Reform programs sometimes falter because they are politically infeasible. Policy change inevitably creates winners and losers, so those with vested interests strike bargains to determine how far and how quickly reform should advance. Understanding these micro political dynamics of reform can...

This paper offers an interim review of the Bank's experience with public sector pay and employment reform. Its aim is to establish what has been done and what has been learnt to date. The objectives of the paper are to inventory and analyze Bank operational work in selected countries and to...

The emphasis placed by the World Bank in recent years on the major overhaul of developing country economies has accentuated the importance of adequate public sector administrative capacity, especially within the central core of government, that is, the civil service. This paper surveys recent...

The author examines current civil service management (CSM) practices in advanced countries to provide guidance for developing country governments that face the dilemma of how to recruit, retain, and motivate appropriately skilled staff at affordable costs, given a limited human resource base....

This paper reviews the Bank's experience in implementing public sector management reforms through structural adjustment lending. The study focuses on those institutional aspects of adjustment that deal with"macro-management"issues related to improvements in the management performance of core...