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Because coconuts do not grow in Canberra: Complexity theory and capacity development in Solomon Islands Police Force
Author(s) -
CurthBibb Jodie
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
public administration and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.574
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1099-162X
pISSN - 0271-2075
DOI - 10.1002/pad.1862
Subject(s) - technocracy , capacity building , sociology , psychological intervention , explanatory power , public sector , intervention (counseling) , frame (networking) , public administration , political science , computer science , law , epistemology , politics , psychology , telecommunications , philosophy , psychiatry
Summary Statebuilding has been informed and captured by reductionist, linear change models. Defined by technocratic approaches to public sector (re)building and reform—it has been monitored, measured and evaluated by New Public Management artefacts such as log‐frames and Results‐Based Management. Through a case study on the capacity development of the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force, I explore the possibilities for using complexity theory to better understand, manage, and monitor capacity development interventions. The analysis of interview data with police practitioners from both sides of the intervention—advisors and local counterparts—reveals the explanatory power of complexity concepts (such as interconnectedness, emergence, initial conditions, and non‐linear change) in ways that could inform a rethink of how we frame public sector capacity building interventions.