Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T07:21:00.601Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Contingent technocracy: bureaucratic independence in developing countries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 December 2016

Manuel P. Teodoro  and
M. Anne Pitcher
Manuel P. Teodoro
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Texas A&M University, USA E-mail: mteodoro@tamu.edu
M. Anne Pitcher
Affiliation:
Departments of Political Science and Afroamerican and African Studies, University of Michigan, USA E-mail: pitchera@umich.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of formal bureaucratic independence under varying democratic conditions. Conventional accounts predict that greater formal independence of technocratic agencies facilitates policy implementation, but those claims rest on observations of industrialised, high-income countries that are also established democracies. On the basis of research in developing countries, we argue that the effects of agency independence depend on the political context in which the agency operates. Our empirical subjects are privatisation agencies and their efforts to privatise state-owned enterprises in Africa. We predict that greater independence leads to more thorough privatisation under authoritarian regimes, but that the effect of independence declines as a country becomes more democratic. Using an original data set, we examine the relationship between formal agency independence and privatisation in Africa from 1990 to 2007. Our results modify the conventional wisdom on bureaucratic independence and culminate in a more nuanced theory of “contingent technocracy”.

Keywords

Africaagency independencebureaucracydemocratisationprivatisation
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 37 , Issue 4 , December 2017 , pp. 401 - 429
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press, 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acemoglu, D. and Robinson, J. (2012). Why Nations Fail. New York: Crown Publishers.Google Scholar
Akwetey, E. and Kraus, J. (2007). Trade Unions, Development, and Democratization in Zambia: The Continuing Struggle. In Kraus J. (ed.), Trade Unions and the Coming of Democracy in Africa, New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar
Araral, E. (2009) The Strategic Games that Bureaucrats Play: An Institutional Rational Choice Analysis. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 19(4): 853–871.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Araral, E. (2014) Policy and Regulatory Design for Developing Countries: A Mechanism Design and Transaction Cost Approach. Policy Sciences 47(3): 289–303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borner, S., Brunetti, A. and Weder, B. (1995) Political Credibility and Economic Development. New York: St. Martin’s Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boylan, D. M. (2001) Defusing Democracy: Central Bank Autonomy and the Transition from Authoritarian Rule. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brambor, T., Clark, W. R. and Golder, M. (2006) Understanding Interaction Models: Improving Empirical Analysis. Political Analysis 14(1): 63–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charron, N. and Lapuente, V. (2011) Which Dictators Produce Quality of Government? Studies in Comparative International Development 46: 397–423.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chifuwe, S. (2002) Privatization will be Over Zambians’ Dead Bodies. The Post (9 December).Google Scholar
De Figueiredo, R. (2002) Electoral Competition, Political Uncertainty, and Policy Insulation. American Political Science Review 96(2): 321–333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diermeier, D., Ericson, J., Frye, T. and Lewis, S. (1997) Credible Commitment and Property Rights: The Role of Strategic Interaction Between Political and Economic Actors. In Weimer D. (ed.), The Political Economy of Property Rights. New York: Cambridge University Press, 20–42.Google Scholar
Dreher, A. (2006) IMF and Economic Growth: The Effects of Programs, Loans, and Compliance With Conditionality. World Development 34(5): 769–788.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dubash, N. K. and Morgan, B. (2012) Understanding the Rise of the Regulatory State of the South. Regulation and Governance 6(2): 261–281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dubash, N. K. and Morgan, B. (2013) The Rise of the Regulatory State of the South: Infrastructure and Development in Emerging Economies. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elgie, R. (1998) Democratic Accountability and Central Bank Independence: Historical and Contemporary, National and European Perspectives. West European Politics 21(3): 53–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ennser-Jedenastik, L. (2016) The Politicization of Regulatory Agencies: Between Partisan Influence and Formal Independence. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 26(3): 507–518.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fukuyama, F. (2013) What is Governance? Governance 26(3): 347–368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilardi, F. (2005) The Formal Independence of Regulators: A Comparison of 17 Countries and 7 Sectors. Swiss Political Science Review 11(4): 139–167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilardi, F. (2007) The Same, But Different: Central Banks, Regulatory Agencies, and the Politics of Delegation to Independent Authorities. Comparative European Politics 5: 303–327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilardi, F. (2008) Delegation in the Regulatory State: Independent Regulatory Agencies in Western Europe. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ginsburg, T. and Simpser, S. (eds.) (2013) Constitutions in Authoritarian Regimes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haggard, S. and Kaufman, R. (1989) Economic Adjustment in New Democracies. In Nelson, J.M., Waterbury J., Haggard S., Kaufman R.R., Whitehead L., Callaghy T.M. and Kahler M. (eds.), Fragile Coalitions: The Politics of Economic Adjustment. Washington, DC: Overseas Development Council, 58–78.Google Scholar
Hanretty, C. and Koop, C. (2011) Measuring the Formal Independence of Regulatory Agencies. Journal of European Public Policy 19(2): 198–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harsch, E. (2000) Privatization Shifts Gears in Africa. Africa Recovery 14(1): 8–17.Google Scholar
Hellman, J. (1998) Winners Take All: The Politics of Partial Reform in Postcommunist Transitions. World Politics 50(January): 203–234.Google Scholar
Hirano, K. and Imbens, G. W. (2004) The Propensity Score With Continuous Treatments. In Andrew Gelman A. and Meng X. (eds.), Applied Bayesian Modeling and Causal Inference from Incomplete-Data Perspectives. West Sussex, UK: Wiley.Google Scholar
Hochstetler, K. (2012) Civil Society and the Regulatory State of the South: A Commentary. Regulation and Governance 6: 362–370.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Humphreys, M. and Bates, R. (2005) Political Institutions and Economic Policies: Lessons from Africa. British Journal of Political Science 35(3): 403–428.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jordana, J. and Levi-Faur, D. (2005) The Diffusion of Regulatory Capitalism in Latin America: Sectoral and National Channels in the Making of a New Order. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 598: 102–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kahler, M. (1993) Bargaining With the IMF: Two-Level Strategies and Developing Countries. In Evans P., Jacobson H. and Putnam R. (eds.), Double-Edged Diplomacy: International Bargaining and Domestic Politics. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 363–394.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keefer, P. and Stasavage, D. (2002) Checks and Balances, Private Information, and the Credibility of Monetary Commitments. International Organization 56(4): 751–774.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larmer, M. and Fraser, A. (2007). Of Cabbages and King Cobra: Populist Politics and Zambia’s 2006 Election. African Affairs 106: 611–637.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levi-Faur, D. (2003) The Politics of Liberalisation: Privatisation and Competition in Europe’s and Latin America’s Telecoms and Electricity Industries. European Journal of Political Research 42: 705–740.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levy, B. and Spiller, P. T. (1994) The Institutional Foundations of Regulatory Commitment: A Comparative Analysis of Telecommunications Regulation. Journal of Law, Economics & Organization 10(2): 201–246.Google Scholar
Maggetti, M. (2007) De Facto Independence After Delegation: A Fuzzy-Set Analysis. Regulation and Governance 1: 271–294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maggetti, M. (2012) The Media Accountability of Independent Regulatory Agencies. European Political Science Review 4(3): 385–408.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Majone, G. (1999) The Regulatory State and its Legitimacy Problems. West European Politics 22(1): 1–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mkandawire, T. (2015) Neopatrimonialism and the Political Economy of Economic Performance in Africa: Critical Reflections. World Politics 67(3): 563–612.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moe, T. (1995) The Politics of Structural Choice: Toward a Theory of Public Bureaucracy. In Williamson O. E. (ed.), Organization Theory: From Chester Barnard to the Present and Beyond. New York: Oxford University Press, 116–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nyirinkindi, E. and Opagi, M. (2010) Privatisation and Parastatal Reform. In Kuteesa F., Tumusiime-Mutebile E., Whitworth A. and Williamson, T. (eds.), Uganda’s Economic Reforms: Insider Accounts. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 355–382.Google Scholar
Pamacheche, F. and Koma, B. (2007) Privatization in Sub-Saharan Africa – An Essential Route to Poverty Alleviation. African Integration Review 1(2): 1–22.Google Scholar
Pepinsky, T. (2014) The Institutional Turn in Comparative Authoritarianism. British Journal of Political Science 44(3): 631–653.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pitcher, M. A. (2012) Party Politics and Economic Reform in Africa’s Democracies. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pitcher, M. A. and Teodoro, M. (Forthcoming) The Bureaucracy: Privatisation Agencies, Regime Type and Economic Reform in Africa. In Cheeseman, N. (ed.), Institutions and Democracy in Africa: How the Rules of the Game Shape Political Developments. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Polity IV Project (2010) Political Regime Characteristics and Transitions, 1810-2010. http://www.systemicpeace.org/polity/polity4.htm (accessed 8 May 2012).Google Scholar
Przeworski, A. (1997) Comment on “Political Determinants” of the Success of Economic Transition. In Weimer, D. (ed.), The Political Economy of Property Rights. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 80–83.Google Scholar
Putnam, R. (1988) Diplomacy and Domestic Politics: The Logic of Two-Level Games. International Organization 42(3): 427–460.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shepsle, K. A. (1992) Bureaucratic Drift, Coalitional Drift, and Time Consistency. Journal of Law, Economics, and Organizations 8(1): 111–118.Google Scholar
Slater, D. (2010) Ordering Power. Contentious Politics and Authoritarian Leviathans in Southeast Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stasavage, D. (2003) Transparency, Accountability and the Economic Consequences of Monetary Institutions. American Journal of Political Science 47(3): 389–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Svolik, M. (2012) The Politics of Authoritarian Rule. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
United Nations (2015) World Economic Situation and Prospects 2015. New York: United Nations.Google Scholar
Van de Walle, N. (2001) African Economies and the Politics of Permanent Crisis, 1979-1999. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Von Mettenheim, K. and Malloy, J. (1998) Introduction. In Von Mettenheim K. and Malloy J. (eds.), Deepening Democracy in Latin America. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1–20.Google Scholar
Waterbury, J. (1992) The Heart of the Matter? Public Enterprise and the Adjustment Process. In Haggard S. and Kaufman R. (eds.), The Politics of Economic Adjustment. Princeton, NY: Princeton University Press, 182–217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, O.C. and Bhatia, A. (1998) Privatisation in Africa. Washington, DC: The World Bank.Google Scholar
Wilson, J. Q. (1989) Bureaucracy. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
World Bank (1995) Bureaucrats in Business: The Economics and Politics of Government Ownership. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
World Bank (1999) Privatization Database, 1988–1999, http://rru.worldbank.org/Privatization/ (accessed 10 April 2014).Google Scholar
World Bank (2007). Privatization Database, 2000--2007, http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/privatization-database (accessed 10 April 2014).Google Scholar
World Bank (2008) Privatization Database, 2000–2008, http://rru.worldbank.org/privatization/ (accessed 10 April 2014).Google Scholar
Wright, J. (2008) Do Authoritarian Institutions Constrain? How Legislatures Affect Economic Growth and Investment. American Journal of Political Science 52(2): 322–343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Teodoro and Pitcher supplementary material

Appendices

Download Teodoro and Pitcher supplementary material(File)
File 97.4 KB