Larry Schroeder endorses 'Limits'

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07/08/2013

Larry Schroeder endorses 'Limits'

Larry Schroeder from the Maxwell School at Syracuse wrote the following about my book, in Governance (http://m.sog-rc27.org/index.php/news/47-news-from-governance-june-20-2013):

As someone who has observed less than fully successful attempts toreform institutions in developing countries, I find Andrews’s list of under-lying causes of failures to be both compelling and on target. He posits thatsome countries simply go through the motions of making changes in rulesand regulations, with minimal intention of following through on thereforms. By making changes that external parties want, the recipientcountry “signals” to the donor that it has made the recommended changesand, therefore, deserves the accompanying development funding.However, within a few years, it becomes obvious that little or nothing hasreally changed.

...

Andrews recommends a “problem-driven iterative adaptation” (PDIA)approach to institutional reform efforts. He argues and illustrates, withanalysis of 44 health sector reform projects undertaken by the World Bankand the Global Fund, that projects focused on a well-defined problem anddesigned for flexibility were much more likely to be successful than pre-conceived, isomorphic approaches.

Given the need for flexibility, successful PDIA-based reform effortsshould be incremental, focusing on the local situation and determiningwhat seems to work in that context, and when an approach is observed notto be working, reformers should learn from their mistakes and be allowedto make necessary changes in design. This argument is buttressed withexamples from anticorruption reforms in Indonesia and decentralizationefforts in Rwanda. Finally, Andrews reports on an interview-based analysis of leadership in 12 cases of successful reform interventions in “diffi-cult” country settings. This analysis strongly suggests that successfulreform requires more than a single champion to lead the effort. Found tobe particularly important was broad leadership with multiple agents participating at the implementation stage.

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My course at Harvard: See the series of lecture materials here

Post 2015 governance indicators...past blog posts reflecting a variety of thoughts on this topic

'is a landmark analysis that will change the way we both understand and design institutional reform.' Ha-Joon Chang, University of Cambridge, and author of 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism

Where you can order the book

Make It Stick: Challenging, informative book on learning. Really got me thinking about how I teach, learn, impart, etc.

CHECK OUT THE MOZAMBIQUE EXPERIENCE ON THE BUILDING STATE CAPABILITY WEBSITE

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The World Bank doing a version of PDIA in Sierra Leone

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I like this article on uncertainty and project management; note the discussion on learning..." In our simple model of projects, learning comes from signals that are incompatible with the project team’s predictions. As project teams monitor their projects, they must recognize that observed signals are incompatible with their model of the world and be willing to change their representation of the world either by updating the partition or the transition mapping." So learning is only possible if we know what our theory of change is (our expectations) and we have information about what is going on to see if reality departs from these expectations, and we actually adjust what we do as a result.

Diagnosing Deep Roots of Development: Johannes W. Fedderke, Robert E. Klitgaard, James P. MacMurray, Valerio Napolioni

"It is argued that in complex settings, performance management may benefit from new ways of carrying out performance management. It is suggested that performance management needs to be more agile, more decentralised and more political."

Imran Rasul and Daniel Rogger looking at infrastructure projects in Nigeria: A really interesting paper...36% of announced projects never start...

MY RECENT PAPER ON GOVERNANCE AS ENDS AND MEANS

This paper synthesizes the approach I take to looking at governance in nations states. The approach emphasizes ends as the starting point for any view of governance. (Asking about what governments do rather than how they do them). I also emphasize means; but in thinking about what it takes to produce ends, not as stand-alone factors.

MY PAST WORLD BANK MONOGRAPH ON LEADERSHIP IN DEVELOPMENT

The paper explores what it takes to make change happen in the context of development, and in particular, the role leadership plays in bringing about change. The analysis and findings conclude that leadership manifests itself in different ways in different contexts, depending on readiness, factors that shape change, and leadership opportunities. However, the key characteristics of plurality, functionality, problem orientation, and change space creation are likely to be common to all successful leadership-led change events.

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The Limits of Institutional Reform in Development

07/08/2013