In 2010, the government, private businesses, and local universities in the northern Mexico state of Nuevo León forged an unusual alliance to design and implement sweeping law-enforcement reforms in a challenging context. At the time, powerful drug cartels were fighting increasingly bitter and bloody wars to control their turf—which intimidated an existing police service already hampered by low pay, weak morale, corruption, and disorganization. Public confidence in the state’s ability to maintain order had evaporated. During the next five years, the public–private partnership oversaw the creation of an entirely new police service that, in tandem with other reforms, significantly strengthened the state’s capacity to ensure public safety and helped rebuild public confidence.

Patrick Signoret drafted this case study based on interviews conducted in March and April 2018 and on earlier research carried out by Ariana Markowitz and Alejandra Rangel Smith in October 2014. New York University’s Marron Institute helped support Alejandra Rangel Smith’s participation. Case published July 2018.

Beginning in 2007, Benin’s reformist leaders sought to strengthen the quality of governance and public management by instituting a system for evaluating public policies. National policies and programs often had little impact on development outcomes, and existing systems for monitoring and evaluating government initiatives were largely donor driven and designed to fit donors’ needs. As a result, the government struggled to define, prioritize, and coordinate policies within and across disparate sectors like agriculture, health, and education. With the support of newly elected president, Boni Yayi, Pascal Koupaki, Benin’s minister for planning, development and evaluation, created a bureau for policy evaluation to analyze public policies across different ministries, assess their impacts, and recommend improvements. Given the prevalence of inefficiency and ineffectiveness, the idea of evaluation initially enjoyed little political support. However, a small team based in Koupaki’s ministry, gradually built national evaluation capacities and increased internal demand for policy evaluation. By 2015, the bureau had become a permanent part of the administration, completed more than a dozen evaluation studies, and inspired the establishment of national evaluation mechanisms in West African neighbors Togo, Burkina Faso, and Mali.

Pallavi Nuka, ISS Associate Director, and Khady Thiam, of Sciences Po's Paris School of International Affairs drafted this case study based on interviews conducted in Cotonou and Abidjan in September 2015. This case study was funded by the French Development Agency. Case published April 2016.

In November 2005, Nitish Kumar became chief minister of one of India’s poorest states. The third-largest state by population, Bihar lagged behind other states in growth and development but scored high in corruption, lawlessness, and dismal service delivery. Mismanagement of financial resources, obsolete methods of data entry and reporting, a low-skilled workforce, insufficient transparency, and scarce accountability hindered service delivery. As head of state government, Kumar launched a series of reforms that applied information and communications technology to streamline operations, boost revenues, and improve the government’s responsiveness to citizens’ needs. By 2012, Bihar had earned national and regional acclaim for its technology-related gains, and the government of India recognized the turnaround through e-governance awards. Kumar’s efforts earned him the nickname Sushasan Babu, or Mr. Good Governance. Still, some reforms did not go far enough, and significant limitations remained: lack of integration among information and communications systems prevented proper coordination across departments; civil servants did not embrace all technology-related initiatives; and lack of electricity and Internet connectivity in many areas prevented citizens from taking full advantage of the services.

Juliette John drafted this case study in May 2014 while at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School on leave from the UK’s Department for International Development.  The case study was updated by Rushda Majeed and Pallavi Nuka following interviews conducted by Rushda Majeed in Patna, Bihar in August, 2014.  Three separate ISS case studies—Coalition Building in a Divided Society, Clearing the Jungle Raj, and Reviving the Administration,—outline Nitish Kumar’s broader efforts to build a coalition for reform, improve law and order, and resuscitate Bihar’s administration, respectively.

Associated Interview(s):  Anup Mukerji

In 2003, the bloodless Rose Revolution ushered in an era of unprecedented reform in the Republic of Georgia.  Widespread dissatisfaction with the undemocratic and corrupt post-Soviet regime culminated in the 2004 election of Mikheil Saakashvili as president.  Riding a wave of popular support and eager to act before the political winds shifted, Saakashvili immediately targeted the corrupt police service, seen by many Georgians as the epitome of state dysfunction.  By the end of 2006, his administration had abolished a KGB-style security ministry and its related police unit, dismissed every member of the country's uniformed police and created a new police force from scratch.  By 2009, it was clear that the reformers' strategy-capitalize on public support, think boldly, act quickly and fix mistakes as they arise had produced significant progress.

Matthew Devlin drafted this case study on the basis of interviews conducted in the Republic of Georgia during May 2009. Case published May 2010.

Associated Interview(s):  Batu Kutelia, Ekaterine Tkeshelashvili

Jonathan (Yoni) Friedman drafted this case study on the basis of interviews conducted in Monrovia, Liberia, during June and July 2011, and on the basis of interviews conducted by Arthur Boutellis in Monrovia in May 2008 and text prepared by Christine MacAulay.  Case published September 2011. A separate case study, “Building an Inclusive, Responsive National Police Service: Gender-Sensitive Reform in Liberia, 2005-2011” describes efforts to increase gender diversity and respond to high rates of sexual and gender-based violence in Liberia.

Associated Interview(s):  Bruce Baker, Ibrahim Idris, Joseph Kekula, Mark Kroeker, Robert Perito, Paavani Reddy, Aaron Weah, Peter F. Zaizay

In the 1990s, the Lesotho Mounted Police Service was in disarray.  Its members had gone on strike and had committed kidnappings and other crimes in the small African kingdom.  A police mutiny in the capital in 1997 forced the government to address the issue of reforming the service.  The effort included setting up three support agencies to monitor the activities of the police and ensure adherence to common standards.  These agencies had some success but struggled to assert the type of monitoring that was envisaged. The government in 2005 appointed a forward-looking commissioner who forged ahead with her own reform priorities.  The case offers insights into the challenges that arise when establishing external oversight agencies and also shows how savings can be made and reforms moved forward with the right leadership, even in low-resource environments.

Daniel Scher drafted this case study on the basis of interviews conducted in Maseru, Lesotho, in February 2010. 

Associated Interview(s):  Anthony Howlett-Bolton, Ts'okolo Koro, Motlepu Marhakhe