International Public Management Review
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Rethinking Capacity Development
Get PDFThis article presents a summarized theoretical framework for capacity development, and the implications of applying this framework to development programs and projects. It is hoped the discussions in this article will promote debate among developing countries and development partners on revisions to current approaches to capacity development, and a move to designs that offer greater hope of sustained impact. The author suggests there are three key and essential phases in the CD process, each of which needs to be subjected to careful technical analysis: Performance Analysis – identifying what are the specific performance gaps which the organization wishes to address; Capacity Diagnostic Analysis – identifying the factors which are contributing to the performance gaps of the organization; Strategy development – based on the diagnostic analysis, developing strategies to address the factors which are constraining capacity
The Structural Public Governance Model
Get PDFTo grow, nation states need a capable and efficient state organization. Independently of choosing a market or state led growth strategy, an effective or capable state is essential to guarantee the rule of law and to act as main instrument of a national growth strategy. On the other hand, in the global economy, the provision of the social and scientific services required by modern societies at low cost is key in assuring the country’s international competitiveness. What type of public administration reform achieves these goals? Is public management reform instrumental to it, or should developing countries first complete classical civil service reform, and only after that engage in a more ambitious reform? This article opts for the first alternative, arguing that the best way to advance civil service reform is to move ahead. Second, it presents the ‘structural public governance model’ of public management reform that was originally conceived in the 1990s in and for Brazil based on the British experience. It is a managerial model because it makes public managers more autonomous and more accountable, and because it reduced the gap between the public and the private labor market; it is structural, because it involves major changes in the structure of the state, particularly the set up of autonomous executive and regulatory agencies and the contracting out of social and scientific services. The model of public management reform presented here is neutral in distributive terms as well as in terms of the size of the state organization in so far as it can be and is being adopted by center left as well as center right political coalitions. Reforms adopting basically the structural governance model here described are being actively being implemented in the developed countries since the 1980s. In the 1990s, some developing countries also engaged in public management reform. The model cannot be exported, but it can be imported by developing countries provided that they keep the ownership of it, i.e., that they put the reform high the national agenda, and that they adapt it to the local conditions, giving special attention to the formation of a small but competent and well paid senior civil service that will share with politicians the major roles in the strategic core of the state
Civil Service Reform in Indonesia
Get PDFAn important agency of the government is its civil service or bureaucracy. The civil service has the potential to empower a government to achieve a country’s goals, that is, to improve its citizens’ standard of living. The ability of a civil service to successfully support the government depends heavily on the characteristics of the civil service. In the case of Indonesia, the civil service is slow; lacks transparency, accountability, and initiative; and is sometimes corrupt. Therefore Indonesia’s civil service is badly in need of reform, both in relation to its institutional aspects as well as in relation to moral issues
Regulatory Reform and Bureaucracy in Southeast Asia: Variations and Consequences
Get PDFReform of government regulation of private business has been considered a cornerstone of good governance and a necessary condition for economic growth. Part of regulatory reform is reducing and streamlining administrative or procedural regulations imposed on business by government bureaucracies. Such regulations impose burdens on firms in terms of the time and effort required to file forms, delays in processing documents and applications and in granting approvals, transactional costs if charges are levied, and obstacles resulting from arbitrary decisions by government officials during the process. The article will consider the burdens on business caused by regulatory procedures imposed by bureaucracy in the countries of Southeast Asia, and how the reform of such procedures has varied across region, with a particular focus on certain key business functions, viz. starting a business, importing and exporting, paying taxes, and constructing a commercial building. The article will posit explanations of why such variation exists and will discuss links between reform of regulatory procedures and the level of social and economic development of a country. In conclusion, the scope for reform of regulatory procedures in those countries where they remain especially burdensome, will be examined, with consideration given to what reforms are necessary and feasible
Collaborative Network Activities of Thai Subnational Governments: Current Practices
Get PDFThis article provides a systematic analysis of collaborative network activities in Thai subnational governance after the implementation of administrative devolution policy in 1999. Two hundred and eighteen cases classified into three policy areas: environmental management and natural resource preservation, public welfare, and education and cultural programs, are examined regarding modes of networked collaborations, network sizes, and network partners and their contributions to networks. Findings show that networked arrangements are diverse, with the average number of partners of five, and are common when local governments deal with environmental management, natural resources and public welfare program. But it is not the case for the educational policy area. Also found is that civic groups are very active local partners. However, national and regional governmental agencies do not engage much in promoting the work of local partnerships. Likewise, collaboration among local governments is rare. These issues raise future challenges for enhancing local network collaboration and especially for redesigning future devolution policies
The Impact of Privatization on United Arab Emirates Federal Public Sector
No full textIt is widely believed that since privatization involves the transfer of public ownership to private sector, it thereby reflects a contraction of public administration role in society. Despite the rights and wrongs of this assertion, the 1980s and 1990s have witnessed the hegemony of the anti-government political and economic thought. This hegemony has resulted in policies directed mainly toward strengthening the market and reducing the public sector role (In this article the terms public administration, public sector and government are used as synonymous). But not all types of privatization policies affect equally the size of the public sector. However, the major theoretical contention of this article is that privatization does not necessarily and inevitably leads to reduction in government size or its scope of public administration as measured by the resources put at the disposable of government
Changing Relationships between Politicians and Bureaucrats in Contemporary
Get PDFThis article investigates the extent to which administrative reforms have affected traditional political and administrative roles, by empirical accounts of the main changes to the Italian Senior Civil Service. The analysis is conducted in the field of the central government which was involved in a NPM inspired reform process during the Nineties and which introduced the principle of separation between management and politics. The separation of politics from administration has paradoxically resulted in the search for new forms of political control and mechanisms of integration between political and bureaucratic élites. The gradual introduction of reforms combined with attempts to obtain a more responsive bureaucracy by increasing political control seems to have had a positive effect on Italian government, moving the political-administrative relationship from a ‘self-restraint’ to a ‘complementarity’ pattern. As explained in the article some changes in this respect may be viewed as controversial
Public-Private Partnerships and the Value of the Process: The Case of Sub-Saharan Africa
Get PDFIn the current age of fiscal austerity, Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) continue to be a dominating force as a policy tool to help plug widening funding gaps and deliver vital infrastructure. There is much debate over PPP models; risk allocation and financing. Partnerships UK is currently revaluating its Private Financing Initiative (PFI) model, questioning whether competitive dialogue brings value to the process. France recently announced PPPs worth €60bn to come to market in the coming decade, developing economies’ appetite for PPPs is increasing. According to a World Bank study Africa in particular needs around US$16.5 billion a year, to reach the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) for improved water access in Sub-Sahara Africa. When over 300 water Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) were evaluated, contract type mattered to some degree, but not significantly. There were reportedly exceptional increases in the number of connections after the private sector was involved, but without an increase in financial investment. If financing and contract type were not a significant game changer, how else can we explain success and failures of different PPPs
Book Review: Matt Andrews, 2013. The Limits of Institutional Reform in Development: Changing Rules for Realistic Solutions. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Get PDFMatt Andrews has written a timely and important book that crystallizes thinking he and others have been developing over several years, and is underpinned by rigorous theoretical and empirical analysis. It is to be hoped that the lessons of the book will not be lost on the governments of developing nations, and more especially on agencies such as the World Bank, who need to adjust their development models to reflect the radically new approach to reform set out in the book. Andrews uses vivid language and colorful examples to highlight his important messages, and make them relevant to practitioners as well as scholars. The book deserves a wide readership
Comment from the Editors
Get PDFThe articles in this issue are intended to be of interest to both academics and practitioners