TY - CHAP TI - Looking like a state: The seduction of isomorphic mimicry AU - Andrews, Matt AU - Pritchett, Lant AU - Woolcock, Michael T2 - Building State Capability: Evidence, Analysis, Action A2 - Andrews, Matt A2 - Pritchett, Lant A2 - Woolcock, Michael AB - In this chapter we argue that isomorphic mimicry is a key “technique of successful failure” that perpetuates capability traps in development. In the context of this study, isomorphic mimicry is the tendency of governments to mimic other governments’ successes, replicating processes, systems, and even products of the “best practice” examples. This mimicry often conflates form and function: leading to a situation where “looks like” substitutes for “does”; i.e., governments look capable after the mimicry but are not actually more capable. We argue that this is endemic in development and has become a primary reason why countries do not build real capability even after years of policy and reform engagement and billions of dollars of capacity building work. We suggest that the tendency to so mimic is amplified by the current development ecosystem, especially where public sectors have become closed to novelty but open (and supportive of) agenda conformity. Such characteristics make it very hard for states to build the new capabilities needed, for their contexts, given their realities. DA - 2017/01/12/ PY - 2017 DP - Silverchair SP - 0 PB - Oxford University Press SN - 978-0-19-874748-2 ST - Looking like a state UR - https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198747482.003.0003 Y2 - 2022/09/10/20:34:52 ER - TY - BOOK TI - Building State Capability: Evidence, Analysis, Action AU - Pritchett, Lant AU - Andrews, Matt AU - Woolcock, Michael AB - "Building State Capability: Evidence, Analysis, Action" provides evidence of the capability shortfalls that currently exist in many countries, analyses this evidence and identifies capability traps that hold many governments back—particularly related to isomorphic mimicry and premature load-bearing. DA - 2017/// PY - 2017 LA - en ST - Building State Capability UR - https://bsc.cid.harvard.edu/building-state-capability-evidence-analysis-action Y2 - 2022/06/06/23:17:32 ER - TY - BOOK TI - Building State Capability: Evidence, Analysis, Action AU - Andrews, Matt AU - Pritchett, Lant AU - Woolcock, Michael AB - This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Governments play a major role in the development process, and constantly introduce reforms and policies to achieve developmental objectives. Many of these interventions have limited impact, however; schools get built but children don't learn, IT systems are introduced but not used, plans are written but not implemented. These achievement deficiencies reveal gaps in capabilities, and weaknesses in the process of building state capability. This book addresses these weaknesses and gaps. It starts by providing evidence of the capability shortfalls that currently exist in many countries, showing that many governments lack basic capacities even after decades of reforms and capacity building efforts. The book then analyses this evidence, identifying capability traps that hold many governments back - particularly related to isomorphic mimicry (where governments copy best practice solutions from other countries that make them look more capable even if they are not more capable) and premature load bearing (where governments adopt new mechanisms that they cannot actually make work, given weak extant capacities). The book then describes a process that governments can use to escape these capability traps. Called PDIA (problem driven iterative adaptation), this process empowers people working in governments to find and fit solutions to the problems they face. The discussion about this process is structured in a practical manner so that readers can actually apply tools and ideas to the capability challenges they face in their own contexts. These applications will help readers devise policies and reforms that have more impact than those of the past. CY - Oxford, New York DA - 2017/01/26/ PY - 2017 DP - Oxford University Press SP - 276 PB - Oxford University Press SN - 978-0-19-874748-2 ST - Building State Capability UR - https://global.oup.com/academic/product/building-state-capability-9780198747482?cc=gb&lang=en& ER - TY - RPRT TI - PDIA toolkit: A DIY Approach to Solving Complex Problems AU - Samji, Salimah AU - Andrews, Matt AU - Pritchett, Lant AU - Woolcock, Michael DA - 2018/// PY - 2018 PB - Center for International Development at Harvard University UR - https://bsc.cid.harvard.edu/files/bsc/files/pdiatoolkit_ver_1_oct_2018.pdf Y2 - 2022/12/09/15:12:16 ER - TY - CHAP TI - Building capability by delivering results: Putting Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) principles into practice AU - Andrews, Matt AU - Pritchett, Lant AU - Samji, Salimah AU - Woolcock, Michael T2 - A governance practitioner's notebook: alternative ideas and approaches DA - 2015/// PY - 2015 DP - Zotero SP - 11 LA - en PB - OECD UR - https://www.oecd.org/dac/accountable-effective-institutions/Governance%20Notebook%202.3%20Andrews%20et%20al.pdf ER - TY - RPRT TI - PDIA Toolkit: A DIY Approach to Solving Complex Problems AU - Centre for International Development A2 - Samji, Salimah A2 - Andrews, Matt A2 - Pritchett, Lant A2 - Woolcock, Michael DA - 2018/// PY - 2018 PB - Harvard University UR - https://bsc.cid.harvard.edu/files/bsc/files/pdiatoolkit_ver_1_oct_2018.pdf ER - TY - RPRT TI - This is PFM AU - Andrews, Matt AU - Cangiano, Marco AU - Cole, Neil AU - Renzio, Paolo AU - Krause, Philipp AU - Seligmann, Renaud AB - The acronym PFM stands for Public Financial Management: But what is public financial management? This short note tries to demystify the concept, drawing on perspectives of specialists in the area who work in different contexts and bring different views (from academia, the multilateral and bilateral development agencies, think tanks, government, and civil society). The note is not meant to be prescriptive but rather offers an entry point to a fuller discussion on the constituent elements of PFM systems, how and why PFM reforms have emerged, and where the gaps are for future attention. DA - 2014/// PY - 2014 LA - en M3 - CID Working Paper PB - Center for International Development SN - 285 UR - https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/cid/publications/faculty-working-papers/pfm ER -