Public Administration and Development

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• Issue Information

  No abstract is available for this article.

• Unpacking ‘public silence’: Civil society activism under authoritarian rule in Ethiopia

  How do civil society organisations (CSOs) and the state interact in non‐democratic settings? Non‐democratic regimes often meet civil society activism with repression, however, on an every‐day basis contestation and control take more diverse forms. To capture how CSOs bargain with and contest state power, as well as how states police CSOs, this article draws on the case of Ethiopia (1991–2018). It analyses different types of interactions between service providing CSOs and state actors and studies when and how CSOs have been able to place their demands on state actors and when and to what extend their demands have been adhered to. Looking beyond the absence of public protests against the ruling government by CSOs, the article argues that CSOs, including those formally aligned to or co‐opted by the regime, have been resourceful in devising strategies that promote the interests of their members and beneficiaries. Defying co‐optation, they have constantly negotiated space through a combination of cooperation, coexistence and contestation.

• Does citizen participation make public servants more satisfied with their jobs? It depends on whether they are Spectators or Participants

  Is citizen participation in policymaking and implementation desirable? Numerous studies have explored its effects on policy outcomes and citizen attitudes. We, instead, examine its effects on public servants. Citizen participation changes public sector job characteristics and thus potentially job attitudes. Looking at job satisfaction, we argue that citizen participation negatively affects public servants who observe, but do not participate in citizen participation initiatives in their institution's decisions (“Spectators”), yet not public servants who are “Participants.” “Participants” learn to appreciate the benefits of citizen participation while minimizing its cost. Survey data from public servants in one developing country, Bangladesh, provides empirical support.

• To know is to act? Revisiting the impact of government transparency on corruption

  Transparency is expected to reduce corruption by enabling the public to uncover it and thus hold officials accountable. This assumes citizens care about corruption and have mechanisms for enacting accountability. Yet, paradoxically, transparency has been prescribed as a cure against corruption precisely in contexts where such mechanisms are weak. This article integrates research from different disciplines to better understand when and how transparency reduces corruption. It finds that citizens do react to information about corruption even in countries with weak institutions and wide‐spread corruption, especially if the information is widely shared, corruption is a salient issue, and there are some expectations of sanctions for malfeasance. Furthermore, even partial compliance with transparency policies can make a difference. More research should explore when and why bureaucrats comply with accountability pressures from above and below, how expectations about sanctions are formed and lead to ‘indignation rather than resignation,’ as well what the systemic effects of transparency policies are and how they evolve over time.

• Exploring service‐providing non‐governmental organization perceptions of shifting civic space in Ghana: Impacts of government and international actors

  Civil society space is constantly shifting, either negatively (e.g., shrinking, narrowing) or positively (e.g., expanding). These shifts are predominantly attributed to actions by central government actors, such as the implementation and enforcement of laws. Emergent work, however, also recognizes that in the context of the Global South, the international community can take actions to shrink or expand civil society space. Recently, Ghana in West Africa—known for its democratic stability—has introduced significant legislative and administrative reforms aimed at regulating the NGO sector. We interview 20 Ghanaian service‐providing NGOs to explore perceived shifts in civil society space and the impacts of these shifts, as well as strategies service‐providing NGOs are employing in response to shifting civic space. Findings identify perceived shifts in civic space caused by international actors and the Ghanaian government, as well as strategies for combating and mitigating shifting space.

• Public sector reforms in developing countries: A preliminary review

  Developing countries have adopted or adapted public sector reform interventions based largely on the model of new public management (NPM). Since this model has now been rejected as a global ‘one‐size‐fits‐all’ framework, what does post‐new public management hold for developing countries? This paper offers a preliminary review of the literature on public sector reforms in developing countries. It charts scholarship which examined the evolution (including different types of policy interventions), the failure of NPM, and contemporary approaches to reform. The post‐new public management era is ill‐defined, eclectic, and characterised as hybrid and layered where new reforms are superimposed on pre‐existing interventions to deliver ‘good enough’ governance in developing countries.

• A review of the unintended gender effects of international development efforts

  There is widespread recognition among scholars, international aid providers and evaluators of the need to take into account the unintended outcomes of international development efforts. Practitioners have also signed on to charters that promise they will do their utmost best to ‘do no harm’. This article focusses on the often overlooked unintended gender effects. A rigorous literature review was conducted to reveal some of the most prominent unintended consequences as documented in primary research in development studies. Five prevalent unintended gender effects were identified: (1) household dynamics, (2) anti‐foreign backfire, (3) overburdening of women, (4) human trafficking and sexual exploitation and (5) hype. While not all of the unintended gender effects are negative, most of the reported unintended effects jeopardise the intended outcomes of the interventions. This research provides both a call and a tool to analyse more systematically the unintended gender effects of international development efforts.

• Issue Information

  No abstract is available for this article.

• Fiscal self‐sufficiency, debt policy, and long‐term sustainability in China's emerging local bond market

  Using panel data from 155 Chinese provincial‐level governments between 2015 and 2020, this study develops fiscal indicators to measure the sustainability of China's bond market given its institutional context. With these indicators, the research empirically explores the effect of fiscal institutions such as centrally‐imposed debt limits on local governments' debt sustainability. It also investigates the capacity of local governments for self‐sufficiency to meet their debt obligations and maintain long‐term sustainability. We find that debt limits have promoted local debt sustainability while local fiscal self‐sufficiency has had little effect on debt sustainability in the long‐term. The findings provide public finance and policy scholars with an understanding of the effectiveness of fiscal institutions such as debt limits imposed by China's central government.

• Can tax agents support tax compliance in low‐income countries? Evidence from Uganda

  Tax agents' role in ensuring or deterring compliance with tax obligations has received relatively little attention in the literature. Some evidence has emerged indicating when agents improve (or decrease) compliance, and why taxpayers employ their services. However, most existing studies have focused on high‐ or upper‐middle‐income countries. As the tax systems of low‐income countries present a unique set of compliance issues, a closer look at the role that tax agents play in these contexts is warranted. In this paper, we present evidence from two surveys on their use in Uganda. Our results show that tax agents contribute to an increased quality of filed returns thereby leading to lower audit adjustments The type of services more frequently requested by taxpayers seem to match those in high‐income countries, as do their reasons for engaging tax agents in the first place.

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