Chapter 2 Overview of the First Wave of Institutional Reforms in the 1950s–1960s: Development Through Administrative Modernization

Abstract

During this wave of reforms, the United States emerged as the leading nation shaping reforms in developing countries. All other economically advanced nations were preoccupied with their postwar reconstruction, while the United States was bound to fulfill its promises to free the colonies of both its enemies at that time (Germany, Japan, and Italy) and its allies (Great Britain, France, Holland, and Belgium). The United States sent technical and professional advisers to countries that requested its help to replace their colonial administrations with locally designed arrangements. The United States was also particularly well placed to advise less-developed countries, considering the successful institutional reforms and recovery it had led in postwar Germany and Japan. While conditions in underdeveloped countries – as discussed below – were very different from those in Germany and Japan, the United States saw their postwar successes as evidence that such reforms might also help less-developed nations. Finally, the advent of the Cold War that launched a global competition for spheres of influence also contributed to the fact that the United States became the leading promoter of reforms in developing countries. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Ford Foundation were the key donors funding and designing development programs abroad in this period.

Citation

Baimyrzaeva, M. (2012), "Chapter 2 Overview of the First Wave of Institutional Reforms in the 1950s–1960s: Development Through Administrative Modernization", Baimyrzaeva, M. (Ed.) Institutional Reforms in the Public Sector: What Did We Learn? (Research in Public Policy Analysis and Management, Vol. 22), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 19-33. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0732-1317(2012)0000022004