What Is State Capacity?

Khemani, Stuti

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: STATE CAPACITY;    PUBLIC POLICY;    BUREAUCRACY;    SERVICE DELIVERY;    PUBLIC SECTOR MANAGEMENT;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-8734
RP-ID  :  WPS8734

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Reform leaders who want to pursuetechnically sound policies are confronted with the problemof getting myriad government agencies, staffed by thousandsof bureaucrats and state personnel, to deliver. This paperprovides a framework for thinking about the problem as aseries of interdependent principal-agent relationships incomplex organizations, where one type of actor, the agent,takes actions on behalf of another, the principal. Usingthis framework to review and forge connections across alarge literature, the paper shows how the crux of statecapacity is the culture of bureaucracies -- the incentives,beliefs and expectations, or norms, shared among statepersonnel about how others are behaving. Although thischaracterization might apply generally to any complexorganization, what distinguishes agencies of the state isthe fundamental role of politics -- the processes by whichthe leaders who exercise power over bureaucracies, startingfrom the lowest village levels, are selected and sanctioned.Politics shapes not only the incentives of state personnel,but perhaps more importantly, it coordinates their beliefsand expectations, and thereby the performance of governmentagencies. Recognizing these roles of politics, the paperoffers insights for what reform leaders can do to strengthenstate capacity for public goods.