Where Administrative Traditions are Alien: Implications for Reform in Africa

Abstract

Institutions are not independent of society but are a product of underlying social forces and structures. Knowing where institutions come from, therefore, becomes a necessary first task. Adopting such a position differs from approaches to the study of public administration that focus on technical or managerial issues internal to specific organizations. The technocratic way of approaching public sector reform in Africa has been dominant, leaving a trail of grey literature that continues to be the main source of interpreting public administration in the region. Although there are a few notable exceptions (for example, Adamolekun 1999), most of what is being written on public administration in Africa tends to be prescriptive rather than analytical. It pays no attention to how administrative and political legacies shape choice and behavior. Nor does it consider the conflicts that exist between norms that are indigenous to African societies, those that were introduced by the colonial powers, and the contemporary reform agenda with its inspiration from New Public Management.