In the shadow of good governance: An ethnography of civil service reform in Africa

Acknowledgements
Glossary and abbreviations
Map of Malawi
1 Introduction: Unpacking Good Governance
Civil servants as implementers and “target population”
The “dysfunctional” African state
Good governance as technology
Field sites
Studying up, follow the policy
Basic information about the civil service
Outline
2 Historical Background
Banda’s rule and the “New Malawi”
The results of two decades of structural adjustment
The civil service – from localisation to good governance
3 Constructing Country Ownership
Introduction
The emergence of a concept
Conditionality and country ownership
The normativity of numbers
The discovery of the “C word”
Conclusions
4 The Implementation Process
Deconstructing policy implementation
Retrenchment of employees made redundant
The introduction of new housing allowances
Increasing fragmentation of the civil service
Conclusions
5 Eroding Salaries and Doing Business
The African entrepreneurial spirit
The meaning of having a job in the civil service
“How to make ends meet”
Winners and losers of economic liberalisation
Conclusions
6 “Distance Saves me”
Introduction
Kubwerera kumudzi
Education and social stratification
The importance of associations
The nature of kinship duties
Conclusions
7 The Democratisation of Appropriation
Introduction
“Bad politics”
The office mores – a parallel social and moral order
A “primoridial public sphere”or a patchwork of moralities?
Conclusions
8 Conclusions: the State in Society
The paradoxical policies of the World Bank and the IMF
A note on theorising the postcolonial state
References
Index