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Foreign‐Funded Adaptation to Climate Change in Africa: Mirroring Administrative Traditions or Traditions of Administrative Blueprinting?

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  • Martinus Vink
  • Greetje Schouten

Abstract

Climate change impacts are most severe in developing countries with limited adaptive capacity. Accordingly, in Africa, climate change adaptation has become an issue of international funding and practice. As suggested in the Introduction to this special issue, administrative traditions could play a role in how adaptation plays out. This, however, raises questions about how foreign funding regimes coincide with recipients' administrative traditions, especially on the African continent where administrative traditions are often meagerly established. To address these questions, this article takes an explorative approach. From a literature review of African state governance and development aid approaches, we take colonial legacy as the most distinctive factor responsible for African administrative traditions. In addition, we define three ways in which foreign aid programs have dealt with African administration: (1) aligning with donor administration, (2) blueprinting administration, and (3) ignoring administration. Using 34 African countries' National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs), we analyze how African governments actually frame adaptation as a governance challenge. We contrast these frames with: (1) administrative traditions based on colonial legacy and (2) the ways in which development aid programs have historically dealt with recipient African administrations. Our findings indicate that NAPAs only meagerly refer to the administrative tradition that could be expected based on colonial legacy, but extensively refer to blueprint ideas common among international donors, or ignore administration altogether. We discuss the implications for adaptation to climate change. 外资适应非洲气候变化:反映行政惯例还是反映行政蓝图传统? 适应能力有限的发展中国家受到气候变化的影响最大。因此, 非洲的气候变化适应问题已成为国际筹资和实践问题。正如在该问题的引言中所提到的, 行政惯例可以影响气候适应的发展。然而, 这产生了一个问题, 即外国基金制度要与接受者的行政惯例相吻合, 尤其是在非洲大陆, 行政惯例的建立往往相当薄弱。针对这些问题, 本文采取了探索性的研究方法。笔者回顾了非洲国家治理和发展援助办法的相关文献, 并提出殖民遗产是造成非洲行政惯例的最独特的因素。此外, 笔者还确定了三种通过外国援助方案处理非洲行政惯例的方式:1)结合捐赠管理, 2)规划管理, 3)忽视管理。通过研究 34 个非洲国家的国家适应行动方案(NAPAs), 笔者分析了非洲各国政府是如何在实际操作中将气候适应设定为一个治理挑战的, 并与以下方面进行了对比:1)基于殖民遗产的行政惯例和2)历史上发展援助方案对受援国非洲行政惯例的应对方式。研究结果表明, 可能是基于殖民遗产, 国家适应行动方案(NAPAs)只略微参考了行政惯例, 但大量参考了国际捐助者之间惯用的蓝图构想, 或者完全忽视管理。笔者讨论了适应气候变化的影响。 La adaptación al cambio climático en áfrica fundada por extranjeros: ¿reflejando las tradiciones administrativas o las tradiciones de planificación administrativas? Los impactos del cambio climático son más severos en países en desarrollo con una capacidad adaptativa más limitada. Acordemente, en África la adaptación al cambio climático se ha convertido en un tema de financiamiento y práctica internacional. Como se sugiere en la introducción a este tema especial, las tradiciones administrativas podrían jugar un cierto papel en cómo la adaptación sucede. Esto, sin embargo, plantea cuestiones acerca de cómo los regímenes de financiamiento extranjero coinciden con las tradiciones administrativas de los beneficiarios, especialmente en el continente africano, donde las tradiciones administrativas son a menudo solo escasamente establecidas. Para responder a estas interrogativas, este documento utiliza un acercamiento exploratorio. Desde una reseña literaria de la gobernanza de estados africanos y acercamientos de ayuda para el desarrollo, tomamos un legado colonial como el factor más distintivo para las tradiciones administrativas africanas. Además, definimos tres formas en que los programas de ayuda han lidiado con la administración africana: 1) alineándose con la administración de los donadores, 2) esquematizando la administración, 3) ignorando la administración. Utilizando programas de acción de adaptación nacionales (NAPAs) de 34 países africanos, analizamos cómo los gobiernos formulan la adaptación como un desafío de la gobernanza. Contrastamos estas fórmulas con: 1) tradiciones administrativas basadas en el legado colonial y 2) las formas en que los programas de ayuda al desarrollo han lidiado históricamente con las administraciones africanas beneficiarias. Nuestros hallazgos indican que las NAPAs solamente se refieren un poco a la tradición administrativa que podría estar basada en el legado colonial, pero extensivamente se refieren a las ideas de formulación que son comunes para los donadores internacionales o ignoran la administración completamente. Discutimos las implicaciones para la adaptación al cambio climático.

Suggested Citation

  • Martinus Vink & Greetje Schouten, 2018. "Foreign‐Funded Adaptation to Climate Change in Africa: Mirroring Administrative Traditions or Traditions of Administrative Blueprinting?," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 35(6), pages 792-834, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:revpol:v:35:y:2018:i:6:p:792-834
    DOI: 10.1111/ropr.12291
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    1. Veronica Brodén Gyberg & Malin Mobjörk, 2021. "Integration Conundrums: Framing and Responding to Climate Security Challenges in Development Cooperation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-18, February.

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