UKZN Academics Publish Book on Public Administration in Conflict Affected Countries

BY: .

Two senior academics Professor Purshottama Reddy and Professor Juraj Nemec have published a book on Public Administration in Conflict Affected Countries.

Reddy, who is attached to the School of Management, Information Technology and Governance, is Vice-President of Programmes of the International Association of the Schools and Institutes of Administration (IASIA) and Chairperson of the Programme and Research Committee of the International Institute of Administrative Science (IIAS), both headquartered in Brussels.

Nemec - of the Faculty of Economics and Administration at Masaryk University in the Czech Republic and at the Faculty of Economics, Matej Bel University in Slovakia - has more than 20 years’ professional experience in various transition countries and as a key advisor to the governments of Slovakia and the Czech Republic. He is Vice-President of Publications for IASIA and is currently a member of the Committee of Experts on Public Administration (CEPA) at the United Nations.

The book, published by Springer, interrogates the main issues determining the quality of public administration in conflict affected countries, and assesses the extent to which the conflict determines and impacts on the performance of public administration in the countries in question.

The key value added by this book is the confirmation of the general expectation that there is no direct and universal link between the conflict and public administration performance and vice-versa. It could be argued that each country’s situation differs and specific factors of internal and external environments determine the trends of public administration performance in conflict affected countries.

To accomplish the predominant goals of the book, the authors reflected on studies conducted in Africa, Asia and Europe in the following countries: Bangladesh, Colombia, Croatia, Egypt, Georgia, Iraq, Kosovo, Nigeria, Palestine, Paraguay, the Philippines, Serbia, South Africa, Uganda, Ukraine, and Venezuela.

Words: NdabaOnline

Photographs: Supplied