Administrative Reforms: Towards Sustainable Practices

This volume analyses the impact of globalization on governance, and specifically on public-sector reforms. Starting from the premise that adhocism and sectoralism are the main reasons why past attempts at administrative reforms in India have not succeeded, this volume maintains that some of the basic tenets of mainstream approaches to administrative reform require urgent and critical re-examination. The contributors analyse the prevailing administrative culture in India in the context of the following recent developments: The advent of globalization and its impact on India, including the increasing involvement of international NGOs and multilateral and donor agencies. The impact of new technologies–such as IT, and environmental and medical technology-on the conceptualization of administrative reforms. Privatization as a reform process and its implication for the state, civil society, and the processes of decentralization and democratization. The relevance of reform practices for improving service delivery to people by making provisions for the right to information, electoral reforms and anti-corruption measures in order to improve the implementation of pro-poor policies. The ten essays in this volume dwell on three distinct areas-urban governance, energy and environmental governance, and service delivery systems–which have been subjected to a blizzard of reforms in recent years. The contributors investigate the role of public and private partners as agents of change and showcase successful experiments that have transformed the lives of local rural communities. They assert the need for a radical bottom up approach in administrative reforms. The practices picked up from different areas for presentation in this book strengthen the argument that sustainability is closely related to local participation which forms the core epistemological concern of administrative reforms. Providing numerous new insights into a subject of vital importance to contemporary India, this book will be very useful to both practitioners and scholars of public administration and to administrative training institutes.