Strategic Issues in Administrative Reorganisation-Developing Countries Perspective

Reorganisation Developing Countries' Perspective Prahlad K Basu Of the several approaches available to measure efficiency of delivery, reviewing transition of governments in developing countries through the phases of governance, administration attd management, can provide a useful macro framework. At the micro level, there are also several measures of good government, these include: growth and efficiency of public spending, quantification of output and performance of government, the extent of structural change in the civil service, devolution of government's responsibility to decentralised executive agencies, reforms in public enterprise and removal of areas of government failure, improved effectiveness of governments to manage poverty alleviation and other social sector programmes like education and health which provide useful tools of measuring good government. Areas of government should be reduced when it is too much and the failures too many. Similarly the areas of government should be extended when too little. In the developing countries, governments have yet to provide the cutting edge of a nation's competitive advantage as they do in many developed countries like France and Italy. The experience of the UK during the Thatcher years also provides some useful lessons.