Because coconuts do not grow in Canberra: Complexity theory and capacity development in Solomon Islands Police Force
| Date | 01 August 2019 |
| Published date | 01 August 2019 |
| Author | Jodie Curth‐Bibb |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/pad.1862 |
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Because coconuts do not grow in Canberra: Complexity theory
and capacity development in Solomon Islands Police Force
Jodie Curth‐Bibb
University of Queensland, Australia
Correspondence
J. Curth‐Bibb, School of Political Science and
International Studies, University of
Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072,
Australia.
Email: j.curth@uq.edu.au
Funding information
Australian Federal Police
Summary
Statebuilding has been informed and captured by reductionist, linear change models.
Defined by technocratic approaches to public sector (re)building and reform—it has
been monitored, measured and evaluated by New Public Management artefacts such
as log‐frames and Results‐Based Management. Through a case study on the capacity
development of the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force, I explore the possibilities for
using complexity theory to better understand, manage, and monitor capacity develop-
ment interventions. The analysis of interview data with police practitioners from both
sides of the intervention—advisors and local counterparts—reveals the explanatory
power of complexity concepts (such as interconnectedness, emergence, initial condi-
tions, and non‐linear change) in ways that could inform a rethink of how we frame
public sector capacity building interventions.
KEYWORDS
capacity development, complex adaptive systems, complexity, institutionalreform, programme
management, publicsector reform
1|INTRODUCTION
Statebuilding in “fragile”and postconflict settings has been
characterised by rationalist, reductionist, linear change models. The
theories of change underlying such interventions provide technical
and bureaucratic solutions to “underdevelopment”and conflict based
on the assumption that the liberal state and good governance—pur-
sued through public sector capacity building and reform—will provide
the foundations for economic development and peace (Boege &
Curth‐Bibb, 2011; Goldfinch & DeRouen, 2014). Such approaches to
statebuilding typically focus on the reform and capacity development
of “bureaucratic expertise and machinery of government”as well as
democratic and rule‐of‐law institutions (including the provision of
property rights and corruption watchdogs; Goldfinch & DeRouen,
2014, p. 96).
This paper explores one such institution building intervention—the
Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI)—and in par-
ticular, the capacity development of the Royal Solomon Islands Police
Force (RSIPF). Based on the analysis of semistructured interviews with
police practitioners, this paper explores a different ontological/
epistemological expression of statebuilding through examining the
explanatory purchase of key complexity theory concepts, including
interconnectedness, interdependence, and coupling; complex adaptive
agents (CAAs); emergence, localised interactions producing the global,
and self‐organisation; coevolution; and sensitivity to the initial condi-
tions, feedback processes, and non‐linearity. Importantly, this paper
goes on to consider the practical implications for public sector capac-
ity development and policing interventions and how a complexity
understanding might inform a different approach to programme man-
agement and monitoring and evaluation. The findings resonate with
other recent work on post‐New Public Management (NPM)
approaches (Andrews, 2013, Brinkerhoff & Brinkerhoff, 2015).
2|BACKGROUND
A great deal of statebuilding has been pursued through the transfer of
technical capacities from the donor country to the “host”country in
various forms of technical assistance (see MacGinty & Sanghera,
2012). This approach to public sector reform involves
Received: 2 January 2019 Revised: 21 May 2019 Accepted: 26 June 2019
DOI: 10.1002/pad.1862
Public Admin Dev. 2019;39:133–143. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pad 133
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