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The World Bank and Governance : The Bank’s Efforts to Help Developing Countries Build State CapacityThis paper examines historically the World Bank's twin features: lending to developing economies to achieve tangible results and advocating specific development policies. Section 1 provides some conceptual underpinnings for the view that an effective state is essential for development. It asks whether development can be engineered, and state capacity increased, with large aid flows. Section 2 sketches the historical evolution of what characterizes the World Bank: lending to developing economies and advocacy of development policy. It concludes that, while the Bank discourse explicitly recognizes that developing countries need to improve their governance and build the capacity of the public sector to improve living standards, the Bank's performance in assisting governments in building state capacity and achieving better governance outcomes has been disappointing. Section 3 proposes an interpretation of why this has been the case. The interpretation is structural, and related to the way the Bank is organized. This concerns in particular (1) how its research is prioritized and used for decision-making, (2) how its leadership achieves a consensus between shareholders who hold different views on the role of government in the economy, and (3) how incentives for its staff emphasize disbursement and short-term success, and not capacity building and longer-term institutional sustainability.
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From Patronage to a Professional State : Bolivia Institutional and Governance Review, Volume 1. Main ReportThe study, an institutional, and governance review of Bolivia, describes the transformation of the country's political economy as of the 1980s, the aim for consistent macroeconomic stability, and, the consolidation of the democratic political regime. However, despite a number of bold reforms to develop market-oriented systems, and in contrast with government efforts, the quality of public services remained low. Namely, because public sector reforms were not implemented, and because of symptomatic institutional weaknesses; for although assistance was provided to modernize the civil service, and improve public administration, the lack of government commitment to a changing program focus, precluded noticeable results. The current reform agenda has identified the need for state modernization, governance and accountability, and judicial reform, addressed within the National Integrity Plan, to combat corruption, and other symptoms of public sector dysfunction. The study presents a blunt vision of Bolivian public administration, through the absence of a functioning bureaucracy, reviewing the legal framework and organizational structure, with an emphasis on the "informality" of public administration, - a challenge for institutional development. But the deeper causes of poor public sector performance, lie on the patrimonial dynamics of party politics. Recommendations include parallel advances between public, and market sector reforms, reliable external controls, and strengthened capacity of the public sector.
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Cities of Hope? Governance, Economic, and Human Challenges of Kenya's Five Largest CitiesAfter many decades of stagnation, Kenyan economy started to grow from the early-2000s. Much of this growth has been attributed to total factor productivity improvements in Kenyan economy arising out of many factors. A large share of this growth originated in urban areas, in the service and manufacturing sectors. These gains also paralleled reduction in poverty and higher enrolment in primary education. Yet, it has been argued that Kenyan cities, especially Nairobi, are not realizing their potential to contribute to economic growth and poverty reduction. Rapid urbanization has left Kenyan cities with huge backlogs in critical infrastructure and basic services, resulting in sprawling, overcrowded and impoverished informal settlements. The management of these cities has been dogged by fragmentation in responsibilities, lack of accountability at the local level, and weak capacities of key institutions. Within 20 years or so, the majority of the Kenyan population are expected be living in urban areas. This scale of urbanization will pose further socio-economic, environmental and institutional challenges for Kenyan cities. The Government's vision 2030 has highlighted rapid urbanization as one of four key challenges for the country alongside income inequality, unemployment and low savings. Despite their notable demographic and economic weights of urban centers in Kenya, there is no single study that gives a comprehensive overview of the urban landscape in Kenya. The objective of this sector work is to fill that gap by documenting and analyzing the situation in Kenya's five largest urban centers. The study aims to provide data and analysis regarding the state of these cities to help inform the evolving urban agenda in Kenya and to provide inputs into the preparation of the Kenya Municipal Program (KMP).