Reforming the African Public Sector: Retrospect and Prospects

CODESRIA,  2008, 175 p., ISBN: 2-86978-214-4; ISBN 13: 9782869782143

This Book is an in-depth and wide-ranging review of the available literature on African public sector reforms. It attempts to contextualize the reform of the public sector and understand its processes, dynamics and intricacies. The main observations and conclusions are illustrated with examples from differing country experiences. It adopts a structural/institutional approach which underpins most of the reform efforts on the continent.

An effort is made to examine the state and state capacity building in Africa, especially when there can be no state without an efficient public sector. In addition, the book addresses a number of theories such as the new institutional economics, public choice and new public management, which have in one way or another influenced most of the initiatives implemented under public sector reform in Africa.