Publication: Governance and Civil Service Reform : A Regional Program
Date
1994-08
ISSN
Published
1994-08
Author(s)
Dia, Mamadou
Pinto, Rogerio
Mrope, Angelous
Abstract
This article reports on the
implementation of a long-term capacity building approach to
civil service reform. It starts with a review of past World
Bank support to civil service reform and confirms that the
cost containment approach achieved neither fiscal
stabilization nor efficiency objectives despite heavy
political and social costs. The rather disappointing results
are traced to the patrimonial character of the state whose
features in the civil service context are: recruitment based
on subjective and ascriptive criteria; public employment
managed as a welfare system; pay levels that are unrelated
to productivity; loyalty of officials to the person of the
ruler rather than to the state; and formalism of
administrative rules and procedures rather than the
substance. The paper argues that the direction of
improvement lies in improved governance; a broader approach
to civil service reform. Improving governance would begin
with an assessment of the institutional environment which
determines the patrimonial profile of the country: high when
all of these factors are absent, low when they are present.
This would be followed by the adoption of a strategy for
reform that could be a comprehensive approach, an enclave
approach or a hybrid approach, depending on whether the
country's patrimonial profile is high, low or average, respectively.
Citation
“Dia, Mamadou; Pinto, Rogerio; Mrope, Angelous. 1994. Governance and Civil Service Reform : A Regional Program. Africa Region Findings & Good Practice Infobriefs; No. 23. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/4b5280ca-46d1-5654-ac2b-ed5eb672194b License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”