Institutional Legitimacy in State–Market Partnership: Singapore and Botswana

Abstract

The paper examines the impact of institutional legitimacy on Singapore's and Botswana's experience with state–market partnership in economic policy implementation – specifically, private sector development. The elements of institutional legitimacy seen as key factors influencing the success of economic policy implementation include: the moral and legal authority by which governments command the trust and acquiescence of the broader citizenry; the perception of the government's credibility and competence by organized interests in the market; and the government's ability to engage market interests in sustained collaborative networks. Institutional legitimacy, however, could be understood at two levels – the macro and meso levels.

Notes

1. Interviewees in the Singapore public sector are not comfortable discussing such matters in depth.

2. Interview with an official of the Singapore National Trade Union, Singapore, October 2005.

3. Interview with a professor at the National University of Singapore, Singapore, December 2005.

4. Interview with an official at Singapore's Civil Service College, Singapore, December 2005.

5. In my interview with a senior researcher at the Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis (BIDPA), he notes that Batswana defer to political authority like “a nephew to his benevolent uncle”.

6. Interview with a middle-level researcher at the BIDPA.

7. Interview with a Botswana Federation of Trade Union (BFTU) official.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Charles Conteh

Dr. Charles Conteh is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at Brock University, Ontario, where he teaches Comparative Public Policy and Administration. His research interest is in the area of Policy Implementation, Interorganizational Theory and Governance, with a focus on Economic Development Policy.