The cases of DFID and the World Bank do not hold the
secret for the successful integration of political analysis into
development practice. If anything, they represent the most
advanced examples of institutionalization thus far – they could
very easily be considered the envy of PEA proponents working
in other agencies. What our analysis of these two “pathway
cases” reveals, however, is that the translation of new policy
ideas into actual aid practice is a challenge of organizational
change. And the emerging epistemic community of political
analysis would do well to adapt its discourse and framing
strategies to at least minimize the continuing clash with incompatible
administrative structures. This is likely to entail at least
two things: first, distilling the essence of political analysis into
accessible toolkits that can be easily grafted onto extant operational
guidelines and requirements; second, releasing PEA
from the protective cocoon of the governance profession, in
such a way that it ceases to be “what governance people do”
and becomes instead a constitutive part of aid effectiveness.
Only by overcoming such administrative barriers will the “almost
revolution” be finally realized.