Development agencies of the future: The limits of adaptation

Erik Lundsgaarde and Adam Moe Fejerskov

Public Administration & Development, 2018, vol. 38, issue 5, 169-178

Abstract: The analysis of the future of development agencies commonly adopts a view that the adaptability of agencies to a set of external challenges in the global development landscape determines their fitness for the future. This article offers alternative entry points for reflections on the future role of development agencies in managing global challenges. It argues that recent analysis focusing on agency adaptation has two key limitations. First, it does not adequately account for the existing diversity of organizational forms and the differences in the functions that development agencies assume. Second, it does not acknowledge that agency adaptation can reflect organizational dynamics involving the pursuit of sustained legitimacy rather than a rational response to external challenges. As a consequence, agencies encouraged to change in order to maintain relevance may extend their engagement to areas where they lack expertise, implying a tradeoff between organizational adaptation and effectiveness. The article concludes that further analysis of possible trajectories for development agencies should emphasize the place of organizations within a domestic and international division of labor and the varied strengths of current organizational alternatives to orient future decisions on how to invest in the infrastructure for global cooperation.

Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1002/pad.1841

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:padxxx:v:38:y:2018:i:5:p:169-178

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Public Administration & Development from Blackwell Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().