Reform as Process:

Implementing Change in Public Bureaucracies

Building an effective civil service is crucial for public service delivery and good governance, but reforming bureaucratic institutions is notoriously difficult. This book takes a fresh perspective on this challenge by documenting and analyzing the implementation of more than one hundred reforms initiated by six African countries over the last thirty years. These reforms largely fell short of their goals because they typically approached organizational change as a matter of changing formal structures and processes through one-off projects. However, many of these reform efforts did yield positive changes when they were able to create energy and opportunities for civil servants to discuss performance and how to improve it. I draw on this evidence to develop a theory of how systemic reforms can lead to meaningful change not by trying to force it through top-down interventions, but by approaching reform as an effort to catalyze an ongoing and decentralized process of continuous improvement. The book makes theoretical and empirical contributions to research on organizational performance, civil service reform, and public service delivery, and discusses practical insights and strategies to help reformers around the world achieve meaningful change in their organizations.

Forthcoming, Columbia University Press, February 2026.