Getting Good Government: Capacity Building in the Public Sectors of Developing Countries (Harvard Studies in International Development)

The creation and preservation of capable states is a lengthy, laborious, and multifaceted process, fraught with opportunities for failure and misspent resources. It requires time, commitment, innovative ideas, consensus building, new rules of the game, efficient design and resource allocation in technical assistance, and considerable good luck. By the mid-1990s, the imperative to improve government performance had been added to the development agenda precisely because of greater awareness that neither markets nor democracies could function well--or perhaps function at all--unless governments' efficiency, effectiveness, and responsiveness are improved.

This publication seeks to help understand how governments can be encouraged to perform better and how state capabilities can be developed in ways that allow markets and democracies to flourish. The contributors draw comparative lessons from specific efforts designed to enhance human resource development in the public sector, to strengthen organizations that contribute to the public purpose of government, and to reform the institutions that set the rules for economic and political interaction.

Getting Good Government will be of interest not only to public officials and public management and policy analysts, but also to political scientists and international development specialists.