ABSTRACT
In Africa, the political and administrative landscape is often characterised as complex and guided by incompatible ideas derived from local norms, colonial histories and international development paradigms. This has led some scholars to question whether African bureaucrats must contend with “hybrid” or “schizophrenic” systems with ever-shifting norms. A theoretical perspective is needed to account for the conflicting ideas that coexist in African political and administrative systems and explain organisational and individual behaviour in understanding these complexities. Recent work on institutional logics in developing contexts may provide such a theoretical perspective. Institutional logics are understood as the different sets of values, principles, practices and social structures that guide organisational and individual behaviour. This chapter presents the extant research and answers whether the institutional logics perspective is useful for researching public policy and administration in Africa. It concludes with a path forward for future institutional logics research in African policy systems.
