Development administration in the context of world economic recession: Some ideas on service provision in southern Sudan
| Date | 01 January 1988 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/pad.4230080105 |
| Author | Donald Curtis |
| Published date | 01 January 1988 |
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND DEVELOPMENT,
Vol.
8,
47-59
(1988)
Development administration in the context
of
world
economic recession: some ideas on service provision
in Southern Sudan
DONALD CURTIS
University
of
Birmingham
SUMMARY
This papers brings together several strains of thought around an outline suggestion for
reform of education administration and finance
in
the Southern Sudan. Administration has
to be seen
in
terms of incentives and disincentives to action. The administration of the
Southern Sudan constitutes the largest part of the elite
of
that part of the country and
consumes most public funds as salaries. In political interactions with sections of the public
there is a more pressing need to respond to the demands of educated youth
for
salaries
than to make adequate provision for non-salary expenses
of
services to the public. But the
system is not in a stable state and the full contradictions of the situation, for politicians,
bureaucrats and public, are revealed
by
the financial restrictions enforced as a result
of
national debt and international recession. Politically leaders in government service and
disaffected leaders
in
military opposition
in
the bush both continue to demand a fairer
distribution of central resources. But the possibility of generating, at the grass-roots, both
the resources necessary for non-salary costs and the necessary influence to demand services,
is something which could be further explored in the interests of all parties. This is a
potential new direction for reform in development administration.
ADMINISTRATIVE INCENTIVES
Administration takes place in a political context. This context may be expected
to constrain and influence the operations
of
the public sector in many ways, but
also provides opportunities which need to be explored. Such seems to be the
general finding of a number
of
recent writers (Grindle,
1980)
who, prompted by
developments within the wider field of organization theory, have brought the
attention of development administration theorists back full circle
to
the concerns
of Riggs
(1964)
and some others of the Comparative Administration Group. Now
the obvious fact that national
or
regional or even local government units work in
a political context, and are inter-penetrated with
it,
is
once again recognized. An
influential working document from the World Bank by Heaver
(1982)
takes up
Dr Curtis is a member
of
the Development Administration Group at the Institute
of
Local Government
Studies, University
of
Birmingham,
PO
Box
363,
Birmingham B15
2TT,
England.
0271-2075/88/010047-13$06.50
0
1988
by John Wiley
&
Sons, Ltd.
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