The State in a Changing World. World Development Report, 1997 / Ajay Chhibber, Simon Commander and Alison Evans.

This report is devoted to the role and effectiveness of the state: what the state should do, how it should do it, and how it can do it better in a rapidly changing world. The pathways to an effective state are many and varied. The report provides a framework for guiding these efforts, in the form of a two-part strategy. The first part of the strategy is to focus the state's activities to match its capability. Many states try to do too much with few resources and little capability. Getting governments better focused on the core public activities that are crucial to development will enhance their effectiveness. The second part of the strategy is to look for ways to improve the state's capability by reinvigorating public institutions. The report puts particular emphasis on mechanisms that give public officials the incentive to do their jobs better and to be more flexible, but that also provide restraints to check arbitrary and corrupt behavior. The report is divided into the following parts: (1) "Rethinking the State--The World Over"; (2) "Matching Role to Capability"; (3) "Reinvigorating Institutional Capability"; and (4) "Removing Obstacles to Change." Contains "Selected World Development Indicators," illustrated boxes, and extensive text figures and tables. (BT)

Microfiche. [Washington D.C.]: ERIC Clearinghouse microfiches : positive.