Rethinking Administrative Capacity Development:
The Arab States
Jamil E. Jreisat
Published online: 14 June 2011
# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011
Abstract Administrative capacity is imperative for effective performance of
governance. Although results of administrative capacity are recognizable and
demonstrable, there is no consensus on what basic elements such capacity is made
of; nor do we know for sure how to develop, measure, or sustain administrative
capacity. Development of administrative capacity requires unbundling it, and
assessing each of its components independently, in order to define their individual
and mutual effects on the collective capacity of the system. This analysis explores
and defines some constant and variable components of administrative capacity, with
a particular reference to the Arab states. Rethinking the question of capacity, and
constructing a functional strategy for its improvement, includes critical processes of
internal management and contextual effects on the structure and function of the
management system.
Keywords Administrative capacity . Administrative reform . Arab Bureaucracy .
Public management . Governance
Administrative capacity
Development of administrative capacity, and steering it to serve the objectives of
governance, has been a constant challenge for public administration theory and
practice. A primary purpose of most initiatives of administrative reform is the
enhancement of administrative capacity of public organizations and governance in
order to perform their duties and meet their responsibilities. “Improved performance
does not happen on demand. Performance is not likely to occur in the absence of
fundamental organizational capacity” (Ingraham 2007: 6). The United Nations