The management foundations of good government

Good governance is essential. But governance reforms in the global south often fail. This lecture will ask why. One increasingly popular view is that the strategy adopted by international development organisations – which focuses on advancing ‘global best practice’ laws – is fundamentally flawed. On this view, solutions need to be home-grown. This lecture will challenge that perspective. Drawing on evidence from Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America, it will show that certain global best practices do exist: effective government institutions share a common set of foundational management practices. Yet, different institutions inside governments vary in the extent to which such practices are in place – despite sharing the same governance laws. The lecture thus advocates for a data-informed approach to introducing management good practices in government institutions one-by-one, rather than pursuing government-wide best practice laws.

Please join us for Professor Schuster's inaugural lecture, followed by a drinks reception.

Lecture: 18:30-19:30

Drinks Reception: 19:30-20:30