Zimbabwe Post Independence Public Administration

Book excerpt: Since independence in 1980, Zimbabwe's radical socialist government has struggled to steer the nation into development and prosperity. The engine for that drive has been public administration - but one inherited from a distinctly different, and antagonistic, colonial past. How can the interests of the "keepers of the past" ever coincide with those of the "engineers of change?" Drawing on the specifically Zimbabwean experience of researchers, academics, policy makers and administrators, the book explores the contradictions, constraints and difficulties in pursuing policies for change within a rusting and out-of-date administration system. The work is divided into four parts: Public Administration; Economic Development; Planning and Management; The State and Social Movements and Local Government and non Governmental Organisations.