This book examines administrative changes and reforms carried out in the developing nations: it looks at the role of the state, administrative reforms carried out at the behest of the west but never fully materialized, and events leading to policy failures and administration mishaps. It is a story of failed developmental goals seen through the looking-glass of administration, and it is about directing, managing and controlling the means used in and by Third-World countries to achieve development.

In addition to a history of development administration, this volume includes an analysis of bureaucratic corruption and accountability, the issue of capability-building in science and technology transfer, the new challenge of the 1990s - how to achieve environmentally sustainable development in the face of resource constraints and ever-growing public demands and expectations - and a strategy for sustainable development administration as the Third World prepares for the twenty-first century.