1st Edition
Public Sector Reforms in Developing Countries Paradoxes and Practices
The underpinning assumption of public management in the developing world as a process of planned change is increasingly being recognized as unrealistic. In reality, the practice of development management is characterized by processes of mutual adjustment among individuals, agencies, and interest groups that can constrain behaviour, as well as provide incentives for collaborative action. Paradoxes inevitably emerge in policy network practice and design.
The ability to manage government departments and operations has become less important than the ability to navigate the complex world of interconnected policy implementation processes. Public sector reform policies and programmes, as a consequence, are a study in the complexities of the institutional and environmental context in which these reforms are pursued. Building on theory and practice, this book argues that advancing the theoretical frontlines of development management research and practice can benefit from developing models based on innovation, collaboration and governance.
The themes addressed in Public Sector Reforms in Developing Countries will enable public managers in developing countries cope in uncertain and turbulent environments as they seek optimal fits between their institutional goals and environmental contingencies.
Introduction: Paradoxes of Public Management Reforms in Developing Countries (Charles Conteh and Ahmed Shafiqul Huque) 1. Public Management Reform in Developing Countries: Contradictions and the Inclusive State (Ahmed Shafiqul Huque and Habib Zafarullah) 2. An Appraisal of the New Public Governance as a Paradigm of Public Sector Reform in Africa (Charles Conteh) 3. Public Participation and Co-Production in the Irrigation Sector of Punjab of Pakistan (Muhammad Junaid Usma Akhtar, Denita Cepiku, & Antonio Lapenta) 4. Collaborative Governance in Brazil: Partnerships Between Governments and Non-Governmental Organizations and Their Facilitating and Restrictive Factors (Humberto Falcão Martins and Renata Bernardo) 5. Community Policing in Tanzania: Experiences and Understandings of Participation (Charlotte Cross) 6. Paradoxes of Decentralization in Thailand: Evidence from Decentralizing the Task of Illegal Drug Control to Local Governments (Patamawadee Jongruck) 7. The Political Context of Decentralization: Reflections on South Asia (Abu Elias Sarker) 8. Towards a Managerial State: Turkey’s Decentralization Reforms During the AKP Government (Evrim Tan) 9. Is Accountability an Elusive Goal of Public Management Reform? (Eris D. Schoburgh) 10. The Internationalization of Performance Management and Budgeting: Limitations in the Gulf States (Richard Common) 11. Beyond Neoliberal Public Sector Reform – A Case for a Developmental Public Service in Sub-Saharan Africa (Frank L. K. Ohemeng and Francis Y. Owusu) 12. Conclusion: Reflections on the Paradoxes of Public Management Reforms in Developing Countries (Charles Conteh and Ahmed Shafiqul Huque)
Biography
Charles Conteh is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science, Brock University, Canada
Ahmed Shafiqul Huque is Professor of Political Science at McMaster University, Canada
Public Sector Reforms in Developing Countries moves the study of contemporary reform out of the Western democracies to consider the impact of various ideas about management on public administration in other parts of the world. This is an extremely useful and informative collection of papers that should be read by scholars in administration and those in development.B. Guy Peters, Professor, University of Pittsburgh, USA
