The ADAPTED supervisors Prof. Andrew Fischer, Prof. Wil Hout and Prof. Markus Kaltenborn have edited a thematic issue of the fully open access journal "Politics and Governance." The articles provide insights on the legal, political, and economic mechanisms and processes in countries of the Global South that contribute or hinder the implementation of pro‐poor policies, as well as how “pro‐poor” policies are understood and enacted in practice. In doing so, the articles address the following sub-themes: (a) different types of legal mechanisms, (b) the power, interests, and ideologies of rivalling political actors, (c) the constraints and potential solutions of institutional configurations, and (d) the evolution and diffusion of the pro‐poor agenda.

The thematic issue presents research output from the two ADAPTED work packages "Validating Pathways" and "Optimising the Impact of poverty reduction policies."

Apart from an article co-authored by IEE Directory Board Member Markus Kaltenborn, the ADAPTED fellows and PhD IDS students Irene Among-Lutz and Petronilla Wandeto also contributed original research articles. Also the ADAPTED fellows Ahmed El Assal, Guido Maschhaupt and Kate O'Donnell contributed articles to the thematic issue.

Fischer, Andrew M., Hout, Wil, and Kaltenborn, Markus (2026) (eds.). 'The Politics of Pro-Poor Policies in the Global South.' Politics and Governance, 14: https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.i465.