What Is State Capacity?

What Is State Capacity?

Reform leaders who want to pursue technically sound policies are confronted with the problem of getting myriad government agencies, staffed by thousands of bureaucrats and state personnel, to deliver. This paper provides a framework for thinking ab...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Khemani, Stuti
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2019
Subjects:
STATE CAPACITY
PUBLIC POLICY
BUREAUCRACY
SERVICE DELIVERY
PUBLIC SECTOR MANAGEMENT
POLITICIANS
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/336421549909150048/What-Is-State-Capacity
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31266
id okr-10986-31266
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-312662022-09-20T00:12:48Z What Is State Capacity? Khemani, Stuti STATE CAPACITY PUBLIC POLICY BUREAUCRACY SERVICE DELIVERY PUBLIC SECTOR MANAGEMENT POLITICIANS Reform leaders who want to pursue technically sound policies are confronted with the problem of getting myriad government agencies, staffed by thousands of bureaucrats and state personnel, to deliver. This paper provides a framework for thinking about the problem as a series of interdependent principal-agent relationships in complex organizations, where one type of actor, the agent, takes actions on behalf of another, the principal. Using this framework to review and forge connections across a large literature, the paper shows how the crux of state capacity is the culture of bureaucracies -- the incentives, beliefs and expectations, or norms, shared among state personnel about how others are behaving. Although this characterization might apply generally to any complex organization, what distinguishes agencies of the state is the fundamental role of politics -- the processes by which the leaders who exercise power over bureaucracies, starting from the lowest village levels, are selected and sanctioned. Politics shapes not only the incentives of state personnel, but perhaps more importantly, it coordinates their beliefs and expectations, and thereby the performance of government agencies. Recognizing these roles of politics, the paper offers insights for what reform leaders can do to strengthen state capacity for public goods. 2019-02-13T17:22:36Z 2019-02-13T17:22:36Z 2019-02 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/336421549909150048/What-Is-State-Capacity http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31266 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8734 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic STATE CAPACITY
PUBLIC POLICY
BUREAUCRACY
SERVICE DELIVERY
PUBLIC SECTOR MANAGEMENT
POLITICIANS
spellingShingle STATE CAPACITY
PUBLIC POLICY
BUREAUCRACY
SERVICE DELIVERY
PUBLIC SECTOR MANAGEMENT
POLITICIANS
Khemani, Stuti
What Is State Capacity?
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8734
description Reform leaders who want to pursue technically sound policies are confronted with the problem of getting myriad government agencies, staffed by thousands of bureaucrats and state personnel, to deliver. This paper provides a framework for thinking about the problem as a series of interdependent principal-agent relationships in complex organizations, where one type of actor, the agent, takes actions on behalf of another, the principal. Using this framework to review and forge connections across a large literature, the paper shows how the crux of state capacity is the culture of bureaucracies -- the incentives, beliefs and expectations, or norms, shared among state personnel about how others are behaving. Although this characterization might apply generally to any complex organization, what distinguishes agencies of the state is the fundamental role of politics -- the processes by which the leaders who exercise power over bureaucracies, starting from the lowest village levels, are selected and sanctioned. Politics shapes not only the incentives of state personnel, but perhaps more importantly, it coordinates their beliefs and expectations, and thereby the performance of government agencies. Recognizing these roles of politics, the paper offers insights for what reform leaders can do to strengthen state capacity for public goods.
format Working Paper
author Khemani, Stuti
author_facet Khemani, Stuti
author_sort Khemani, Stuti
title What Is State Capacity?
title_short What Is State Capacity?
title_full What Is State Capacity?
title_fullStr What Is State Capacity?
title_full_unstemmed What Is State Capacity?
title_sort what is state capacity?
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2019
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/336421549909150048/What-Is-State-Capacity
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31266
_version_ 1764473929766797312

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