Researching and teaching public policy and governance in Africa

Together with the infuence of neo-colonial relations, neoliberalism, and globalisation, the legacy of colonial rule impacts public policy and governance in African states profoundly. Unsurprisingly in the context of public administration, these factors also play a signifcant role in the academic realm, shaping the content and context of teaching and research and leading to a considerable degree of isomorphic mimicry in their adherence to theories and method-ologies from the global North. In large part, this can be ascribed to colonial states’ structure and the economic and administrative paths prescribed for them as a conditionality of aid in the post-colonial era. These paths were subsequently validated in the curricula taught in national educational institutions and the research supported by national and international funding agencies. Academically, this poses ontological and epistemological challenges, hence a disconnect between the normative administrative models imparted to students through formal learning programmes and the realities of policy and governance experienced in practice.

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Published in: Routledge Handbook of Public Policy in Africa
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
See chapter on publisher's website: https://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003143840-4