The Changing Role of Government: The Reform of Public Services in Developing Countries

This is the concluding volume of a five volume series on the reform of service delivery in developing countries. Each of the four previous volumes has examined a particular area of government activity: health care, urban water supply, business development, and support to agricultural markets. A broad pattern of reforms has affected these sectors: liberalization, introduction of private sector management approaches, charging for services, and contracting the private sector. The leading question is whether these approaches are appropriate to the context and capacities of developing countries. This final volume draws together the strands, comparing experience between these sectors in selected countries of Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and Latin America. It argues that reform approaches need to be sensitive to the institutional conditions of particular countries.