ABSTRACT
Pockets of effectiveness (PoE) are effective public organizations in environments in which almost all other public organizations do not perform well. The reason for this is that these organizations operate in politico-administrative systems that are primarily based on personal loyalty and informal networks instead of a substantial degree of impartiality and formal, law-based rules. Public organizations are state-owned organizations which have the mandate to provide public goods and services. This includes regulatory functions and natural resource management. Relative effectiveness is the core criterion and has to be fulfilled for an organization to be a PoE. Unfortunately, 'marginal monologues' captures the state of the PoE literature well. 'PoE literature' refers to the academic literature that deals with PoE and PoE-related phenomena in line with the definition provided above, irrespective of the specific terms that are used. The PoE literature is 'marginal' because it is neither in the mainstream of academic development studies and social sciences nor of current development policymakers' debates.
