Building administrative capacity under developmental states in Chile and Singapore: a comparative perspective
| Author | M. Shamsul Haque,Jose A. Puppim de Oliveira |
| Published date | 01 June 2021 |
| Date | 01 June 2021 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0020852320943656 |
| Subject Matter | Special Issue Articles |
Article
International
Review of
Administrative
Sciences
Building administrative
capacity under
developmental states in
Chile and Singapore: a
comparative perspective
M. Shamsul Haque
National University of Singapore, Singapore
Jose A. Puppim de Oliveira
FGV – Fundac¸~
ao Getulio Vargas (FGV EAESP and FGV EBAPE)
Abstract
Administrative capacity depends on the nature of the state of which the administrative
system is an integral part. In recent years, there has been a revival of debates on the role
of public administration under developmental states in Southeast Asiaand Latin America.
A major analytical component of developmental states has been their administrative
capacity and how to build it. There are significant variations in administrative capacity
among developmental states caused by divergences in their historical, economic, political,
and cultural contexts. This article compares two cross-continental cases (Singapore and
Chile) with regard to the formations of developmental states shaping their administrative
systems and capacity-building initiatives. It examines the divergences in their state for-
mations and the contextual factors affecting their administrative capacity. The article
concludes by making some generalizations, offering an analytical framework for further
research, and suggesting policies needed for building effective administrative capacity.
Corresponding author:
M. Shamsul Haque, Department of Political Science, National University of Singapore, 10 Kent Ridge
Crescent, Singapore 119260.
Email: polhaque@nus.edu.sg
International Review of Administrative
Sciences
2021, Vol. 87(2) 220–237
!The Author(s) 2020
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/0020852320943656
journals.sagepub.com/home/ras
Points for practitioners
This article highlights the significance of administrative capacity-building for develop-
ment. It explores how this capacity is shaped by the formation of the state under which
public administration functions. In explaining this relationship between state formation
and public administration, the article specifically focuses on the “developmental” state,
compares two cross-continental cases (Singapore and Chile) as regards how these two
developmental states differ and cause variations in their administrative systems, and
explains the major contextual factors leading to such variations. This understanding is
crucial to designing effective policies for building administrative capacity in any country
depending on its state formation and context.
Keywords
administrative capacity, Chile, contextual differences, developmental state, Singapore
Introduction
1
In the field of public administration and policy, the significance of capacity-
building has gained greater recognition in recent years, especially in non-
Western countries, in the context of global competition for rapid socioeconomic
success (El-Taliawi and Van Der Wal, 2019). Among the major domains of state
capacity (military, administrative, and political), it is administrative capacity that
is considered more feasible to develop and more empirically verifiable (Cardenas,
2010; El-Taliawi and Van Der Wal, 2019). However, most existing studies on
administrative capacity-building have been too managerial and technical, without
much attention being paid to the nature of the state under which public bureau-
cracy functions. Thus, there has been an intellectual concern with regard to the
relative absence of a state-focused approach in public administration as a field of
study in general (Roberts, 2018; Skocpol et al., 1985). It is also recognized by some
scholars that cross-national differences in administrative practices are largely due
to variations in the nature of state formations (e.g. capitalist, socialist, develop-
mental, and bureaucratic), which have undergone a series of changes in recent
decades (Farazmand, 2002; Kim, 2008).
Thus, in exploring the implications of the nature of the state for public admin-
istration and its capacity, this article is focused on the “developmental state” (a
widely known state formation). First, because the nature of public bureaucracy and
its crucial role in development constitute core components of developmental state
formation compared to other state formations (Block and Negoita, 2016;
Kasahara, 2013; Ricz, 2015), a major feature of the developmental state is actually
its emphasis on a highly capable “meritocratic bureaucracy,” with embedded auton-
omy in interacting with other agents in society to enhance social and economic
development (see Evans, 1995; Ricz, 2015). Second, there has been a renewed
Haque and Puppim de Oliveira 221
To continue reading
Request your trial