times the solution for reaching a well-functioning social accountability relation between citizens and bureaucrats. Popular protests against corrupt politicians or governments come to life because of individuals and organizations that invest significant resources and efforts in shaping social movements. In some circumstances, the poor obtain favorable outcomes when they vote for political parties committed to bringing development to their constituencies. Referred to as collective action, this act of coming together can introduce a host of challenges. If the expected costs of political action are high or if they fall exclusively on a small group of entrepreneurs—whereas the benefits of policy change are equally distributed among actors—reform might never be initiated. Mobilizing relevant stakeholders, building coalitions, and making claims for policy change require time and dedication and can entail considerable political, financial, and fiduciary risks. The case study in appendix C will take the reader through all the trials and tribulations along the path of a real reform in the Philippines. This chapter first introduces the major social dilemmas that citizens and groups face whenever they have to act together for a better development outcome. Going up a level of abstraction, we explore the concept of public goods. In a very broad sense, public goods are the final development goals for which actors and stakeholders have to come together in the first place and from which all of them benefit. The chapter then explores how different groups in society might be more or less able to overcome pro-development collective action problems and discusses the possible implications for policy making (see figure 3.1). FIGURE 3.1  Conceptual Map of Collective Action Problems
Collective action problems
Motivation problems
Informational problems
How do motivational problems inhibit collective action?
How do informational problems hamper collective action?
Source: Authors.
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Understanding Policy Change