Definition
Capacity building refers to a broad palette of techniques and methods that help individuals, organizations, and communities develop solutions to address the obstacles which prevent them in reaching their development goals.
Introduction
This entry provides first an overview of the main characteristics of the concept and a short historical overview. Subsequent sections present profiles for the different approaches developed over time, with particular focus on administrative capacity building. A separate section discusses the relationship between the concept of “capacity building” and of “capability approach.”
Concept Characteristics and Historical Evolution
Present in the policy discourse and in the scientific studies during the 1960s as a component of administration development (Pollitt and Bouckaert 2011), the concept of “capacity development” was initially coupled to the reconstruction...
References
Cardona F (2009) Attractiveness of the public service: a matter of Good Public Governance, SIGMA document. Available online at: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/32/51/44110902.pdf. Last access 28 Feb 2020
El-Taliawi OG, Van Der Wal Z (2019) Developing administrative capacity: an agenda for research and practice. Policy Design Pract 1:1–15
Farazmand A (2009) Building administrative capacity for the age of rapid globalization. Public Adm Rev 69(6):1007–1020
Gamal I, Vaughan G (2002) Bye-bye central planning, hello market hiccups: institutional transition in Romania. Camb J Econ 26:105–118
Jreisat JE (2012) Rethinking administrative capacity development: the Arab States. Public Organiz Rev 12:139–155. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11115-011-0164-5
Milward B, Jensen L, Roberts A, Dussauge-Laguna MI, Junjan V, Torenvlied R, Boin A, Colebatch HK, Kettl D, Durant R (2016) Is public management neglecting the state? Governance. https://doi.org/10.1111/gove.12201
Nussbaum M (2004) Beyond the social contract: capabilities and global justice. Oxf Dev Stud 32(1):3–18
Pollitt C, Bouckaert G (2011) Public management reform. A comparative analysis: new public management, governance, and the neo-Weberian state. Oxford University Press
Robeyns I (2005) Capability approach: a theoretical survey. J Hum Dev 6(1):93–117
Schimmelfennig F, Sedelmeier U (2005) The Europeanization of central and Eastern Europe. Cornell University Press
Sen A (1985) Well-being, agency and freedom. J Philos LXXXII(4):169–221
SIGMA-OECD (1998) Preparing public administrations for the European administrative space. SIGMA Papers 23. Available online at: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/20/56/36953447.pdf. Last access 28 Feb 2020
SIGMA-OECD (1999) European principles for public administration, SIGMA Papers 27. Available online at: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/26/30/36972467.pdf. Last access 28 Feb 2020
Sobis I, de Vries MS (2009) The story behind Western advice to Central Europe during its transition period. NISPAcee Press, Bratislava
Wu X, Ramesh M, Howlett M (2015) Policy capacity: a conceptual framework for understanding policy competences and capabilities. Polic Soc 34:3–4
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Junjan, V. (2020). Capacity Building. In: Farazmand, A. (eds) Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_3004-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_3004-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-31816-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-31816-5
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences