Building municipal capacity : lessons from 'top down' and 'bottom up' state building
Date
2016
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Abstract
As companies engage to help build municipal capacity in South Africa, it may be useful to situate
these efforts within the experience of international attempts to drive good governance and
development through ‘state building’. Analysis provides warnings about an exclusive focus on the
institutions and capacities of the formal government, with attendant risks of failed projects or even
perverse effects that reinforce division and increase resistance to change. It suggests that a broader
lens on the society and the political economy may be necessary to conceptualize and mobilize
sufficient coalitions for positive change. And it provides some guidance to companies to the specific
risks and opportunities they face as change agents. The discussion below draws substantially from
studies of particularly conflict-prone environments, both because of the availability of evidence, and
because of the relevance to the South African municipal context.
Description
CITATION: Ganson, B. (2016). Building municipal capacity : lessons from ‘top down’ and ‘bottom up’ state building. ACDS Working Paper Series 2016/3.
Keywords
Business rights, Human rights
Citation
Ganson, B. (2016). Building municipal capacity : lessons from ‘top down’ and ‘bottom up’ state building. ACDS Working Paper Series 2016/3.