CGM Insights
CGM Insights features Policy, Issue, and Research Briefs that share new thinking on governance and human well-being. Produced by scholars around the world, these publications reflect CGM’s role as an impartial research hub for ideas, making complex research accessible.
From Crisis to Craft: Why Development Aid Needs a New Evidence-Use Paradigm
Center for Governance and Markets, March 29, 2026
The collapse of foreign assistance from the United States in 2025—and parallel retrenchments by other donors— has triggered a reckoning in the development field. As policymakers, practitioners, and scholars grapple with what comes next, many debates have returned to familiar ground: Should we double down on evidence-based interventions that “work” or shift power and resources to local actors through adaptive, context-driven approaches? This brief argues that this binary is no longer sufficient. Drawing on research from Kenya, Myanmar, and beyond, we propose a new foundation for the role of evidence in development practice—one that treats policies and programs not as theories to be tested, but as solutions to be designed collaboratively. Development actors, like engineers, must navigate complex, uncertain environments using heuristics, iteration, and embedded expertise. By embracing this mindset, development actors can move beyond the search for universal solutions and toward a craft of development that is humble, reflexive, and fit‑for‑purpose in the current moment.
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Bypassing Gender Apartheid: Public-Private Partnership for Afghan Women's Digital Access
Center for Governance and Markets, March 19, 2026
Afghan women and girls continue to live under gender apartheid, facing systemic exclusion from education, economic opportunities, and public life under the Taliban. Reported large-scale internet disruptions and strict digital restrictions have further isolated Afghan women and girls by cutting off an essential lifeline for learning, social connection, economic activity, and mental well-being. The reported risk of a complete nationwide internet shutdown adds urgency to the need for immediate action. Satellite internet offers a practical and secure alternative to bypass these restrictions and provide access to education, markets, and digital communities for Afghan women and girls. Immediate and long-term strategies include public-private partnerships, access through low-bandwidth and humanitarian connectivity solutions, digital literacy programs, oversight mechanisms, legal advocacy, and sustained international pressure. These strategies can help restore connectivity, empower Afghan women and girls, and ensure that their rights are protected despite ongoing authoritarian restrictions.
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How Administrative Policymaking Fails Alaska Native Subsistence Fishers — and What to Do About It
Center for Governance and Markets, January 20, 2026
In Western Alaska, restrictions on subsistence fishing threaten the traditional way of life of Yup’ik Alaska Native communities. To make more fish available for subsistence, community members call for the federal government to curtail commercial fishing in the Bering Sea. Yet there are no direct avenues to ensure public influence in the policymaking process of the relevant federal agencies, and community demands have thus far been largely ignored. This policy brief explains why administrative policymaking fails to incorporate relevant knowledge into policymaking and why community decision-making is a better alternative.
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Pockets of Optimism: Block Clubs and Community Empowerment
Center for Governance and Markets, November 30, 2025
This policy brief discusses the fundamentals and governance of block clubs and then delves into the Center for Poverty Solutions’ 10-year collaborative plan to reduce poverty in Chicago. It describes how community engagement has benefited the center’s Civics and Service Incubator program and has led to the development of a blueprint for a neighborhood employment co-op.
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The Economic Toll of Gender Apartheid Under Taliban Rule
Center for Governance and Markets, November 1, 2025
Since returning to power in 2021, the Taliban has imposed one of the most repressive regimes for women in the modern era. This policy brief examines the far-reaching economic consequences of what has been described as gender apartheid. By excluding women and girls from education, employment, and public life, the Taliban has not only inflicted profound social harm but also dramatically reduced the country's economic potential. Drawing on available data, this analysis quantifies the cost of women's exclusion and shows how reversing these restrictions is essential not just for human rights, but for Afghanistan's long-term economic recovery.
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Crossing Borders: The Unconventional Journey of Uzbek Migrants to the United States
Center for Governance and Markets, October 30, 2025
In this policy brief, I draw on first-hand encounters and personal experience to shed light on the complex realities facing Uzbek migrants in the United States. Uzbeks have migrated to the United States since after World War II, but the flow has gained momentum in recent years, particularly as instability caused by the crisis in Ukraine threatens Uzbek migrants in Russia. Applicants from Uzbekistan face rejection rates for legal migration to the United States that are higher than for other Central Asian countries, thus migrants from Uzbekistan have increasingly used irregular means to enter the United States. These encounters are a point of departure to consider who the Uzbek irregular migrants in the United States are, their challenges, and how policy might improve opportunities to for migrants to this country.
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Village Dissolution in New York State: Lessons in Self-Governance
Center for Governance and Markets, October 30, 2025
The recent conference on Self-Governance and Pluralism in Divided Times invited scholars to address the power of attachment to local government in the current climate of heightened polarization. As a principle of organizing political power, subsidiarity favors devolving political control to the lowest (or smallest) governmental entity capable of doing the work. This policy brief explores the lessons for subsidiarity from New York State’s debate over the dissolution of village government. The contestation of which unit of government best serves citizens is rarely partisan; it is, however, often bitterly divisive. This truth thus reaffirms and challenges scholarly conjunctures about political behavior related to matters distinctive to local concerns.
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Are Environmental Compliance Rules Reducing Investment Rates in Energy and Defense?
Center for Governance and Markets, October 30, 2025
This policy brief examines whether environmental, social, and governance (ESG) compliance rules have reduced investment in the energy and defense sectors and, if so, identifies the channels through which this effect has occurred. The analysis contrasts regulatory trajectories in the European Union (EU) and the United States from 2019 to 2025, highlighting significant divergences that have created asymmetric impacts on capital flows.
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