The Democratization and Development Agenda and the African Civil Service: Issues Resolved or Matters Arising?

Abstract

For far too long, public administration has played second fiddle to economics in confronting the challenges of governance and development in Africa. Whether it is in the design of ‘good governance’ programmes, the reform of economic management policies or the renewal of institutions, it is economics that defines the issues and proffers the solutions. Yet economic prescriptions prove inadequate if the aim is to empower the people to make input into decisions on how they are governed and to influence policy outcomes in ways corresponding to their own notion of the ‘good life’. This article focuses on how public administration could, through its integration of the analytical competencies of the social sciences, promote that critical stance that the civil service needs to challenge the assumptions underlying public choice and to render meaningful advice on policy interventions.