This note aims to give some advice to development practitioners, especially those working in-country, on how to use Political Settlements Analysis (PSA) as a diagnostic tool for country programming.

This advice draws on cutting-edge political settlements work to provide a simple set of questions that can help country staff identify the type of settlement they are working in and to draw some broad operational implications.

The briefing also highlights the natural affinity that exists between PSA and Adaptive Development and Thinking and Working Politically. These approaches can both learn from each other, and in the case of Adaptive Development, could help to inform policymakers struggling to operationalise PSA.