Yusuf Bangura was a Research Coordinator at UNRISD from 1990 to 2012. He was the lead author of UNRISD's 2010 flagship report
Combating Poverty and Inequality: Structural Change, Social Policy and Politics. He coordinated the Institute’s project on Poverty Reduction and Policy Regimes, which examines the interconnections of institutions and policies in the economy, social policy and politics to explain variations in poverty outcomes across countries. He previously coordinated projects on "Crisis, Adjustment and Social Change", "Public Sector Reform and Crisis States", "Ethnic Structure, Inequalities and Governance of the Public Sector", "Technocratic Governance and Democratization", "Racism and Public Policy", and "Democracy and Social Policy".
He organized the conference on "Racism and Public Policy" in Durban in 2001 as part of the Institute’s contribution to the World Conference Against Racism. With papers from 30 scholars and more than 500 participants, the three-day UNRISD conference examined the social construction of race and citizenship, racism and inequalities, organized responses to cultural diversity, and public policies and race relations.
He earned his undergraduate and doctoral degrees from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1974 and 1978. His doctoral thesis, which explored the declining role of the pound sterling and the political economy of African decolonization, was published as
Britain and Commonwealth Africa: The Politics of Economic Relations (Manchester University Press, 1983). He has taught in universities in Nigeria and Canada and worked as a visiting researcher in Sweden.
Yusuf Bangura became UNRISD Senior Research Associate in September 2014.
Selected books:
- Democracy and Social Policy (edited, Palgrave Macmillan, 2007)
- Public Sector Reform in Developing Countries (co-edited, Palgrave Macmillan, 2006)
- Ethnic Inequalities and Public Sector Governance (edited, Palgrave Macmillan, 2006)
- Racism and Public Policy (co-edited, Palgrave Macmillan 2005)
Selected articles:
- “Ethnic Inequalities in the Public Sector: A Comparative Analysis”, Development and Change (Vol. 37, No. 2, 2006)
- “Strategic Policy Failure and Governance in Sierra Leone”, Journal of Modern African Studies (Vol. 38, No. 4. 2000)
- “The Concept of Policy Dialogue and Gendered Development: Understanding its Institutional and Ideological Constraints”, African Journal of Political Science (Vol. 2, No. “, 1997)
- “Economic Restructuring, Coping Strategies and Social Change: Implications for Institutional Development in Africa”, Development and Change (Vol. 25, No. 4, October 1994)
- “Intellectuals, Economic Reform and Social Change: Constraints and Opportunities in the Formation of a Nigerian Technocracy”, Development and Change (Vol. 25, No. 2, 1994)
- Authoritarianism, Democracy and Adjustment: The Politics of Economic Reform in Africa, (co-edited, The Scandinavian Institute of African Studies/UNRISD/Chr. Michelsen Institute. 1992)