Routledge Handbook of Public Policy in the Global South

by Gedion Onyango (Editor), Ishtiaq Jamil (Editor)

Overview

This important new handbook provides a comprehensive assessment of contemporary public policy and governance in the Global South. It offers incisive comparative analyses and presents policy-specific case studies from across Asia, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa. The aim is to inform future governance research, policy, and practice in these regions.

This book is timely as it responds to how governments in the Global South are dealing with recent complex series of challenges and crises of the 21st Century. These range from the pressures of a global pandemic to the impacts of climate change, democratic backsliding, deteriorating public services, and the realignments in the international political economy following the rise of China. In doing so, it reflects on the political transformations, global convergences, and underlying regional, as well as national, trajectories that have taken place recently, focusing on among others:

• Democratic governance and institutional trust
• Public service delivery, motivation, and governance outcomes
• Policy crises, disaster management, and climate change
• Policy successes and failures
• Policy innovations, digitalisation, and policy research in the Global South

Different authors bring together varied and specialised perspectives and experiences, which are important for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers wishing to understand emerging governance models, innovations, and challenges within the Global South.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781032901480
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	06/30/2025
Series:	Routledge International Handbooks
Pages:	792
Product dimensions:	6.88(w) x 9.69(h) x (d)

About the Author

Gedion Onyango is a research fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science’s Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa (FLIA). Gedion has over a decade of teaching experience and postgraduate student mentorship in higher education. He has taught at the University of Nairobi, where he was a senior lecturer, and at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. Gedion’s research is highly interdisciplinary, covering legislative policy-making, public accountability reforms, anti-corruption and whistleblowing reforms, democratic innovation, and innovative technologies (digital technologies in designing public services). He has published extensively and has consulted in these areas.

Ishtiaq Jamil is a professor at the Department of Government, University of Bergen, Norway. His research interests include administrative culture, gender development, public policy, institutional trust, representative bureaucracy, and governance. He has co-edited and written several books, journal articles, chapters, and research reports. He has also organised and coordinated several international projects and conferences on governance, civil service, gender mainstreaming, service delivery, and public policy in South Asia.

Table of Contents

1: Public Policy in the Global South  PART 1: DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE AND GLOBAL RELATIONS  2: Democratic Demand and Supply in Asia  3: Political Trust and Its Variety in East Asia  4: Democratic Deconsolidation in East and Southeast Asia  5: How Asians View the U.S.-China Competition and Its Geopolitical Impact  6: How External Actors’ Influence on African Governance has changed  PART 2: GLOBAL PUBLIC POLICY AND DEVELOPMENT IN PERSPECTIVE  7: Reimagining Global Governance: Overcoming Challenges in the Global South  8: Development Paradox, the New Development Aspiration and its Convergence with China’s African Policy  9: Integration of ESG - Environmental, Social and Governance Policies in Africa  10: Policy Localisation in International Development: Insights from Policy Dialogue with Diplomats  11: Dignity and Empowerment in Development: Exploring the Need for Changes in Practice and Policies  PART 3: COMPARATIVE PUBLIC POLICY PERFORMANCE  12: Public Policy in China: A Collaboration and Network Approach  13: Populism and Policy Formulation in Perspective  14: Fitting Public Policy Theories in Understanding African Policy Systems  15: An Integrated Approach to Public Policy Education in India  16: Bridging the research-policy divide to spur development in Africa during the SDGs era  17: Think Tanks in Public Policy Development: Contributions, Impact, and Challenges in the Global South  PART 4: POLICY FAILURES AND SUCCESS EXPERIENCES  18: Public Policy under Conditions of Exclusionary Ethno-Nationalism of Palestinian Citizens of Israel  19: Health, long-term care and retirement policy in China  20: Building Access to Affordable Condominium Homeownership: Twenty Years of the Integrated Housing Development Program in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia  21: Public Policy Effective and Governance: A Practice-oriented Analysis of Successes and Lessons Learned in African Contexts  22: Mapping Africa’s Narcotics Policy Landscape  23: Legislative oversight of police patrols and fire alarms in Nigeria and Kenya  24: Policy Legacies and Sustainable Mining Reforms in Ghana  PART 5: PUBLIC SERVICE AND LOCAL GOVERNANCE EXPERIENCES  25: Public Service Delivery and Quality of Governance in East Asia  26: Policy Implementation and the Politics of Blame in China  27: Public Service Motivation in the Civil Service of Nepal  28: Citizens’ Assessment of Quality of Governance in Sri Lanka: An Inquiry-Based on Post-Aragalaya Context  29: Public Participation and Social Accountability in Local Governance in Ghana  30: Institutionalisation of Social Accountability in Local Governance: Role of NGOs in Bangladesh  31: Institutional Development Trajectories and Architectural Mapping of the Civil Service System in Ethiopia  PART 6: PUBLIC INNOVATIONS, DIGITALISATION AND POLICY RESEARCH  32: Open Government Partnership Initiatives and Policy Effectiveness in Kenya  33: Defining standards for Smart Cities in the Gulf Cooperation Council region  34: Datafication Governance: Leveraging Big Data, Digital Technologies, and Artificial Intelligence in Public Administration in India  35: Realising Quality Standard Policies in Higher Education in Ugandan Universities  PART 7: WOMEN, GENDER AND POLICY CHANGE  36: The Status of Women in the Global South: Insights from the Women, Peace and Security Index  37: Mainstreaming gender equality through electoral gender quotas: Lessons from Zimbabwe  38: Women’s Economic Empowerment During and After COVID-19 and the Sustainable Development Goals  39: Public Procurement: Administrative Disruption of the policy process in Africa  40: Gender Budgeting Policies in Indian Sub-national Governments  41: Policy Gaps Towards the Sustainable Migration: Understanding Justice in the Bangladeshi Female Workers Diaspora in the Gulf States  PART 8: POLY-CRISES, DISASTERS, AND CLIMATE CHANGE  42: Polycrisis! Implications for Public Policy in the Global South  43: Understanding Crisis! Revealing a Pandora's Box in Ecuador  44: Disaster Policy Narratives Repertoires in Latin America: Coincidences in High Contrast  45: Crisis Management in the Global South: Public Administration in a Crisis Context  46: Social Capital and Crisis Management in South Asia  47: Disaster Management in Afghanistan  48: Climate Change Adaptations in Urban Local Government in Bangladesh

Editorial Reviews

"This timely handbook provides an invaluable addition to the literature on public policy developments in the Global South. By bringing together expertise from the Global South, it covers a broad scope of issues in this region, such as democratic governance, political trust, global public policy and governance, comparative public policy and performance, public service delivery, policy innovations and digitalization, gender policy, and crisis management. It provides much-needed South-South comparative analyses between countries also, including local government and regionalism. This volume is a major contribution to integrating a fragmented literature in this field. It offers scholars and practitioners a means to navigate many of the complex public policy challenges in the Global South."

Per Lægreid, Professor Emeritus. Department of Government, University of Bergen, Norway.

 

"This Handbook explores governance and policy challenges unique to the Global South. Featuring perspectives from local authors, it addresses issues such as democratic backsliding, gender reforms, digital governance, and climate adaptation. In development studies, contributions from global South authors are vital to ensure relevant and actionable insights. This handbook integrates theory and practice, offering comparative case studies and practical solutions. It is essential reading for scholars and policymakers aiming to tackle complex challenges and foster equitable progress in a dynamic global context."

Gabriel Cepaluni, Associate Professor, São Paulo State University, Brazil.

"The handbook compiles the governance and policy discussions of the Global South into a single volume. It cautions against applying Global North perspectives to analyze governance and policy trends while treating the Global South as a uniform entity. In summary, the volume offers significant insights into governance and public policy discussions in the Global South."

Winnie V. Mitullah, Research Professor & UNESCO UNITWIN Chair, Institute for Development Studies, University of Nairobi, Kenya.

"Routledge Handbook of Public Policy in the Global South presents a much-needed collection of perspectives and insights that inform public policy theory and practice from the vantage of Global South. Bringing together leading scholars and practitioners, this volume examines pressures of the pandemic, climate change, democratic backsliding and eroding public trust in governments due to inefficient public service delivery within the shifting contours of the global political economy. The handbook offers unique perspectives that question the dominant paradigms, share indigenous experiences and explores the varied policy challenges across Asia, Africa, Latin America and beyond. Grounded in contextual realities and global interdependencies, this book is an essential reference for academics, policymakers and students seeking to decolonize public policy and advance inclusive frameworks for policy design and practice."

Yaamina Salman, Professor, Institute of Administrative Sciences, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan.

From the Publisher