The limits of public administration reform through World Bank capacity development: the case of Moldova

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe paper explores the concept of World Bank capacity development. It argues that capacity development is under-defined, enabling the World Bank to live up to often contradictory demands toward domestic development and retaining legitimacy as a ‘knowledge bank’. On the ground, vagueness translates into technocratic approaches to institutional reform, based on a simple definition of learning. The case of central public administration reform in Moldova demonstrates how institutional changes under the label of capacity development translated into little change in administrative behavior. It shows how a country can maintain a sense of modernization through capacity development despite little actual change.