Technical assistance for institutional capacity building
| DOI | 10.1177/0020852307075694 |
| Author | Keith Snavely,Uday Desai |
| Published date | 01 March 2007 |
| Date | 01 March 2007 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Technical assistance for institutional capacity building: the
transferability of administrative structures and practices
Uday Desai and Keith Snavely
Abstract
The US government has been actively engaged for the last 15 years in foreign
assistance programs for building democratic governance institutions and enhanc-
ing overall government capacity in the former Soviet bloc countries. Transfers of
public policies, administrative structures and management practices from one
country to another are problematic. In this article we suggest that there are some
fundamental constraints inherent in the framework of cross-national transfers. It
identifies two major transferability challenges: (1) feasibility of transfer and
(2) appropriateness of transfer. This article discusses three institution building
programs of short duration (three to five years), whose broad purposes were
institutional and professional capacity building. Many powerful forces, domestic
and international, shape the likelihood of democratic consolidation in the transi-
tional democracies. While fundamental questions about the transferability of
institutional norms and structures from one country to another remain, our expe-
riences indicate that thoughtful and flexible implementation strategies are likely to
increase the chances that soft technology transfer projects will contribute to build-
ing institutional capacity. A great degree of uncertainty, nevertheless, will always
remain in determining the long-term impacts of foreign technical assistance
programs for transfer of institutional norms and structures.
Points for practitioners
International projects for institution building encounter two critical challenges:
(1) constraints on transfer of political, social and economic institutions from one
society to another; and (2) designing and managing a project that establishes
Uday Desai is Professor, Department of Political Science, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, USA
and Keith Snavely is Professor, Department of Political Science, Southern Illinois University,
Carbondale, USA.
Copyright © 2007 IIAS, SAGE Publications (Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore)
Vol 73(1):133–146 [DOI:10.1177/0020852307075694]
International
Review of
Administrative
Sciences
To continue reading
Request your trial