ABSTRACT

This chapter focuses on understanding public management (the contemporary term for what used to be called public administration) in sub-Saharan Africa through the paradigm of neopatrimonialism. It outlines the main propositions of neopatrimonialism in order to identify its analytical implications for empirical and comparative studies. The explanatory power of the neopatrimonialism paradigm is assessed based on analyses of actual development outcomes with respect to judicial courts, bureaucracy and taxation. It is suggested that additional factors to those selected by proponents of neopatrimonialism need to be included in explanatory frameworks for African politics and administration. Measuring or assessing the extent of patrimonial power is much more elusive. Pay policy is central to public management in sub-Saharan Africa and a subject about which neopatrimonialism should be expected to provide useful insights because pay is a potentially strong instrument for a patron who aims to reward clients from state resources.