International Public Management Review
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Changing Conceptions of Public ‘Management’ and Public Sector Reform in South Africa
Full text linkSouth Africa’s political transition to democratic rule was the catalyst for ambitious public sector reform efforts, which sought to restructure the organisational and personnel profile of the state. A key aim of this process was to enhance the state’s management capacity to steer a far-reaching socio-economic policy agenda, which drew on the principles and tools of comparative public management practice as it had evolved globally and intellectually. This article examines how South Africa’s policy commitment to management reform can be characterised in comparative terms, and twenty years on, assess if and how this commitment has materialised in practice. I will argue that the South African case exhibits a confusing and directionless mix of traditional management control and unconsummated NPM advocacy. Although this is generally consistent with NPM practice in developing countries, I will propose that there are at least three specific elements that lend texture to the South African case, namely, capacity, commitment and capture
Delivering Better Outcomes in Education: The World Bank’s Experience
Full text linkEducation is a critical public service needed to achieve shared prosperity and an end to extreme poverty. Previous research has found that monitoring and disseminating appropriate data can help improve strategic planning, resource allocation and in turn education quality and learning outcomes. There can be added benefits from using such data at the service delivery level, which can create incentives for enhancing data quality, and promote better informed decision-making. This approach requires exploitation of feedback mechanisms and learning loops, which are enabled by quality monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and communities of practice.The following addresses the research question: Do World Bank supported education projects achieve better outcomes when there is deeper attention to designing monitoring and evaluation systems during project design
Harnessing Knowledge Exchange Among Professionals
No full textOfficials, economists and others in developing nations worry about the economic impact of losing their best and brightest people to opportunities presented in richer countries. However, increasingly some of the effects of diasporas appear to be positive so that the new focus is on “brain gain” rather than "brain drain." The article begins with a brief discussion of technical and professional capacity challenges in developing countries, and then reviews recent evidence on the magnitude of brain gain. Findings on knowledge exchange among skilled professionals through diaspora networks are then summarized from case study research on the Philippines and the People's Republic of China (PRC) conducted by ADB, and from selected other work on the Asian experience. Based on these findings, policy recommendations are advanced on how to facilitate and improve knowledge exchange through diasporas
Private Sector Corporate Governance and Singaporean Government Linked Corporations
Full text linkThis article examines aspects of corporate governance in Singaporean public sector. Most government linked corporation in Singapore have performed well. In addition these corporations have been largely successful in combating corruption. Corruption has in recent years resulted in the collapse of some large private sector corporations such as Enron Energy and HIH Insurance. This paper suggests that large multinationals can benefit from governance strategies employed by the Singaporean public sector corporations. Although the principal-agent problem is often stated in the context of private sector corporate governance, this paper discusses the problem within the public sector
Administrative Reforms in India: Need for Systems Approach to Problem Solving
Full text linkreview of Indian administrative structure in 1950s, Appleby certified Indian Civil Service to be one of the best in the world. While there is still a lot to commend the civil service for, this article will focus exclusively on the deficiencies that have crept in the services over last few years. This should not be taken to mean that all is wrong with it. The article does, however, attempt to present the critique of the service from the perspective of an insider with a view to rid it of its malaise. Despite its notable achievements, over last five decades, disenchantment with public administration in India has dramatically increased. It is criticized for inefficiency, lack of professionalism, irresponsiveness, nepotism and corruption. After the assumption of power by UPA government, civil services have come under a real scanner. The government appointed an expert committee, under the chairmanship of the Hota committee, to review and suggest changes to the administrative structure. The committee submitted its report recently. It suggested changes in recruitment and performance appraisal system, opening of civil service position to outsiders and relaxing norms pertaining to removal from service to shake complacency of the civil servants. This article argues that these proposals are too restrictive in nature and scope. They are limited to changes in the upper echelon of bureaucracy. These don’t just exclude a large part of bureaucracy from the reform efforts, but also fail to address the factors external to the administration that hinge upon its performance. To be specific, the article presents evidence of the linkage between the deficiencies in the political, electoral and judicial system and the decline in performance of civil service. It reasons that it is meaningless to talk of administrative reforms without undertaking simultaneous reforms in political and electoral system. Finally, it suggests a more comprehensive reform agenda to improve the performance of civil service, and above all emphasizes the need for adopting the systems approach to problem-solving
Curriculum Development for Public Administration and Management Programs in China and Asia: An IPMN Dialogue
Full text linkFields, Power and Social Skill: A Critical Analysis of the New Institutionalisms
Full text link"New Institutional" Theories have proliferated across the social sciences. While they have substantial disagreements, they agree that institutions are created to produce local social orders, are social constructions, fundamentally about how powerful groups create rules of interaction and maintain unequal resource distributions, and yet, once in existence, both constrain and enable actors in subsequent institution building. I present a critique of these theories that focuses on their inadequate attention to the role of social power and actors in the creation of institutions. An alternative view of the dynamics of institutions is sketched out based on a more sociological conception of rules, resources, and social skill
Combating Corruption in the Asia-Pacific Countries: What do We Know and What
Full text linkCorruption is a serious problem in the Asia-Pacific, judging from the rankings and scores of the 32 Asia-Pacific countries included in the Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index of 2008. The governments in these countries have initiated various anti-corruption measures since the 1950s but, with few exceptions, have not been effective in curbing corruption. In 1968, the Swedish economist, Gunnar Myrdal, had attributed the lack of research on corruption in South Asian countries to the existing research taboo on corruption.Fortunately, this research taboo on corruption in the Asia-Pacific countries no longer exists and this is manifested in the tremendous increase in the number of country studies on corruption since the 1990s. Indeed, in contrast to the dearth of research on corruption in the 1960s, research on corruption in these countries has mushroomed into a growth industry during the past two decades.Given the vast literature on corruption in the Asia-Pacific countries, the purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it reviews the literature to identify the major strategies adopted by the Asia-Pacific countries to combat corruption. Second, the paper provides an evaluation of these anti-corruption strategies to identify their strengths and weaknesses and to enhance their effectiveness by suggesting how their weaknesses can be rectified
Unlocking Capacity and Revisiting Political Will: Cambodia’s Public Financial Management Reforms
Full text linkOver the past several years the Royal Government of Cambodia has successfully and consistently been implementing its Public Financial Management Reform Program (PFMRP), which has focused on improving the credibility of the budget while reducing fiduciary risk. This outcome is surprising not only because of the well known difficulties of implementing ambitious PFM reforms in low income, post-conflict countries, but also because most other reform programs in Cambodia have either failed or stalled, including an earlier effort at PFM reform (2001-2004). The paper develops a case study of the PFMRP (using the methodology in Barzelay et al., 2003) and argues that the success of the PFMRP is due to the way in which it was developed. The central hypothesis probed is that the public management processes and techniques that led to the development of the PFMRP are the same ones that explain its successful implementation. These include: a joint government-donor analytical process to define the problem and build consensus, an agreed reform vision and action plan, a pilot civil service reform in the Ministry of Finance to address capacity constraints, and formal coordination mechanisms for government and donors. The paper disputes the dominant hypothesis that the change was related to 'political will,' instead focusing on how public management solved the problem. The conclusion offers lessons on designing reform programs (in terms of public management processes and strategies) that may be applicable to other countries
Trust in Government: The Indonesian Experience
Full text linkRecent social and political changes in Indonesia have had profound impacts on Indonesian society and culture. Among others these changes include: democratization, decentralization or regional autonomy, transparency, and openness of information against the backdrop of globalization. To adapt to the situation, the Indonesian government reorganized its bureaucracy, an exercise that involved changes in structure and systems that would result in modern and efficient bureaucracy. Democratic processes brought two important results: (a) freedom of the press and (b) freedom of expression. These two freedoms provide the opportunity for the increased “transparency” and “accountability” of government practices and decision making, while also opening room for “participatory government”. Therefore, these changes became an important source for building trust in government. However, sometimes mass media reporting has gone too far, publishing distorted and incorrect information, with negative results. Freedom of expression in terms of “street demonstration”, sometimes have become violent and destructive not only to the peoples' lives but also to the economy. Another result of the “Reformation Era” has been the decentralization process which was started in 2001. With the implementation of decentralization or regional autonomy vide Law No. 22 of 1999, at the beginning of 2001 and subsequently in 2003, the decentralization process changed the political as well as economic life of local society