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The Implementation Gap in Youth Entrepreneurship Policy: A Comparative Study of Nigeria and India

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Authors : Rachael Osioyemi Olaiya, Shreeya Gupta, Arya Rani, Nithin Reddy

Citation :

Rachael Osioyemi Olaiya, Shreeya Gupta, Arya Rani& Nithin Reddy. (2026). The Implementation Gap in Youth Entrepreneurship Policy: A Comparative Study of Nigeria and India. Institute For Policy Research and Governance, 1(11). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21361195

Rachael Osioyemi Olaiya, Shreeya Gupta, Arya Rani& Nithin Reddy. (2026). The Implementation Gap in Youth Entrepreneurship Policy: A Comparative Study of Nigeria and India. Institute For Policy Research and Governance, 1(11). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21361195

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Abstract :

India and Nigeria are two of the world’s largest developing economies, both marked by young, fast-growing populations and fundamental youth unemployment, prompting governments to create entrepreneurship programmes. Despite these programmes, most businesses remain informal. Roughly 80% of Nigerian SMEs fail within five years, and nearly 90% of India’s youth workforce is informally employed. Output-focused evaluations fail to capture the implementation gap between formal policy and its on-the-ground effectiveness. This paper evaluates why youth entrepreneurship policies in India and Nigeria consistently fail to produce sustainable outcomes, and what both countries can learn from economies that have successfully closed this gap. Adopting a qualitative-comparative case study approach, the paper examines India and Nigeria as primary cases benchmarked against South Korea and Rwanda. Drawing on national MSME surveys, ILOSTAT, World Bank Enterprise Survey, GEM India, and government program evaluations, the paper applies Stam’s Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Framework as the analytical lens across all four countries. The analysis reveals that India and Nigeria’s ecosystems remain weak across formal institutions, finance, infrastructure, and intermediate organisations, reflecting a governance approach that controls outcomes rather than building conditions required by businesses to grow and formalise. South Korea’s unified SME Ministry, collateral-free policy funds, alongside Rwanda’s regulatory reforms, demonstrate that closing this gap requires deliberate ecosystem governance rather than direct financial interjection. The paper concludes that high failure rates reflect design flaws in ecosystems built for the formalized urban minority, not low entrepreneurial ambition, and calls for development policy to measure success by accessible infrastructure rather than loan disbursement volume.

Keywords: Youth Entrepreneurship, Implementation Gap, Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, Informality, Ecosystem Governance, India, Nigeria

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China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Debt Diplomacy or Development Financing? A Comparative Case Study of Sri Lanka and Pakistan

Authors : Aaditya Dewansh, Huny Thakkar, Edward Mbeleki, Mansha Arya, Zinte Kula

Abstract :

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), launched by China in 2013, has generated sustained debate over whether it functions as a deliberate instrument of debt diplomacy aimed at strategic asset acquisition, or as a development financing mechanism responding to genuine infrastructure deficits in recipient countries. This paper addresses that question through a comparative case study of Sri Lanka and Pakistan: two BRI-engaged South Asian states that share the same creditor yet exhibit structurally distinct outcomes. Drawing on a three-tier qualitative methodology combining comparative case analysis, historical examination of high-value BRI projects, and content analysis of “debt-trap diplomacy” discourse, we argue that strategic dependency in both cases emerges not from engineered default, but through two distinct pathways: fiscal vulnerability in Sri Lanka and infrastructural entrenchment in Pakistan. In Sri Lanka, domestic governance failures and aggressive external commercial borrowing produced the conditions for the 2017 Hambantota Port concession, driven by a new government’s fiscal desperation rather than predatory Chinese design. In
Pakistan, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) generated long-term institutional lock-in through the sheer scale of energy infrastructure investment and an asymmetric bureaucratic coordination model. Across both cases, local political elites exercised agency in seeking Chinese capital to bypass Western conditionalities, and dependency emerged as a by-product of borrower governance failures and project scale rather than Chinese strategic calculation. These findings challenge the binary of debt diplomacy versus development financing, offering instead a mechanism-based account of how BRI engagement produces different forms of strategic influence in different political-economic contexts.

Keywords:
Belt and Road Initiative, debt diplomacy, strategic dependency, fiscal
vulnerability, infrastructure entrenchment

BRICS Plus and Contested Multilateralism: Policy Coordination, Internal Tensions, and the Role of Emerging Middle Powers in Global Governance Reform

Authors: Kamatchi Devi S; Revanth Udutha; Vanshita Baid

Abstract

Academic research has increased its focus on BRICS Plus expansion which occurred during the early 2020s because researchers want to determine whether this alliance serves as a counterforce against the Western-dominated liberal international order or operates mainly as a national interest-driven platform. The research investigates how BRICS Plus members coordinate their policies while assessing their global governance reform efforts and studying how the group handles internal conflicts which arise from the ongoing competition between India and China. The study uses qualitative research methods to analyze secondary data from BRICS summit declarations and institutional documents and existing academic literature. BRICS Plus shows increasing rhetorical unity and institutional governance reform collaboration but actual governance reform partnerships remain limited because of power imbalances and different national objectives and clashing leadership goals. Indian, Brazilian, and South African emerging middle powers use BRICS to improve their strategic independence and international recognition instead of establishing a unified movement against existing power structures. The research demonstrates that BRICS Plus functions as a contested multilateral system which permits international governance changes to proceed through minor
adjustments that avoid major transformations of the current global system.

Key words :
BRICS Plus Expansion, Contested Multilateralism, Global
Governance Reform, Emerging Middle Powers, Policy Coordination and Power
Asymmetries

Impact of the Smart Cities Mission on Household Cost of Living, Access to Urban Services, and Economic Well-Being: A Field Study of Selected Indian Cities

Authors : Anjana Tripathi ; Divya Natarajan ; Gautam Kumar Mishra ; Soumili Rakshit

Abstract

India’s Smart Cities Mission (SCM), launched in 2015, aims to improve urban livability through targeted investments in infrastructure, service delivery, and digital governance. However, empirical evidence on the household-level economic implications of these interventions remains limited. This study examines the impact of the Smart Cities Mission on household cost of living, access to urban services, and economic well-being in selected Indian cities using a comprehensive secondary data approach.

The analysis integrates unit-level data from the National Sample Survey (NSS) Consumer Expenditure and Housing Conditions rounds to assess changes in household consumption patterns, housing affordability, and expenditure on utilities and transportation. Employment outcomes and income-related proxies are examined using the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), while demographic characteristics, housing quality, and access to basic amenities are drawn from the Census of India. City-level information on project type, investment size, and sectoral focus is sourced from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) Smart Cities Mission dashboards and official reports. A comparative framework is employed to analyze trends across Smart Cities and non-Smart Cities, as well as pre- and post-SCM implementation periods.

By triangulating multiple nationally representative datasets with administrative project data, the study evaluates whether Smart City investments have translated into measurable improvements in household welfare or have contributed to rising costs and uneven access to services. The findings aim to provide evidence-based insights for strengthening the inclusiveness, affordability, and effectiveness of urban development policies under the Smart Cities Mission.

Keywords :
Smart Cities Mission; Secondary Data Analysis; National Sample Survey; Periodic Labour Force Survey; Census of India; Urban Services Access; Household Cost of Living; Economic Well- Being; Urban Policy; Indian Cities

Crowdsourced Intelligence vs. AI Propaganda: The Challenges of Global Governance in the Age of Digital Warfare

Authors : Pragati Khanna , Harsh Dixit , Jannet Emma Tonateni Fransisco , Varsha Dhio Dora , Trisha Dev

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence has fundamentally changed the modern digital operation, whereby creating a constant struggle between what is perceived to be true and the human reality. This study uses a qualitative, exploratory-descriptive study using secondary data from academic journals, policy documents and institutional reports to examine the interaction between crowdsourced Open-Sourced Intelligence (OSINT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven propaganda in modern warfare, alongside the global governance challenges that arise from their interaction. Findings reveal that there is a serious tension within the digital information ecosystem: whilst generative Artificial Intelligence promotes public opinions to spread disinformation and misinformation that is persuasive and may manipulate political processes, crowdsourced intelligence offers real-time verification and transparency. There are Regulatory Frameworks such as the European Union’s AI Act and Digital Services Act that serve as blueprints to counter AI-driven manipulation from technical solutions to the adoption of human-centered governance models. Ultimately, the study demonstrates that it is important to maintain digital information integrity by balancing computational tools with collaborative human verification to foster resilience against any revolving threats in digital security and global governance.

Keywords :
Artificial Intelligence, Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT), Crowdsourced Verification, AI-Driven Propaganda, Digital Warfare, Global Governance, Disinformation, Epistemic Sovereignty.

De-platforming and Free Speech: Regulating Private Content Moderation Under Constitutional Law

Authors : Katelyn Elisabeth Waller

Abstract

As digital communication platforms have supplanted traditional public forums, private technology corporations exercise unprecedented governance over global speech. This paper examines the point at which constitutional principles should logically constrain private platforms, asking how constitutional democracies can regulate private content moderation without undermining either free speech or private autonomy. Drawing on comparative regulatory analysis, constitutional doctrine, and institutional case studies, this paper synthesizes perspectives from the United States, the European Union, India, and Ghana to examine three interlocking dimensions of the problem. This includes the design of regulatory frameworks that balance state intervention against platform independence, the doctrinal question of whether constitutional free-speech norms can or should apply horizontally to private, non-state actors, and the practical mechanisms (notice, appeal, and reasoned decision-making) through which transparency and accountability can be operationalised inside private platform governance. This paper argues that no single jurisdiction has produced a regime that is both speech-protective and respectful of platform autonomy, and that meaningful accountability requires state intervention to constrain process rather than dictate outcome. This is supported by institutional separation between content-flagging bodies and the government whose conduct is in question.

Keywords:
Content moderation, private platforms, free-speech, accountability, unprecedented governance

Gender Neutrality In Law , State & Society

Abstract

An interdisciplinary approach is attempted in this paper to analyse the interplay between gender neutrality and
access to justice. While gender neutrality is often said to be a very progressive idea in law, a host of new problems
are generated when it is applied in a postcolonial society like India. The paper draws from the disciplines such
as law, political science, international relations, history, and statistics to criticize the assumption that neutrality
would bring forth justice all by itself.
Legal analyses show that gender-neutral laws may in fact sometimes uphold patriarchal structures when no steps
are taken to address the underlying inequalities. The political approach ponders over the questions of how
governance, policy language, and representation impact the availability of justice for gender-diverse individuals.
From a data standpoint, it illustrates how binary data catapult non-binary identities into the margins. From a
historical and international perspective, the modern laws are seated within colonial legacies and critique the
global human rights discourse for its limited inclusiveness.
We argue that gender neutrality, though important, remains alone insufficient. A meaningful framework of access
to justice must be context-sensitive, historically aware, and structurally inclusive of all gender identities.

Keywords: Gender Neutrality, Access to Justice, Constitutional Law, Gender-Based Violence, Public Policy,
Legal Reform, Colonial Legacy, International Norms, Gender Data, Inclusive Governance