Building State Capacity in Africa

Building State Capacity in Africa PDF Author: Brian Levy
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 9780821360002
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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Book Description
This publication considers options for strengthening institutional capacity within the public sector in African countries, by drawing on the experiences of public sector reform programmes in over a dozen African states. Issues discussed include: the relationship between governance and economic development, public expenditure and accountability, anti-corruption reforms, the politics of decentralisation, political structures and public service delivery.

Building State Capacity in Africa

Building State Capacity in Africa PDF Author: Brian Levy
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 9780821360002
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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Book Description
This publication considers options for strengthening institutional capacity within the public sector in African countries, by drawing on the experiences of public sector reform programmes in over a dozen African states. Issues discussed include: the relationship between governance and economic development, public expenditure and accountability, anti-corruption reforms, the politics of decentralisation, political structures and public service delivery.

States in the Developing World

States in the Developing World PDF Author: Miguel A. Centeno
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107158494
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 493

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Book Description
An exploration of how states address the often conflicting challenges of development, order, and inclusion.

The Politics of State Capacity and Development in Africa

The Politics of State Capacity and Development in Africa PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781912593231
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


State Legitimacy and Development in Africa

State Legitimacy and Development in Africa PDF Author: Pierre Englebert
Publisher: Lynne Rienner Publishers
ISBN: 9781588261311
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
Englebert argues that differences in economic performance both within Africa and across the developing world can be linked to differences in historical state legitimacy.

State Capacity and Economic Development

State Capacity and Economic Development PDF Author: Mark Dincecco
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108335985
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
State capacity - the government's ability to accomplish its intended policy goals - plays an important role in market-oriented economic development today. Yet state capacity improvements are often difficult to achieve. This Element analyzes the historical origins of state capacity. It evaluates long-run state development in Western Europe - the birthplace of both the modern state and modern economic growth - with a focus on three key inflection points: the rise of the city-state, the nation-state, and the welfare state. This Element develops a conceptual framework regarding the basic political conditions that enable the state to take effective policy actions. This framework highlights the government's challenge to exert proper authority over both its citizenry and itself. It concludes by analyzing the European state development process relative to other world regions. This analysis characterizes the basic historical features that helped make Western Europe different. By taking a long-run approach, it provides a new perspective on the deep-rooted relationship between state capacity and economic development.

Modern State Development, Capacity, and Institutions

Modern State Development, Capacity, and Institutions PDF Author: Derica Lambrechts
Publisher: AFRICAN SUN MeDIA
ISBN: 1928357342
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description
This book makes an important original conceptual and theoretical contribution to our understanding of modern state development, the role of the state, and the South African transition to democracy. Its focus on related concepts such as state capacity, political trust and tolerance adds to insights on the dynamics of political and democratic transitions. Furthermore, the selected focus areas as well as the comparative approach add new insights into the peculiarities of the South African transition, state development, state capacity and state institutions. Its focus on societal dynamics and state-society relations is a significant contribution.

Pockets of Effectiveness and the Politics of State-Building and Development in Africa

Pockets of Effectiveness and the Politics of State-Building and Development in Africa PDF Author: Professor of Politics and Development Sam Hickey
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192864963
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-BC-ND 4.0 International License. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Why do certain parts of the state in Africa work so effectively despite operating in difficult governance contexts? How do 'pockets of bureaucratic effectiveness' emerge and become sustained over time? And what does this tell us about the prospects for state-building and development in Africa? Repeated economic and social crises have demanded that development thinkers and policy actors have had to engage with the critical role that states play in delivering development. Pockets of Effectiveness and the Politics of State-building and Development in Africa shows that politics is the driving factor that shapes how well state agencies perform their roles. It deploys a new conceptual framework DS the power domains approach DS to explore the shifting fortunes of key state agencies in five countries DS Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zambia DS over the past three decades. Our original research reveals when, how and why political rulers decide to build effective state agencies and enable them to deliver certain forms of economic development DS often through forming strategic coalitions with senior bureaucrats and with international support DS and also when this support falters and gives way to a politics of survival. Comparative analysis identifies two potential trajectories towards state-building in Africa, each shaped by different configurations of social and political power. The book critiques the role that international development agencies have played in (mis)shaping the state in Africa and suggests a new strategic agenda for building the state capacities required to deliver sustained development at the current juncture. The book closes with critical commentaries from two leading scholars in the field, to help place our work in context and establish the next steps for research and strategy in this increasingly important area of development theory and practice.

The Politics of Transition in Africa

The Politics of Transition in Africa PDF Author: Giles Mohan
Publisher: James Currey Publishers
ISBN:
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
Part of a series of studies that examine political issues confronting African peoples, societies and states, this text explores: theories of the state, the transition to democracy and economic development. Published in association with ROAPE North America: Africa World Press

State Capacity and Development in Francophone West Africa

State Capacity and Development in Francophone West Africa PDF Author: Jens Andersson
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789187793448
Category : Africa, West
Languages : en
Pages : 83

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Book Description
This thesis proposes a unique quantitative investigation of the long-term development of modern states in Sub-Saharan Africa. This is done by measuring and analysing the dynamic history of tax revenue, as a key measure of the capacity of the state, and development in four countries in francophone West Africa – Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger and Senegal – over the long 20th century. This approach contrasts with that of previous quantitative studies of state capacity in Africa by bridging the colonial and the independent periods and taking issue with static generalisations and typologies about African states. The thesis applies both historical and econometric methods to describe and assess various economic and political explanations to long-term state development in the West African context. In this way, the thesis makes a historically and empirically grounded contribution to our understanding of current levels of state capacity and development in francophone West Africa. Three main conclusions can be drawn from the findings. First, modern African states have dynamic histories that help us understand from where they come and explain their current diversity, strengths and weaknesses. This thesis presents strong evidence of significant long-term growth of state capacity and economic and social development in the four West African countries. This long-term expansion of fiscal capacity in the four countries is not properly recognised in the contemporary development literature, which tends to emphasise the current weaknesses of African governments and fiscal systems within much shorter time perspective. Second, our understanding of African states cannot be reduced to colonial legacies or explained by institutional persistence. There were indeed clear common temporal patterns among the four countries with significant continuity over independence, but also important differences depending on economic, political and social contexts. In this way, Africa is not different from other parts of the world. Instead, what deserves much more empirical attention is the impact of the continuous external dependency and isomorphism to which African states are subjected. Third, despite long-term growth, state capacity in the four countries has been constrained by limited social and economic development just as theory would predict. Yet, many African countries tax more than Western countries did at similar stages of development. Such high tax burdens may have negative effects on economic activity. The implication is that any hopes of increasing domestic resource mobilisation to finance e.g. the Sustainable Development Goals may be disappointing unless accompanied with sustained economic and social transformation. In sum, the evidence presented in this thesis on the fiscal trajectories and economic development of Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger and Senegal is testimony to the great achievements of state development in francophone West Africa over the long 20th century, but also to the historical vulnerability and external dependency of these states.

Challenging the State

Challenging the State PDF Author: Merilee S. Grindle
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521559195
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
The 1980s and 1990s posed great challenges to governments in Latin America and Africa. Deep economic crises and significantly heightened pressure for political reform severely taxed their capacity to manage economic and political tasks. These crises pointed to an intense need to reform the state and redefine its relationship to the market and civic society. This book examines the paradox of states that have been weakened by crisis just as their capacity to encourage economic development and provide for effective governance most needs to be strengthened. Case studies of Mexico and Kenya allow the author to analyse the opportunities available for political leadership in moments of crisis, and the constraints on action provided by leadership goals and existing political and economic structures. She argues that while leaders and political structures are often part of the problem, they can also be part of the solution in building more efficient, effective, and responsive states.