Moosa Elayah is an assistant professor of international development and peacebuilding. He holds a PhD from the Faculty of Governance and International Affairs at Leiden University, Netherlands. He is the author of various specialized studies on international development, peacebuilding, NGO management and post-conflict state- and society-building. Phone: +31 650250129 Address: Thomas van Aquinostraat 6
International Journal of Public Sector Management, 2009
PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to assess the state of performance management within the publi... more PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to assess the state of performance management within the public sector and suggest areas for further research.DesignThis is a theoretical paper based on a literature review.FindingsThe expected improvements in performance, accountability, transparency, quality of service and value for money have not yet materialised in the public sector. There are three classes of problems with performance management in the public sector – technical, systems and involvement. Externally imposed restructurings and reorganisations restrict the successful implementation of performance management.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper is theoretical, and empirical research to test the results is required.Practical implicationsThe findings can be used to enhance performance management systems within both the public and private sectors.Originality/valueThe paper provides an overview of the state of performance management and measurement within public sector organisati...
This article has sought to confirm an alternative explanation that "Local Knowledge Syndrome... more This article has sought to confirm an alternative explanation that "Local Knowledge Syndrome" is a cause of the ineffectiveness of donor - promoting public sector reform programs. The main idea behind this explanation is that Knowledge and ideas that form th e basis of donor reform programmes can seriously affect their outcomes and their level of effectiveness. There is clearly a growing appreciation that policy depends on local knowledge for implementation, but little attention has been paid so far to incorpo rate information on local knowledge successfully in inhospitable or poor political and social environments. Since the 1950s, donors' aid policies towards developing countries have mostly been developed based on the own experiences in reforming the governan ce system. An idealized model was exported in the conviction that the recipient countries would implement this model without the problems and obstacles experienced in the western societies. The export was one - way and that all the goods and persons were fro m western origin because quality was supposed to come from there.
During the two decades of the US War on Terror, the indicators of peace, stability, and security ... more During the two decades of the US War on Terror, the indicators of peace, stability, and security have markedly deteriorated in nearly two-thirds of the countries of the broad Middle East region, wherein American foreign policy has become particularly resented, as expressed in various survey polls. The United States had never fought for so long a war (and legally, the War on Terror is still continuing), and the political structures of the Middle East never had been so fundamentally challenged—and in a few countries, destroyed—since World War I and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire a century ago. The War on Terror, as such or under different names, has been characterized by grand policy claims, the actual destabilization of dozens of countries, the widespread use of torture, the endemic corruption of tribal and government elites, the polarization of inter-state relations across the Middle East, counter-productive policies of drone bombings with frequent collateral civilian victims, a...
The collapse of public services in Yemen due to a protracted crisis raging since 2015 has compell... more The collapse of public services in Yemen due to a protracted crisis raging since 2015 has compelled some local citizen-based coalitions to initiate community-based service delivery. This preliminary study identifies Community-Based Initiatives (CBIs) as non-state actors supplying basic services ordinarily provided by governmental institutions. It offers an overview of Yemen’s humanitarian crisis while focusing on public services provision pre- and mid-conflict and highlights the role of CBIs as a response to its breakdown within a severely fragile context. As this work considers CBI a societal constituent and not simply a temporary phenomenon, it discusses the general trends of Civil Society. This article fills the gap in the literature and compares the Western perspective and application of CBIs in Yemen aiming at developing a more specific and contextual conception. The analysis lays the foundation for much needed future studies on the role of informal organizations in service pro...
International Journal of Public Sector Management, 2009
PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to assess the state of performance management within the publi... more PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to assess the state of performance management within the public sector and suggest areas for further research.DesignThis is a theoretical paper based on a literature review.FindingsThe expected improvements in performance, accountability, transparency, quality of service and value for money have not yet materialised in the public sector. There are three classes of problems with performance management in the public sector – technical, systems and involvement. Externally imposed restructurings and reorganisations restrict the successful implementation of performance management.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper is theoretical, and empirical research to test the results is required.Practical implicationsThe findings can be used to enhance performance management systems within both the public and private sectors.Originality/valueThe paper provides an overview of the state of performance management and measurement within public sector organisati...
This article has sought to confirm an alternative explanation that "Local Knowledge Syndrome... more This article has sought to confirm an alternative explanation that "Local Knowledge Syndrome" is a cause of the ineffectiveness of donor - promoting public sector reform programs. The main idea behind this explanation is that Knowledge and ideas that form th e basis of donor reform programmes can seriously affect their outcomes and their level of effectiveness. There is clearly a growing appreciation that policy depends on local knowledge for implementation, but little attention has been paid so far to incorpo rate information on local knowledge successfully in inhospitable or poor political and social environments. Since the 1950s, donors' aid policies towards developing countries have mostly been developed based on the own experiences in reforming the governan ce system. An idealized model was exported in the conviction that the recipient countries would implement this model without the problems and obstacles experienced in the western societies. The export was one - way and that all the goods and persons were fro m western origin because quality was supposed to come from there.
During the two decades of the US War on Terror, the indicators of peace, stability, and security ... more During the two decades of the US War on Terror, the indicators of peace, stability, and security have markedly deteriorated in nearly two-thirds of the countries of the broad Middle East region, wherein American foreign policy has become particularly resented, as expressed in various survey polls. The United States had never fought for so long a war (and legally, the War on Terror is still continuing), and the political structures of the Middle East never had been so fundamentally challenged—and in a few countries, destroyed—since World War I and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire a century ago. The War on Terror, as such or under different names, has been characterized by grand policy claims, the actual destabilization of dozens of countries, the widespread use of torture, the endemic corruption of tribal and government elites, the polarization of inter-state relations across the Middle East, counter-productive policies of drone bombings with frequent collateral civilian victims, a...
The collapse of public services in Yemen due to a protracted crisis raging since 2015 has compell... more The collapse of public services in Yemen due to a protracted crisis raging since 2015 has compelled some local citizen-based coalitions to initiate community-based service delivery. This preliminary study identifies Community-Based Initiatives (CBIs) as non-state actors supplying basic services ordinarily provided by governmental institutions. It offers an overview of Yemen’s humanitarian crisis while focusing on public services provision pre- and mid-conflict and highlights the role of CBIs as a response to its breakdown within a severely fragile context. As this work considers CBI a societal constituent and not simply a temporary phenomenon, it discusses the general trends of Civil Society. This article fills the gap in the literature and compares the Western perspective and application of CBIs in Yemen aiming at developing a more specific and contextual conception. The analysis lays the foundation for much needed future studies on the role of informal organizations in service pro...
Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and GovernancePublisher: Springer, Cham, 2018
Building civil service systems with career-structured elements; a capacity system that provides r... more Building civil service systems with career-structured elements; a capacity system that provides ranks, steps, and remuneration system components along with managerial and supervisory mechanisms for Yemen; building merit-based career systems with professional qualifications of knowledge, skills, and performance capacities; building a professional merit system of organization or machinery of governance and public administration in Yemen.
A civil service system was created to manage a bureaucracy in which individuals are selected for ... more A civil service system was created to manage a bureaucracy in which individuals are selected for employment in the government on the basis of either competitive examinations or special qualifications, such as professional training. In the case of Yemen, it is not recommended to abandon the informal behavioral and management aspects within the Yemeni civil service system which offered, by the social structure and its effect on state power, control of society, the behavior and attitudes of the civil servants, and thus on any transition initiative within the public sector. By analyzing and understanding the impact of the informal system on both political and administrative aspects of the Yemeni state, and seeing how these formal and informal structures of power interact, that can help the donors more to precisely formulate, design, and implement sound aid policies and programs for promoting the capacity of the civil service system. In addition, the social structure that is mainly based on informal norms, values, and institutions affects the functions of the civil servants in Yemen, which in turn explains why Yemeni managers and organizations do not function in line with donors’ expectations (see “Foreign Aid Policies”).
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