The history and future of nation-building? Building capacity for public results
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9961467 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jocelyne Bourgon (Centre for International Governance Innovation, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2010 |
| Volume | 76 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 197-218 |
| Publication date | 2010-06-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Review of Administrative Sciences (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0020-8523 • E-ISSN: 1461-7226 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0020852309365666 |
| OpenAlex | W2168098834 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 41 |
The goal of nation-building is to build the collective capacity to achieve public results and to pursue a shared vision of the future. This article, which is based on a theoretical vantage point and the author’s experience as a senior public official, explores the theme of collective capacity-building from the point of view of government. It describes how achieving collective results requires institutional and organizational capacities but, building on these foundations, governments must also develop greater capacity to anticipate, innovate and adapt in the face of increasingly complex public issues and unpredictable circumstances. Points for practitioners Building institutional capacity has been a focus of governments for many decades and, indeed, centuries. Building organizational capacity has been the centrepiece of reforms since the 1980s. But public organizations are not yet aligned with the complex problems they are expected to address. Addressing complexity and uncertainty will likely require practitioners to work with (i) a broader definition of public results, (ii) an expanded view of the role of government and of the range of possible relationships between government and citizens, and (iii) a more dynamic approach to public administration
Capacity building · Face (sociological concept · Government (linguistics · Political science · Public relations · Social science · Sociology · Theme (computing · Work (physics · Computer Science · Disaster Management and Resilience · Engineering · Law · Local Government Finance and Decentralization · Public Administration · Public Policy and Administration Research
Emergence From Chaos to Order
Managing Uncertainties in Networks
Command and Control and the Pathology of Natural Resource Management
Emergence as a Construct
Complexity Theory and Public Management
The fifth discipline, the art and practice of the learning organization
Resilience and Stability of Ecological Systems
Understanding the Complexity of Economic, Ecological, and Social Systems
Network Structure, Diversity, and Proactive Resilience Building
Barriers and bridges to the renewal of ecosystems and institutions
Performance Information for Democracy
The Dangers of Democratic Delusions
The Future of Public Service
Governance, Complexity, and Democratic Participation
Community Resilience as a Metaphor, Theory, Set of Capacities, and Strategy for Disaster Readiness
The New Governance
Towards a New Public Administration theory
Responsive, responsible and respected government
Moving towards integrated public governance
Disaster Preparation and Recovery
Citizen Participation in Decision Making
Joined-up Government
Governance and Complexity—Emerging Issues for Governance Theory
Vulnerability
Governance and the Capacity to Manage Resilience in Regional Social-Ecological Systems
Communication Management and Trust
Fifteen Weddings and a Funeral
| Citations per year | 0.42 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2014 - 2023 (10) |
| Highly cited | No |