Reform as Process: Implementing Civil Service Reform in Africa

• In Event: Emerging Trends in the Study of Bureaucracy in the Developing World

Abstract

Building an effective civil service is crucial for public service delivery and good governance, but reforming bureaucratic institutions is notoriously difficult. This book takes a fresh perspective on this challenge by documenting and analyzing the implementation of more than one hundred reforms initiated by six African countries over the last thirty years. I show that these reforms largely fell short of their goals, because they typically approached organizational change as a matter of changing formal structures and processes through one-off projects. However, many of these reform efforts did yield positive changes when they were able to create energy and opportunities for civil servants to discuss performance and how to improve it. I draw on this evidence to outline a theory of how systemic reforms can lead to meaningful change not by forcing it through top-down interventions but by catalyzing an ongoing process of continuous improvement. The book makes theoretical and empirical contributions to academic literatures on government performance, public service delivery, and development, and discusses practical insights and strategies for reformers around the world to achieve change in practice.

Author

• Martin J. Williams, University of Michigan