Paths between Peace and Public Service : A Comparative Analysis of Public Service Reform Trajectories in Postconflict Countries

Building a capable public service is fundamental to postconflict state building. Yet in postconflict settings, short-term pressures often conflict with this longer-term objective. To ensure peace and stabilize fragile coalitions, the imperative for political elites to hand out public jobs and better...

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Main Authors:	Blum, Jürgen René, Ferreiro-Rodriguez, Marcos, Srivastava, Vivek
Format:	Book
Language:	English
Published:	Washington, DC: World Bank 2018
Subjects:	POSTCONFLICT PUBLIC SERVICE CIVIL SERVICE WAGE BILL ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM PARALLEL STRUCTURES INSTITUTIONS STATE BUILDING CONFLICT POLITICAL ECONOMY CORRUPTION FRAGILE STATES PUBLIC SECTOR MANAGEMENT
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30971

id	okr-10986-30971
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-309712021-04-23T14:05:00Z Paths between Peace and Public Service : A Comparative Analysis of Public Service Reform Trajectories in Postconflict Countries Blum, Jürgen René Ferreiro-Rodriguez, Marcos Srivastava, Vivek POSTCONFLICT PUBLIC SERVICE CIVIL SERVICE WAGE BILL ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM PARALLEL STRUCTURES INSTITUTIONS STATE BUILDING CONFLICT POLITICAL ECONOMY CORRUPTION FRAGILE STATES PUBLIC SECTOR MANAGEMENT Building a capable public service is fundamental to postconflict state building. Yet in postconflict settings, short-term pressures often conflict with this longer-term objective. To ensure peace and stabilize fragile coalitions, the imperative for political elites to hand out public jobs and better pay to constituents dominates merit. Donor-financed projects that rely on technical assistants and parallel structures, rather than on government systems, are often the primary vehicle for meeting pressing service delivery needs. What, then, is a workable approach to rebuilding public services postconflict? Paths between Peace and Public Service seeks to answer this question by comparing public service reform trajectories in five countries—Afghanistan, Liberia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and Timor-Leste—in the aftermath of conflict. The study seeks to explain these countries’ different trajectories through process tracing and structured, focused methods of comparative analysis. To reconstruct reform trajectories, the report draws on more than 200 interviews conducted with government officials and other stakeholders, as well as administrative data. The study analyzes how reform trajectories are influenced by elite bargains and highlights their path dependency, shaped by preconflict legacies and the specifics of the conflict period. As the first systematic study on postconflict public service reforms, it identifies lessons for the future engagement of development partners in building public services. 2018-12-10T19:24:44Z 2018-12-10T19:24:44Z 2019 Book 978-1-4648-1082-4 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30971 English Directions in Development—Public Sector Governance; CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank Washington, DC: World Bank Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Publication Afghanistan Liberia Sierra Leone South Sudan Timor-Leste
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English
topic	POSTCONFLICT PUBLIC SERVICE CIVIL SERVICE WAGE BILL ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM PARALLEL STRUCTURES INSTITUTIONS STATE BUILDING CONFLICT POLITICAL ECONOMY CORRUPTION FRAGILE STATES PUBLIC SECTOR MANAGEMENT
spellingShingle	POSTCONFLICT PUBLIC SERVICE CIVIL SERVICE WAGE BILL ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM PARALLEL STRUCTURES INSTITUTIONS STATE BUILDING CONFLICT POLITICAL ECONOMY CORRUPTION FRAGILE STATES PUBLIC SECTOR MANAGEMENT Blum, Jürgen René Ferreiro-Rodriguez, Marcos Srivastava, Vivek Paths between Peace and Public Service : A Comparative Analysis of Public Service Reform Trajectories in Postconflict Countries
geographic_facet	Afghanistan Liberia Sierra Leone South Sudan Timor-Leste
relation	Directions in Development—Public Sector Governance;
description	Building a capable public service is fundamental to postconflict state building. Yet in postconflict settings, short-term pressures often conflict with this longer-term objective. To ensure peace and stabilize fragile coalitions, the imperative for political elites to hand out public jobs and better pay to constituents dominates merit. Donor-financed projects that rely on technical assistants and parallel structures, rather than on government systems, are often the primary vehicle for meeting pressing service delivery needs. What, then, is a workable approach to rebuilding public services postconflict? Paths between Peace and Public Service seeks to answer this question by comparing public service reform trajectories in five countries—Afghanistan, Liberia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and Timor-Leste—in the aftermath of conflict. The study seeks to explain these countries’ different trajectories through process tracing and structured, focused methods of comparative analysis. To reconstruct reform trajectories, the report draws on more than 200 interviews conducted with government officials and other stakeholders, as well as administrative data. The study analyzes how reform trajectories are influenced by elite bargains and highlights their path dependency, shaped by preconflict legacies and the specifics of the conflict period. As the first systematic study on postconflict public service reforms, it identifies lessons for the future engagement of development partners in building public services.
format	Book
author	Blum, Jürgen René Ferreiro-Rodriguez, Marcos Srivastava, Vivek
author_facet	Blum, Jürgen René Ferreiro-Rodriguez, Marcos Srivastava, Vivek
author_sort	Blum, Jürgen René
title	Paths between Peace and Public Service : A Comparative Analysis of Public Service Reform Trajectories in Postconflict Countries
title_short	Paths between Peace and Public Service : A Comparative Analysis of Public Service Reform Trajectories in Postconflict Countries
title_full	Paths between Peace and Public Service : A Comparative Analysis of Public Service Reform Trajectories in Postconflict Countries
title_fullStr	Paths between Peace and Public Service : A Comparative Analysis of Public Service Reform Trajectories in Postconflict Countries
title_full_unstemmed	Paths between Peace and Public Service : A Comparative Analysis of Public Service Reform Trajectories in Postconflict Countries
title_sort	paths between peace and public service : a comparative analysis of public service reform trajectories in postconflict countries
publisher	Washington, DC: World Bank
publishDate	2018
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30971
_version_	1764473295707570176

Paths between Peace and Public Service : A Comparative Analysis of Public Service Reform Trajectories in Postconflict Countries

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