Good Government in the Tropics

In Good Government in the Tropics, Judith Tendler questions widely prevailing views about why governments so often perform poorly and about what causes them to improve. Drawing on a set of four cases involving public bureaucracies at work under the direction of an innovative state government in Brazil, the book offers findings of significance to the current debates about organization of the public-sector workplace, public service delivery, decentralization, and the interaction between government and civil society. The case chapters represent four different sectors, each traditionally spoken for by its distinct experts, literatures, and public agnecies--rural preventive health, small enterprise development, agricultural extension for small farmers, and employment-creating public works construction and drought relief. With findings that cut across these sectoral boundaries, the book raises questions about the policy advice proferred by the international donor community. It shifts the terms of the prevailing debate away from mistrust of government toward an understanding of the circumstances under which public servants become truly committed to their work and public service improves dramatically.

Author: Judith Tendler
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: 11/13/1998
Pages: 240
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.75lbs
Size: 9.03h x 6.05w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9780801860928

About the Author

Judith Tendler is professor of political economy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her previous works include Electric Power in Brazil: Entrepreneurship in the Public Sector, Inside Foreign Aid and New Lessons from Old Projects: The Workings of Rural Development in Northeast Brazil.

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