IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/jnlpup/v37y2017i04p401-429_00.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Contingent technocracy: bureaucratic independence in developing countries

Author

Listed:
  • Teodoro, Manuel P.
  • Pitcher, M. Anne

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of formal bureaucratic independence under varying democratic conditions. Conventional accounts predict that greater formal independence of technocratic agencies facilitates policy implementation, but those claims rest on observations of industrialised, high-income countries that are also established democracies. On the basis of research in developing countries, we argue that the effects of agency independence depend on the political context in which the agency operates. Our empirical subjects are privatisation agencies and their efforts to privatise state-owned enterprises in Africa. We predict that greater independence leads to more thorough privatisation under authoritarian regimes, but that the effect of independence declines as a country becomes more democratic. Using an original data set, we examine the relationship between formal agency independence and privatisation in Africa from 1990 to 2007. Our results modify the conventional wisdom on bureaucratic independence and culminate in a more nuanced theory of “contingent technocracy†.

Suggested Citation

  • Teodoro, Manuel P. & Pitcher, M. Anne, 2017. "Contingent technocracy: bureaucratic independence in developing countries," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 37(4), pages 401-429, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jnlpup:v:37:y:2017:i:04:p:401-429_00
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0143814X16000258/type/journal_article
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hebinck†, Paul & Smith, Lothar & Aliber, Michael, 2023. "Beyond technocracy: The role of the state in rural development in the Eastern Cape, South Africa," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    2. Beichen HUANG & Tianyang XI & Jiajun XU, 2020. "Contrôles et équilibres, leadership politique et autonomie bureaucratique : Constats au sujet des banques nationales de développement," Working Paper 6fb72d50-b8e9-40a3-9021-8, Agence française de développement.
    3. Beichen HUANG & Tianyang XI & Jiajun XU, 2020. "Checks and balance, Political Leadership, and Bureaucratic Autonomy: Evidence from National Development Banks," Working Paper 6fb72d50-b8e9-40a3-9021-8, Agence française de développement.
    4. Bruno Meyerhof Salama & Vicente P. Braga, 2023. "The case for private administration of deposit guarantee schemes," Journal of Banking Regulation, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 24(1), pages 51-65, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cup:jnlpup:v:37:y:2017:i:04:p:401-429_00. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kirk Stebbing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cambridge.org/pup .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.