SUJAI SHIVAKUMAR is an official of the U.S. National Academies' Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy (STEP). He is co-author with Elinor Ostrom of Aid, Incentives, and Sustainability - An Institutional Analysis of Development Cooperation, a major report for Sida, Sweden's aid agency.

Examining the foundations of development, Shivakumar describes how societies can reconstitute themselves to improve their developmental well-being. He argues that the unitary state focus in theory and practice limits the creative potential of individuals to improve their mutual well-being through crafting capabilities for self-governance. This is a significant contribution to current discussions on institutional foundations of development, providing practical guidance on what it means to constitute a government that facilitates rather than impedes progress.