Street-Level Bureaucracy in Weak State Institutions

by Abdul-Rahim Mohammed (Contribution by), Barbara Piotrowska (Contribution by), Izabela Szkurlat (Contribution by), Magdalena Szydlowska (Contribution by), Roberto Rocha Coelho Pires (Contribution by)

Overview

In this book, street-level bureaucracy scholars from South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America analyse the conditions that shape frontline work and citizens´ everyday experience of the state.

Institutional factors such as political clientelism, resource scarcity, social inequality, job insecurity, and systemic corruption affect the way street-level bureaucrats enforce rules and implement policies. Inadvertently, they end up implementing inequities in citizens’ access to rights and services — despite efforts to repair organisational deficiencies and broker relations between vulnerable citizens and a distant state. This book illuminates these realities and challenges and provides unique insights into critical themes such as resource scarcities, bureaucratic corruption, control practices, and the complexities of dealing with vulnerable population groups.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781447368755
Publisher:	Bristol University Press
Publication date:	05/20/2025
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x (d)

About the Author

Rik Peeters is Associate Professor of Public Administration at the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE).

Gabriela Lotta is Associate Professor of Public Administration at Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV).

Fernando Nieto-Morales is Associate Professor of Public Administration at El Colegio de México.

Table of Contents

1. Street-level bureaucracy in weak state institutions: an introduction - Gabriela Lotta, Fernando Nieto- Morales, and Rik Peeters

Part 1: Coping with institutional weakness

2. Weak but not broken: resilience by repair in the times of COVID-19 - Ayesha Masood

3. Paternalist street-level bureaucrats and virtuous recipients: the consequences of institutional weakness in a pensions programme in Uganda - Ronan Jacquin

4. Street-level bureaucrats in environments of systemic corruption: sources of influence - Oliver Meza, Elizabeth Pérez- Chiqués, and Anat Gofen

Part 2: Exploring institutional contexts

5. Weak institutions and dangerous working conditions: coping by the wiremen of public electricity distribution utilities in India - Sneha Swami and Subodh Wagle

6. Underserving the disadvantaged: institutional failures and their consequences for frontline workers and vulnerable publics - Roberto Pires, Maria Paula Santos, Beatriz Brandão, and Luiza Rosa

7. Frontline implementation conditions of the Families programme: labour precarity and territorial gaps as aspects of weak state institutions in Chile - Taly Reininger, Gianinna Muñoz Arce, Cristóbal Villalobos, and Mitzi Duboy Luengo

8. Regime transitions and institutional weakness: the case of police reform in Poland in the early 1990s - Barbara Maria Piotrowska, Izabela Szkurłat, and

Magdalena Szydłowska

Part 3: Bureaucratic encounters

9. Coping with violence and precarious working conditions: law enforcement through the eyes of municipal police officers in Morelia, Mexico - Paulina Y. Guzmán Linares and Rik Peeters

10. ‘You can tell they are just villagers when you look at them’: a phenomenological study of street- level bureaucrats’ differential treatment of clients in a Ghanaian rural hospital - Abdul-Rahim Mohammed

11. When frontline work functions as an enclave: insights from Turkey - Elise Massicard

12. Citizen agency in street-level interactions: navigating uncertainty and unpredictability - Sergio A. Campos

13. Frontline work in weak institutions: implementing inequities - Fernando Nieto-Morales, Gabriela Lotta, and Rik Peeters

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“A milestone for a truly global perspective on frontline workers, this important and smart book was much awaited. Scholars of street-level bureaucracy, comparative politics, and development studies will learn from it.” Eva Thomann, University of Konstanz

Editorial Reviews

"The book serves as a valuable source for anyone interested in understanding and addressing the complexities of policy implementation and SLB in contexts characterized by weak state institutions." Public Administration and Development

“A milestone for a truly global perspective on frontline workers, this important and smart book was much awaited. Scholars of street-level bureaucracy, comparative politics, and development studies will learn from it.” Eva Thomann, University of Konstanz

From the Publisher