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Campfire decision‐making and strategic management: A politics and leadership approach to economic development
Author(s) -
Cunningham Robert B.,
Adwan Yasir
Publication year - 1991
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.4230110507
Subject(s) - politics , corporation , political risk , chief executive officer , economics , officer , work (physics) , investment (military) , private sector , public relations , business , finance , management , economic growth , political science , law , mechanical engineering , engineering
Privatization is recommended unconditionally by some scholars as the optimal means for achieving economic development. While privatization can be helpful medicine, it provides no universal cure for all the ills associated with low economic growth. A country's economic and political institutions are intertwined. Mandating privatization without being mindful of both political and economic consequences to such a policy can bring undesirable consequences during and after policy implementation. This paper proposes that to enhance the likelihood of economic growth a leader should blend economics with politics. Sensitive political leadership can stimulate a bonding among citizens, a bonding which can generate the commitment to risk by investing personal savings, to work the long hours which much precede the rewards, and often to be satisfied by a job well done rather than with material reward. Analogous to the chief executive officer of a successful corporation, the effective political leader involves stakeholders, steers decision processes, takes reasonable risks, encourages private investment, and rations public resources according to national priorities. Collective decision‐making guided by the political leader, who also acts as a strategic manager during implementation, is offered as a model for development.