Public management in developing countries: some notes on Eritrea

Abstract

A system of adequately performing public bureaucracies is a basic requirement for developing countries to progress and prosper. However, public management in developing countries is often threatened by politicization and ineffective human resource management policies. In this article, we analyse public management in Eritrea, one of the world’s poorest countries that gained independence in the early 1990s. In this analysis, we use general (western) theoretical frames of reference, including pre-modern, weberian and new public management lines of thinking. It will show that, in current Eritrea, all known styles of public management concur and collide and that this situation is related to the cultural, educational and political background of the various population groups that strive for job opportunities in the public sector’s strategic apex. This collision of styles may lead to frustration and ineffectiveness among the people involved. Only a managerial policy stressing practical wisdom and intelligence may satisfy all the groups of people engaged in Eritrea’s public management, in fact in all developing countries’ public organizations.