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Development Administration

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_934-1

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D

Development Administration Introduction

Frank L. K. Ohemeng Development administration is one of the many

Department of Public Administration, College perspectives from which scholars understand the
of Law, Commerce & Public Affairs, Incheon underdevelopment of many developing countries,
National University, Incheon, South Korea particularly in Africa and other parts of Asia, and
what can be done to change it. Development
administration may be even more relevant today
Synonyms than when it first emerged in the aftermath of the
Second World War; globalization produced a one-
Direction; Government; Improvement; Manage- size-fits-all approach through concepts like the
ment; Organization New Public Management (NPM) and reinventing
government.
Currently these global ideas have found reso-
nances in concepts such as governance, collabo-
Definitions
rative governance, the new public governance,
and public networks, among others. Unfortunately,
Those aspects of and changes in public adminis-
while these ideas gain traction implementing them
tration necessary to carry out policies, projects,
continues to be problematic in developing coun-
and programs that will improve social and economic
tries, which want to develop their public bureaucracy
conditions, and the study of such administration.
as the condition for better overall development.
The bureaucratic process that facilitates or stim-
Bureaucracies in most developing countries are
ulates the achievement of socioeconomic progress
less able than in the developed world, making it
through utilization of the talents and expertise of
very difficult for them to undertake the kind of
the bureaucrats. It involves the mobilization of
development common elsewhere. It is thus impor-
bureaucratic elite skills for speeding up the devel-
tant to revisit the idea of development administra-
opment process.
tion to see how it can fit into the modern or even
the postmodern developmental ethos, and how it
can be used to enhance development in develop-
ing countries. In other words: Is development
administration relevant today?

# Springer International Publishing AG 2017

A. Farazmand (ed.), Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_934-1
2 Development Administration

The Emergence of Development world, as an instrument of development meets the

Administration developmental expectations in these countries.

Development administration, then, is a post-Second The CAG and the Evolution of Development
World War concept. It emerged with the decolo- Administration
nization of many countries in Africa and Asia, as Development administration, then, was one of the
part of the ripple effect of the war in the 1950s. United States government’s attempts to generate
The war made these countries globally more sig- development through technical assistance to newly
nificant, inasmuch as some had participated on emerged developing countries after the war. In
behalf of their colonial masters. Its aftermath saw pursuing this course of action, the primary con-
agitation for better public service delivery and, in cern, according to Loveman (1976), was to find an
some cases, public service jobs. Before it, colonial alternative to the Marxist-Leninist idea of devel-
authorities had largely ignored the development opment, which ran contrary to that of the Western
of their colonies. In some cases the clamor for democratic ethos, in furtherance of American he-
better public services and jobs generated civil gemony in these countries. The US government
unrest and the demand for independence. developed a four-point strategy, where the fourth
Achieving independence, however, did not point was about achieving the objectives of tech-
solve these countries’ problems. The government nical assistance. According to Esman and Mont-
machinery, particularly the bureaucracy, was inad- gomery (1969), it sought a rather simple solution
equate, and faced tasks it had not been set up to for a very complex set of conditions. The strategy
perform. Creating an effective governmental sys- called for training in modern skills and transfer-
tem, with an efficient and capable bureaucracy ring “know-how” from an American “technician”
that could meet these developmental needs, then (or a UN “expert”) to “counterparts” in less-
became paramount. developed countries. At the same time Americans
Development administration thus emerged out were to be put in the position of the givers and the
of the realization that governments and their bu- cooperating nationals were to be the receivers of
reaucracies in less-developed countries needed to American developed skills and technology. To
be recreated and revitalized as a prerequisite for Esman and Montgomery (1969), therefore, this
transforming those societies. It became both an doctrine summed up technical cooperation in the
academic discipline and a prescription for imple- minds of most Americans (including members of
menting and administering government programs Congress) and many leaders of the less-developed
for economic development (Hope 1984: 64), as countries (509).
scholars, particularly in the United States, and the The emphasis on technical assistance was also
United States government grappled with the prob- linked to the transfer of administrative capa-
lem of how to build such bureaucracies. bilities. Advocates called for a distinct form of
This thinking was necessary in view of the fact administration, using which the government in a
that these newly emerged independent countries developing country would actively lead, stimu-
faced the mammoth tasks of nation building, and late, and centrally coordinate the country’s total
consequently needed civil service institutions with development endeavor. This American attempt
the skills to undertake core development functions, to provide a countervailing force to Marxism-
including the generation of policy and program Leninism gave birth to a new public administra-
alternatives in different sectors, program planning, tion scholarly entity: the Comparative Adminis-
implementation monitoring, and service delivery tration Group (CAG), whose members studied
and access. Administration in newly independent development administration from the 1950s in
countries was sadly wanting in its capacity to meet newly independent states in the developing world.
these demands of independence, nor could the The CAG wanted to advance the theory and
transfer of public administration from the Western practice of comparative public administration,
and bring the study of public administration in
Development Administration 3

developing countries into the mainstream in the the acceptance of an endemic gap between formal
USA, assisting these scholars in achieving their expectations and actual behaviour” (66). Riggs
objective of spreading American development to (1962) further emphasized the importance of
those countries. According to Schaffer (1971), the ecology in the study of administration, essentially
group’s interest in the relations between public dismissing scholars who believed that Western
administration and politics was formulated on the administrative systems could be replicated in
premise that “a live and vital public administra- developing countries without a careful and sys-
tion” was a necessary instrument of government tematic readjustment of variables to suit the social
and politics, and a comparatively beneficent source structures of these countries. He insisted that un-
of welfare. The second point was that there could derstanding the ecology of these countries meant
and should be a new version of that instrument, to not just reciting the facts of geography, history,
be called development administration: which was, social structure, etc., but analyzing patterns of
perhaps, public administration when it became an interaction between subject and environment.
instrument in the hands of governments “every-
where” who were “struggling to improve the lot of
man” (328). What Is Embedded in Development
For the CAG, understanding the nature and Administration?
development of these newly emerged countries
and how they could overcome their developmen- According to Schaffer (1969: 184), development
tal problems called for understanding the context administration is a distinctive form of administra-
and the environment in which established public tion for development programs, policies, and
administration institutions operate. They thus be- plans in those conditions (traditional, transitional
lieved that transplanting the American public or newly independent, and less-developed politi-
administration system was unnecessary from both cal system) in which there are unusually extensive
the theoretical and practical points of view. Many needs (which could coincide with urgently ex-
CAG scholars found the kind of technical assistance pressed demands of political elites, modernizing
developed by the United States, for example, inap- ideologies, and exercises in mobilization), pre-
plicable in these countries, although they unani- cisely where there are peculiarly few resources
mously agreed about the relationship between and exceptionally severe obstacles to meeting the
politics and public administration and how the two needs. To him, the distinction of development
can be used in governing society. They thus ques- administration is exactly in the inconvenient com-
tioned the application of American public adminis- bination: extensive needs, low capacities, severe
tration as part of the overseas technical assistance obstacles. Concisely, development administration,
programs of the United States government. At the focusing on the state bureaucracy and political insti-
same time, they agreed that it was important not tutions, should create an innovative atmosphere
only to find more appropriate frameworks of anal- or environment through which governments in
ysis but also to carry out empirical studies and developing societies and their developmental
operational programs. partners, particularly the United States and the
The need to develop different theoretical and United Nations, could operationalize and share
empirical frameworks to understand these socie- developmental goals by combining planning
ties led Riggs (1964), for instance, to develop his (thinking) and acting (doing), minimizing paro-
Prismatic Society idea. In less-developed coun- chialism, diffusing influence, increasing tolerance
tries people hold two different sets of ideals – of interdependence, and avoiding bureaupathol-
what he called traditional, relatively fused traits, ogy. As Hope (1984) has cogently summarized,
and relatively diffracted traits – at the same time, the goals of development administration are to
and they are in constant conflict. Unfortunately, as stimulate and facilitate defined programs for social
noted by Hope (1984), the “conflict between the and economic progress: or, put another way, de-
two is not often articulated, but is recognised by velopment administration is the administration of
4 Development Administration

policies, programs, and projects to serve develop- The “Relevance” of Development

ment purposes. It indicates the complex of the Administration Today
agencies, management systems, and processes a In recent times the development of developing
government establishes to achieve its develop- countries has again become the subject in devel-
ment goals. It thus encompasses the organization opmental discourse. Poverty, sickness, war, etc.,
of new agencies, such as planning organizations continue to afflict most developing countries,
and development corporations, the orientation of even in the midst of plenty in terms of natural
established agencies, such as departments of agri- resources. It is not surprising that poverty reduc-
culture, the delegation of administrative powers to tion strategies continued to be developed for such
development agencies, and the creation of a cadre countries. Unfortunately, the concentration of
of administrators who can provide leadership in development continues to be determined by the
stimulating and supporting programs of social and market, and championed by the World Bank, the
economic improvement (63–64). International Monetary Fund, the United States
According to the dominant premise of devel- government, and other partners. Nevertheless,
opment administration, there are significant and the market-based approach continues to lead to
fundamental differences between the public admin- state or administrative reduction or thinning out
istrative process in less-developed countries and in through different strategies, despite the shortcom-
developed ones. In many respects, the notion of ings of such policies, such as structural adjustment
development administration questions the rele- programs. What, then, needs to be done in the
vance of classical or traditional systems, concepts, midst of these developmental problems? The
and methods of public administration to the de- answer may be in revisiting the very notion of
mands and challenges in less-developed coun- development administration.
tries. For instance, there are those who doubt the Development administration scholars of old
relevance of the classical Weberian bureaucratic and in modern times have identified the impor-
model to those demands. The argument is that tance of administration in development. It seems,
having evolved from the experience of Western however, to have been ignored by proponents of
developed countries, they were not designed to be the market idea for developing countries. With the
responsive to them. recent focus on the developmental state, the ideas
The theme of development administration was and ideals of development administration have
therefore to develop the administrative capacities become much more pertinent. One area develop-
of these societies on the premise that economic ment administration scholars have concentrated
development can only be achieved with better on is the role of the state, especially a capable
administrative capabilities. Development admin- bureaucracy, in spearheading development. Writ-
istration scholars conceived of administrative ing on the role of the public bureaucracy in devel-
capability as involving the ability to mobilize, opment, Stone (1965) observed:
allocate, and combine the actions that are techni- The task of national development therefore becomes
cally needed to achieve developmental objectives. in large measure, one of developing political and
It should be about civil service structure and extra- administrative capabilities to provide leadership
governmental institutions. Such capabilities were and direction. These capabilities are especially crit-
ical in administering and coordinating the myriad of
concerned with the deliberate or artificially induced activities which must be carried out with varying
acceleration (predominantly by public authorities) priorities and according to different time peri-
of growth processes, national goals, and mod- ods. . .For this purpose, the natural and human
ernization and action programs, with attention to resources of the country must be identified and
utilized to the fullest extent and in the most eco-
normative prescriptions and value judgements nomical manner. We see in this complex of admin-
concerning the direction of change. The idea was istrative tasks the greatest challenge facing our
thus attuned to the problems and needs of devel- administrative capabilities (51).
oping societies, stressing the setting that provides
From Stone’s (1965) perspective, the primary
the political, economic, cultural, and historical
obstacles to development are administrative rather
context within which administration functions.
Development Administration 5

than economic, and not deficiencies in natural projected by development administration in help-
resources. He goes on to argue that developing ing to build such democratic developmental states
countries generally lack the administrative capa- in the developing world.
bility to implement plans and programs, and that
most persons charged with planning and other
development responsibilities in individual coun- Conclusion
tries, as well as persons made available under
technical assistance programs, lack adequate knowl- Development administration, the exercise of in-
edge and adaptability in designing and installing tentionally building an effective public adminis-
organizations, institutions, and procedures suit- tration in developing countries, continues to
able for the particular country (53). provide food for thought to both scholars and
What Stone observed in the 1960s is perhaps political leaders interested in developing coun-
more relevant today than it was during his time. tries. Its earlier scholars and projectors had an
For instance, the emergence of Information Com- altruistic attitude to the predicaments of newly
munication Technologies has rendered bureau- emerged countries in the 1950s. Such scholars
cracy’s way of doing things a bit more archaic. provided the scholarly and practical platforms on
These bureaucracies continue to face capacity which effective administration could be built and
issues that must be seriously addressed to help used as the means to provide development. They
governments implement their development plans. saw the importance of the role of the state in such
Administrative capacity thus continues to be a development. At the same time, they saw how the
major problem, so that development plans, includ- state could be effective if its institutions are well
ing poverty-alleviating strategies and fighting cor- equipped with personnel with skills and capacities
ruption, remain a mirage. The need to rebuild a to develop, plan, and execute public policies.
public bureaucracy, just as in the 1960s, is now Today, with the recognition of the role of the
back on the drawing board. It does not, however, state in development, especially after years of
mean implementing a one-size-fits-all approach, promotion of neoliberalism and the shrinking of
but taking into consideration the ecology of the the state, development administration has taken
country: As the United Nations said in the 1960s, on greater dimensions than perhaps it did in the
“the public service should in a very real sense 1950s and 1960s. With the call to build demo-
belong to the society it serves, sharing its culture, cratic development states in these countries, it has
its values, its problems and its ambitions. Even dawned on many that without effective adminis-
when external advice and assistance are available trative institutions built on the values of these
and accepted, they must be given an indigenous societies, reducing poverty, preventing terrorism,
character, for the public administration is an inte- etc., will continue to be a mirage. Early develop-
gral part of a nation's institutions” (UN 1961: 11). ment administration scholars showed how admin-
This was the idea projected by scholars interested istrative capabilities could and should be built. It
in development. is time for those interested in the development of
In current development discourse, however, developing countries to revisit these ideas, and
the focus is more on building a democratic devel- use them for shaping administrative institutions
opmental state, a situation projecting an effective that have suffered under the neoliberal mantra of
role for the state in marshaling all forces to development.
enhance development. Such a state needs a strong,
efficient, and effective government machinery
(public bureaucracy) that can continue to bring Cross-References
all sectors to the table collaboratively to discuss,
develop, and implement public policies. From ▶ Administrative Development
this perspective, we need the ideas and ideals ▶ Administrative Management
▶ Bureaucracy
6 Development Administration

▶ Bureaucratic Development Riggs FW (1962) Trends in the comparative study of

▶ Bureaucratic Organization public administration. Int Rev Adm Sci 28(1):9–15
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oping countries. Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge
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Hope KR (1984) The dynamics of development and devel- Brookings Institutions
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