sustainable state building. While this is evident, the difficult question is how to achieve this. How can states build the necessary institutional apparatus that combines coercion with legitimacy? How can donors support and facilitate such processes?
In the past, transfer of knowledge has mainly been from the Global North to the Global South. However, the question that this conference asks is what can countries in the South learn from each other. Several developing countries have managed to crack the code of taxation and natural resource management. It is therefore timely to ask what works and what does not work, and why? In particular, what conditions need to be in place to develop the fiscal capacity of fragile and conflict prone states to support state building and peace? What lessons can be drawn from the arbitrary, but still sometimes functional, practices of taxation and natural resource management that do take place in such countries? What are the interests and incentives of elites in this regard, and what is the potential to initiate tax reforms?
The conference will be based on presentations from countries that have experienced some success in building more effective regimes for taxation and natural resource management, and from countries who has yet to effectively start this process. The aim of the conference is to establish a platform for exchange of knowledge and experiences of taxation and state building in fragile states.
The conference is hosted by the TaxCapDev Research Network, NUPI, CMI and Tax Justice Network –Norway, and will last for two days from 7 to 9 November 2018. The evening event on 7 November is co-hosted by the Norwegian Council for Africa.
Wednesday 7 November
14.00-15.30 | NUPI Book launch, "Taxing Africa: Coercion, Reform and Development" by Odd-Helge Fjeldstad (CMI/ATI/ICTD) and Mick Moore (IDS/ICTD). |
Chair: Merima Ali (CMI, Syracuse University) | |
Discussant: Arvinn Gadgil (MFA, Norway) | |
Location: NUPI | |
18.00-19.00 | Documentary: "Code Minier – Conflict and mineral resources in DR Congo" by Bodil Furu (Visual artist and filmmaker, Norway) |
Welcome by Morten Bøås (NUPI) and Johan N. Hermstad (Norwegian Council for Africa) | |
Location: Amalie Skram, Litteraturhuset (House of Literature) | |
19.00-20.00 | Panel discussion led by Morten Bøås with Bodil Furu, Aloys Tegera (Pole Institute, DR Congo), Randi Solhjell (Norwegian Police University College), and Gunnell Sandanger (Rainforest Foundation Norway). |
Location: Amalie Skram, Litteraturhuset (House of Literature) |
Thursday 8 November
Location: Forum, Forskningsparken
08.30-09.00 | Coffee and registration |
09.00-09.35 | Welcoming addresses |
Morten Bøås (NUPI) | |
Nikolai Astrup (Minister of Development Cooperation, Norway) | |
Bjørn Tore Kjellemo (RCN) | |
09.35-10.45 | Keynote address: Mick Moore (IDS) |
Chair: Fredrik Aksnes (Norwegian Tax Administration) | |
Q&A | |
10.45-11.00 | Coffee and refreshments |
11.00-12.30 | Session 1: Taxation and state building: Lessons for fragile states |
Chair: Tony Addison (WIDER-UNU, Finland) | |
Odd-Helge Fjeldstad (CMI/ATI/ICTD) | |
Attiya Waris (University of Nairobi) | |
Jonathan Weigel (LSE) | |
Olav Lundstøl (Norad) | |
Q&A | |
12.30-13.30 | Lunch |
13.30-15.00 | Session 2: Challenges for fragile states: getting the basics right |
Chair: Benedict Doh (TJN Africa, Kenya) | |
Morten Bøås (NUPI) | |
Abdoul Wahab Cissé (AGRA, Senegal) | |
Dlawer Ala’Aldeen (Middle East Research Institute, Erbil, KRG) | |
Merima Ali (CMI & Syracuse University) | |
15.00-15.15 | Coffee and refreshments |
15.15-16.45 | Panel debate: Natural resources: from resource curse to development |
Chair: Kendra Dupuy (PRIO/CMI) | |
Elise Must (Hydro, Norway) | |
Tony Addison (WIDER-UNU, Finland) | |
Aloys Tegera (Pole Institute, DR Congo) | |
Alexandra Readhead (International Taxation and Extractive Industries Consultant) | |
19.00 | Conference dinner. Please send an email to jubb@nupi.no to attend the dinner. |
Location: Louise Restaurant & Bar |
Friday 9 November
Location: Forum, Forskningsparken
08.45-09.00 | Coffee |
09.00-11.00 | Session 3: Taxation and revenue mobilisation from below: Perspectives from civil society and the private sector |
Chair: Sigrid Klæboe Jacobsen (TJN, Norway) | |
Elisabeth Eide (OsloMet, Norway) | |
Benedict Doh (TJN, Africa) | |
Sarajuddin Isar (AREU/SOAS) | |
Erlend Bjørtvedt (Telenor Group, Norway) | |
11.00-11.15 | Coffee and refreshments |
11.15-13.00 | Session 4: Non-state tax actors in fragile states |
Chair & Discussant: Kevin Dunn (Hobart and William Smith Colleges) | |
Morten Bøås (NUPI) | |
Dlawer Ala’Aldeen (Middle East Research Institute, Erbil, KRG) | |
Aloys Tegera (Pole Institute, DR Kongo) | |
James Suah Shilue (Platform for Dialogue and Peace, Liberia) | |
Qayoom Suroush (Afghanistan Research and Evalution Unit, Kabul, Afghanistan) | |
13.00-14.00 | Lunch |
14.00-15.30 | Roundtable discussion: What have we learned? Lessons and challenges for policy work |
Chair: Ingrid Hjertaker (TJN – Norway) | |
Riel Franzsen (ATI) | |
Mick Moore (IDS) | |
Reza Lahidji (Menon Economics) | |
Arvinn Gadgil (MFA, Norway) | |
Lyydia Kilpi(EITI) | |
Attiya Waris (University of Nairobi) | |
15.30 | Concluding remarks and the way forward |
Morten Bøås (NUPI) and Odd-Helge Fjeldstad (CMI/ATI/ICTD) |
Participants
Morten Bøås
Research Professor
Odd-Helge Fjeldstad
Research Professor, Christian Michelsen Institute
06 November 2018
09:00 Europe/Oslo
Language: English
Forskningsparken, Oslo
Seminar