About Open PEA

The Open Political Economy Analysis Programme (Open PEA) delivers practical political economy analysis on critical binding constraints in growth and development. This includes action-oriented propositions for unlocking greater effectiveness from policy and investment, regardless of source of funds. Open PEA products are mainstream public goods: high quality, standard format and written in plain language. They are published open access so all stakeholders can use them to inform their work. 

Founded in 2025, Open PEA's interests are diverse. We are initially focusing on the politics of health, education, energy, civil service, public procurement, revenue reform and cash transfers in Africa and South Asia. We draw out elite bargains, development gambles and politically viable ‘win-wins’ for elites and citizens alike. Our propositions often examine the political and electoral salience of desired reform – and we debunk the idea of a 'lack of political will' being the problem. 

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What sets us apart?

Many international development organisations fear the ‘p-word’ – politics. They may claim political neutrality as a way to maintain their relationships with important actors and their permission to operate in other countries, or to avoid accusations of meddling in sovereign affairs. As a result, they often seem to pretend (in public at least) that politics simply does not exist.

National actors – even government ministries – can act surprisingly similarly. They too avoid open discussion of political constraints, as they know this could antagonise dominant interest groups, including at the top of government. 

We respect these concerns, which are themselves political, but suggest that actors go too far when they allow such worries to shut down all consideration of political constraints. Small-p politics – the daily, interest-based negotiations that underpin the process of decision-making – is a reality. Actors must find a way to work with it if they are going to create real change. 

Open PEA’s mission is to help all actors be more comfortable with having politics on the table. We’re here to help people understand the political factors holding back reforms, and give them sensible ideas for how to clear logjams and unlock effectiveness in their work. Our goal is to get small-p political thinking out of the shadows and into the mainstream. 

We further seek to make sure all actors have access to the tools they need in order to think and act in politically astute ways. Plenty of political economy analysis on development issues already exists, but the vast majority was privately commissioned for internal use and never released to the public. This prevents open discussion, cross-learning and the normalisation of political considerations. 

One consequence of this is that many actors still have a limited understanding of why technically-sound policy interventions, typically worth millions of dollars, continue to produce disappointing results. Open PEA publishes all its products open access to help everyone understand why things aren’t working, and what they might do about it. Our purpose isn’t to undermine the private PEA industry, for which there is still plenty of demand. It is to show that PEA as a public good has a place in the field as well. 
 

Institutional and financial support

Open PEA is a joint initiative of the Centre for the Study of African Economies and the Blavatnik School of Government, based at the University of Oxford. We are funded by generous grants from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and Coefficient Giving.