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The Logical Limits Of Best Practice Administrative Solutions In Developing Countries

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  • Matt Andrews

Abstract

SUMMARY Developing countries are pressured to adopt administrative solutions that the international community considers best practice. Some claim that these practices do not fit such contexts. How could one assess the fit or relevance of a best practice? This article suggests a basic answer: Look at the degree of difference between the proposed adoption context and the context in which such practice emerged as ‘best’. This answer emerges from a discussion on the basis of the new institutional ideas about change and diffusion. An empirical analysis of public financial management reform in African countries suggests support for this answer: Good practices are most evident in countries least different to the developed nations where practices originated and least evident in countries most different to these developed nations. The article contributes to a literature on best practice and yields fundamental messages for development, including the point that best practices are limited as administrative solutions in many developing countries. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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  • Matt Andrews, 2012. "The Logical Limits Of Best Practice Administrative Solutions In Developing Countries," Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 32(2), pages 137-153, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:padxxx:v:32:y:2012:i:2:p:137-153
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Moore, Mick, 2014. "Revenue Reform and Statebuilding in Anglophone Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 99-112.
    2. Andrews, Matt & Pritchett, Lant & Woolcock, Michael, 2017. "Building State Capability: Evidence, Analysis, Action," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198747482.
    3. Lassou, Philippe Jacques Codjo & Hopper, Trevor, 2016. "Government accounting reform in an ex-French African colony: The political economy of neocolonialism," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 39-57.
    4. Pablo Yanguas, 2016. "The role and responsibility of foreign aid in recipient political settlements," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series esid-056-16, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    5. Hopper, Trevor & Lassou, Philippe & Soobaroyen, Teerooven, 2017. "Globalisation, accounting and developing countries," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 125-148.
    6. Matt Andrews, 2015. "Has Sweden Injected Realism into Public Financial Management Reforms in Partner Countries?," CID Working Papers 303, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    7. Pablo Yanguas, 2017. "Varieties of state-building in Africa: Elites, ideas and the politics of public sector reform," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series esid-089-17, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    8. Matt Andrews, 2014. "An Ends-Means Approach to Looking at Governance," CID Working Papers 281, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    9. Duncan Leitch, 2019. "Leaving like an Englishman: Assisting institutional reform in post‐communist Ukraine," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 37(1), pages 111-128, January.
    10. Andrews, Matt, 2014. "An Ends-Means Approach to Looking at Governance," Working Paper Series rwp14-022, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    11. Matt Andrews & Lant Pritchett & Michael Woolcock, 2016. "Doing Iterative and Adaptive Work," CID Working Papers 313, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    12. Alexey Barabashev, 2016. "Are Existing Administrative Paradigms Capable Of Producing The Tools To Resolve The Contemporary Administrative Crisis?," Public administration issues, Higher School of Economics, issue 5, pages 6-25.
    13. Zitao Chen & Jiannan Wu & Acheng Zhang, 2022. "The characteristics of urban governance in China: Evidence from best practices in the Yangtze River Delta Region," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(4), pages 1834-1853, December.

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