Participation and accountability in development management

This article critically reviews the role of participatory theory in managing development projects and programmes in poor countries. Participation has emerged in response to global demands for greater individual and social control over the activities of state and private agencies, and especially to the manifest failures of traditional ‘top-down’ management systems in LDCs. Claims made on behalf of these participatory methodologies are critically reviewed and a distinction is drawn between strong and weak versions of the theory. Empirical evidence is then considered to evaluate the effectiveness of these methodologies, using long-standing insights of social science theory to show that participation can succeed for specific kinds of projects and programmes in favourable circumstances, but is unsuitable for many others. It commonly fails in contexts where local conditions make co-operative and collective action very difficult, or where it is manipulated by implementing agencies to justify their own actions or poor performance.     

The new paradigm: from development administration to sustainable development administration

In light of changing national and international conditions, the field of public administration is going through an exercise of refounding and reinventing. Globalization, technological advancements, and ecological concerns have diluted the importance of development administration. This study traces the demise of development administration and presents a new paradigm in the form of sustainable development administration. The author argues that the paradigm of sustainable development administration (SDA) is markedly different from the traditional paradigm of development administration (DA) in its emphasis, scope, treatment of politics, view of indigenous cultures, goals, operating mode, decision-making system, use of foreign aid, and performance accountability. The study concludes by declaring that SDA has the potential to emerge as a new field of study in public administration.

The discipline of public administration is at a crossroads: the advent of the “global village” philosophy is challenging its parochial tendencies⁽¹⁾;the “refounding of public administration” is nullifying its separation from politics⁽²⁾; and the “reinvention of government” is questioning the very basic reasons for its existence.⁽³⁾ Faced with new and continuing intellectual challenges, the discipline is in search of a new paradigm.⁽⁴⁾ What will this new paradigm be? What will its emphases and priorities be? The answers are less than clear at this point, however, the questions themselves are receiving attention from scholars. This article attempts to examine one of many alleged elements of the emerging paradigm, and that is the shift from development to sustainable development. The arguments presented here trace the demise of “development” focus in public administration and explore the possibility of sustainable development becoming the new thrust.     

Project oasis: A case study in jamaican development administration

This paper is concerned with development administration in practice, at the level of a particular project which was implemented in the Caribbean island of Jamaica in 1979. We are essentially concerned with the problem of the degree of fit between operational project objectives and the management of project resources, including personnel. The intent is to provide empirical evidence of some of the major difficulties encountered in the field by the development administrator, with a focus upon project organization and the managerial sub-system. We found the management of Project OASIS to be characterized by the lack of control mechanisms, weak discipline, and inadequate information flows. These problems were only exacerbated by the nature of the local policy environment. Development is in fact particularly difficult to administer. The conclusion emphasizes the need to involve the target communities directly in both development planning and in the process of implementation. It is also imperative to mobilize and maintain sufficient political concensus to attain the agreed outcomes, on the basis of a congruent ordering of values and utilities.     

The road to minnowbrook: development of the new public administration in the United States

The decade of the 1960s was a time of political upheaval and turbulence; American society witnessed many changes. The decade was one of hope and at the same time one of despair. It was one in which there were great expectations of the national government, and one that would lead some to conclude that the national giovernment was incapable of solving the complex problems of modern society. Public administrators, like other members of the population, were deeply affected by the events of the decade. Some of them began to question their discpline and profession, and a movement developed within the discipline in search of a new public administration; one sensitive to and capable of solving societal problems that had gone unresolved in the decade of the sixties.

The present study presents an historical explication of the new public administration. The new public administration movement is viewed as a product of numerous conferences, works, and events, four of which appear as major landmarks: 1) the Honey Report on Higher Education for Public Service, (1967); 2) the Conference on the Theory and Practive of Public Administration, (1967); 3) the Minnowbrook Conference; (1968); and 4) the publication of two works in 1971: Toward a New Public Administration in a Time of Turbulence edited by Dwight Waldo. Each of the above is examined in terms of contributions to the development of the new public administration.     

Population growth and the adoption of new technology in colonial Taiwanese agriculture

This paper argues that one response to the mortality decline in Taiwan and the consequent rapid population and labour force growth which increased the labour—land ratio was the adoption of a new labour using output‐increasing variety of rice. The differential rates of adoption of the new rice in the seven prefectures of Taiwan and across time are analysed in terms of the lagged natural increase in population, i.e. increased in the labour‐land ratio. The results are then contrasted with the Malthusian model.     

The impending crisis in development administration

Two questions are posed about development administration theory and practice. Does it offer apparent, plausible solutions to the recent and current crises of developing countries? Is it based upon a knowledge of the organizational terms and conditions which are necessary to advance human welfare? Current theory and practice are found to be wanting in both respects. An emphasis on comparative institutional analysis is suggested as one potential remedy for these weaknesses.     

Federal contract policy and management: the small business administration 8(A) program

The federal Small Business Administration's 8(a) program raises issues of minority business empowerment and effective policy implementation. Given the role of enterprise in both addressing the historical and contemporary problems of minority economic and community development and in empowering minority communities, and given the current nature, extent and distribution of minority, particularly African-American business establishments, the performance of the 8(a) program as a substantial infusion of capital and experience into the African-American community is essential. According to a recent report of the Commission on Minority Business Development, the 8(a) is seriously flawed in the management of the problem. Regulation and enforcement, coordination, evaluation and monitoring and accountability are serious challenges to the viability of the program. Entrepreneurial empowerment is enhanced not only by effective policy development but also be effective policy implementation of the 8(a) and other set-aside programs.     

Substantive Participation: A Model of Public Participation that Works for Citizens and Administrators

Decision-makers and affected parties engaged in solving contemporary governmental problems are recognizing that traditional decision-making strategies are insufficient. A participatory democracy approach to public participation has been offered as a potential solution to these problems; however, a more sophisticated understanding of this approach is needed. This study defines a more substantive brand of public participation, identifies barriers to its implementation, and provides recommendations for implementation. Models of substantive participation should empower and educate all stakeholders, reeducate public administrators, and establish new administrative structures and processes. These objectives as well as a discussion of particular barriers to substantive participation are outlined.     

Marketing-oriented planning in public administration: The case of the state development agency

Noting that concepts from marketing are not often found in the public management: literature, the authors present a multi-stage marketing-oriented planning model which can be used in the public sector. the mods1 is applied to the case of industrial development agencies, wit11 emphasis on the use of the model in recruiting foreign direct investment. The model includes the determination of organization mission, goals and objectives, resources, and growth strategies as elements of the management planning process. The marketing planning stage of the model includes opportunity analysis, positioning for target markets, marketing mix selection, and control. The two main stages of the process are mediated by factors in the internal and external environments of the organization.     

Urban development in czecho-slovakia: some background conditions for local level public administration

Concepts and skills from the Public Administration field are in strong demand by local governments in Slovakia and in the Czech Republic. After forty years in which local level initiatives in government and in business were squelched, there now exist extensive opportunities. After discussing the extent of past centralization, population trends and local public spending by city sizes are defined for the Czech Republic. A comparative analysis of a single Czech city with a German city of similar size points out some special limitations in land use employment and tax base facing local public policy makes. In conclusion, the need for attention to institution-building and for local area information as part of technical assistance efforts is discussed.     

Beneficiary Participation in Non-Governmental Development Organisations: A Case Study in Vietnam

Beneficiary participation in development projects has been an important topic of debate during the last decades. In the empirical research on the matter beneficiaries themselves are seldom, if ever, asked about their perceptions of participatory mechanisms in place. We present such a (case) study on the Vietnamese local office of a European non-governmental development organisation, also probing into other stakeholders’ perceptions (46 interviews in total). Our observations allow us to refine some aspects of the extant theoretical insights on beneficiary participation and representation, as well as to formulate some recommendations for organisations aiming at increasing beneficiary participation in their decision-making.     

Comparative and development public administration 2000: introduction to the symposium

The twin fields of comparative and development administration have been major components of public administration, both theoretically and practically. Their development as fields of study has proliferated since World War II, and reached a peak during the 1960s with the Comparative Administration Group (CAG). Despite major achievements, comparative and development administration experienced a major decline in the 1970s. However, a resurgence of interest in both subfields of public administration has emerged since the 1980s, and the number of scholarly works in these areas is impressively increasing. This trend will continue with significant contributions to the knowledge in the field by the year 2000. This special symposium addresses a number of trends, developments, and issues that will contribute to, and characterize, the growth of comparative and development administration in the future. The articles that follow make significant original contributions to our knowledge in public administration at a global level. Various models and paradigms are discussed as the possible models to be tried out in the developing nations and for the comparative study of public administration.