Administrative Reform in Southeast Asia

Since the end of colonial rule, administrative reform has been one of the most common domains of social change pursued by developing nations. In these countries, the process of administrative reform became quite intensive immediately after their decolonization to reduce their dependence on colonial administration, create more indigenous institutional structure, and expand the role of government in national economies.^[1] Beyond this historical reason, there were inherent weaknesses in governing institutions—including bureaucratic inefficiency, administrative incapacity, social instability, market failure, and unemployment problem, which also required administrative reform.