Building State Capability: Evidence, Analysis, Action

Governments play a major role in the development process, and constantly introduce reforms and policies to achieve developmental objectives. Many of these interventions have limited impact, however; schools get built but children don't learn, IT systems are introduced but not used, plans are written but not implemented. These achievement deficiencies reveal gaps in capabilities, and weaknesses in the process of building state capability. This book addresses these weaknesses and gaps. It starts by providing evidence of the capability shortfalls that currently exist in many countries, showing that many governments lack basic capacities even after decades of reforms and capacity building efforts. The book then analyses this evidence, identifying capability traps that hold many governments back - particularly related to isomorphic mimicry (where governments copy best practice solutions from other countries that make them look more capable even if they are not more capable) and premature load bearing (where governments adopt new mechanisms that they cannot actually make work, given weak extant capacities). The book then describes a process that governments can use to escape these capability traps. Called PDIA (problem driven iterative adaptation), this process empowers people working in governments to find and fit solutions to the problems they face. The discussion about this process is structured in a practical manner so that readers can actually apply tools and ideas to the capability challenges they face in their own contexts. These applications will help readers devise policies and reforms that have more impact than those of the past.

Business & Money

Andrews, Matt

Pritchett, Lant

Woolcock, Michael

Economics

Oxford University Press

'Development as Leadership-led Change' presents the findings of the “Global Leadership Initiative Research Study,” which examines leadership in the change processes of fourteen capacity development interventions in eight developing countries. The paper explores what it takes to make change happen in the context of development, and in particular, the role leadership plays in bringing about change. The analysis and findings conclude that leadership manifests itself in different ways in different contexts, depending on readiness, factors that shape change, and leadership opportunities. However, the key characteristics of plurality, functionality, problem orientation, and change space creation are likely to be common to all successful leadership-led change events.

Development as Leadership-led Change: A Report for the Global Leadership Initiative (World Bank Studies)

McConnell, Jesse

Wescott, Alison

World Bank Publications

Institutional reforms are common across the globe. Think of efforts to build new governments in Afghanistan and Iraq; or decades worth of interventions intended to improve fiscal management, reduce corruption or introduce efficient public sector service delivery in African countries. These reforms often have limited results, however. They lead to new laws that are not properly implemented, and new organizations that have poor capacities and fail to function as needed. In this book, Matt Andrews explains why reform results are frequently limited and suggests ways to overcome these limits. In the first half of the book, Andrews argues that reforms fail to make governments better when they are introduced as signals to gain short-term support--from donors and others. Reforms as signals introduce unrealistic best practices that do not fit developing country contexts and are not considered relevant by implementing agents. The result is a set of new forms that do not function properly. Andrews uses examples to prove this point, ranging from efforts to introduce fiscal rules in Argentina to reforms aimed at international accounting standard adoption in many African countries, and anti corruption interventions in Malawi and Uganda. In the second half of the book, Andrews notes that there are instances where reforms are not being introduced as signals, and are having more of an impact on government effectiveness. Examples include local government reforms in Rwanda, anti corruption initiatives in Indonesia, and a variety of initiatives ranging from results based management to civil service modernization and internal control regime adoption in governments like Kenya, Kosovo and Afghanistan. Andrews uses these examples to discuss ways in which reforms can actually provide realistic solutions to governance challenges in developing countries. Lessons from these experiences suggest that reform limits can be overcome by focusing interventions on problem solving, and promoting incremental and localized processes to find solutions, involving multiple agents who can authorize and implement reforms.

The Limits of Institutional Reform in Development: Changing Rules for Realistic Solutions

Cambridge University Press

This book explains why many institutional reforms in developing countries have limited success and suggests ways to overcome these limits. The author argues that reforms often fail to make governments better because they are introduced as signals to gain short-term support. These signals introduce unrealistic best practices that do not fit developing country contexts and are not considered relevant by implementing agents. The result is a set of new forms that do not function. However, there are realistic solutions emerging from institutional reforms in some developing countries. Lessons from these experiences suggest that reform limits, although challenging to adopt, can be overcome by focusing change on problem solving through an incremental process that involves multiple agents.

This book explains why many institutional reforms in developing countries have limited success and suggests ways to overcome these limits. The author argues that reforms often fail to make governments better because they are introduced as signals to gain short-term support. These signals introduce unrealistic best practices that do not fit developing country contexts and are not considered relevant by implementing agents. The result is a set of new forms that do not function. However, there are realistic solutions emerging from institutional reforms in some developing countries. Lessons from these experiences suggest that reform limits, although challenging to adopt, can be overcome by focusing change on problem solving through an incremental process that involves multiple agents.

Once upon a time, prank phone calls were the best way to procrastinate, but in 2015, they're so passé. Instead, Matt Andrews has mastered the art of prank texting. What happens when you offer to barter two sub-sandwiches for a used motorcycle? Who do you call when you want to build a mysterious man cave in your basement? What do you do if you need a knight in shining armor to deliver you to your high school reunion? If you've ever left a "contact me" pull-tab at your local grocery or posted an ad on Craigslist and received insane and unbelievable text messages in response, Andrews is very likely to blame. We'd be mad at him if we could stop laughing long enough to hit "send" on the exceptionally witty come back we thought of...too bad he's already moved on to his next target and deleted us from his phone, now only to be remembered in these pages of his laugh-out-loud funny book.

Textastrophe: A Collection of Hilariously Catastrophic Text Pranks

Humor & Entertainment

Humor

St. Martin's: Griffin

Everyone suffers from a little boredom sometimes; The Little Book of Sketching is the remedy to these dull moments! This guide will have you flipping the day's doldrums into artistic inspiration! If you've ever been held captive in a long meeting, sat for hours in a doctor's waiting room, or been stranded at the airport, there is help to be found! And you'll find it in The Little Book of Sketching. A journey that both inspires and entertains, The Little Book of Sketching shows you how to pass the time through life's daily events using nothing more than a pencil, a sketchpad, and your imagination. Filled with quirky, witty sketches and plenty of fun, aspiring sketchers will discover how to turn life's boring events into inspired artistic moments. Simple drawing ideas and minimal tools make off-the-cuff sketching accessible to anyone, anywhere. Beginning with a brief introduction to the artist’s process, readers will then be treated to a plethora of scenarios and situations from which to draw inspiration for their own doodled artwork; moreover, the illustrations and prompts are sure to induce a smile, reduce stress, and deliver creative inspiration throughout your daily life.

The Little Book of Sketching: More than 100 quirky and clever ideas for sketching your way through daily life (Volume 1) (The Little Book of ..., 1)

Comics & Graphic Novels

How To Create Comics & Manga

Walter Foster Publishing

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Andrews, Matt. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Andrews, Matt

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Andrews, Matt. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Building State Capability: Evidence, Analysis, Action

Building State Capability: Evidence, Analysis, Action

Development as Leadership-led Change: A Report for the Global Leadership Initiative (World Bank Studies)

The Limits of Institutional Reform in Development: Changing Rules for Realistic Solutions

The Limits of Institutional Reform in Development: Changing Rules for Realistic Solutions

The Limits of Institutional Reform in Development: Changing Rules for Realistic Solutions

Textastrophe: A Collection of Hilariously Catastrophic Text Pranks

The Little Book of Sketching: More than 100 quirky and clever ideas for sketching your way through daily life (Volume 1) (The Little Book of ..., 1)