Government-Culture Nexus: Exploring the Efficacy of The Explanatory Value ‘Of Culture’ As Causality for Poor Governance And Performance

Abstract

Even in the most normative or prescriptive frameworks of reform, there is recognition that culture matters; that an element of collective interest sits alongside the pre- eminence of the self-interested individual. There is, in other words, a value in culture that can be tapped into as a resource or instrument, for instance, as a safety-net (social protection) or social capital (economic resource). The value in culture, however, quickly dissipates in the case of the purveying account of the persistence of what is referred to as ‘poor governance’ or ‘poor performance’ of institutions. In such cases, lack of success in reforms is typically presented as a problem ‘of culture’– i.e., values and ..