Social Justice and Capacity Development

Two issues have dominated my life – for the first 20 years what we in Scotland initially called (in the 70s) “multiple deprivation” but which has subsequently become better known as “social injustice” and “inequality”, Straddling then the worlds of politics and academia, I helped shape Strathclyde Region’s social strategy which is still at the heart of the Scottish Government’s work

In the 1990s , however, I changed both continents and roles – and found myself dealing, as a consultant, with the question of how new public management and governance systems could be built in ex-communist countries to give ordinary ordinary citizens in ex-communist countries a more effective “voice” – against the “powers that be”…..

Until recently I saw these two strands of my life as very separate - but I now realize that there is a profound link between the 2 fields of work and indeed some others which have occupied me in my retirement. The overriding theme of my life’s work has been that of managing change – and I find myself in this latter stage of my life wrestling to make sense of the change which seems to be overwhelming the human race

I wanted to put a table here - but BLOGPOST as usual is making a mess of it - so I have had to createtable on my 5 theories of change

I’ve tried several times to pull out some lessons from the rich experience which had its beginning in 1968. Last year it was Modernity’s Last Gasp? Strathclyde Region's theory of change and this year A short note and bibliography on change.

But I haven’t done justice to the period 1990-2010

True in 1999 I did produce few hundred copies of a book In Transit – notes on good governance which I used aș a calling card for my eight years în Central Asia - but this was actually notes about what I had learned from my Scottish and west european experience (it included a chapter on managing change)

And in 2011 a brief Chinese adventure gave rise to Administrative Reform with Chinese Characteristics“ The same year saw “The Long Game – not the logframe” - a caustic paper I presented to the 2011 NISPAcee Conference ( building on an earlier paper to the 2007 Conference) in which I took apart the superficiality of the assumptions EC bureaucrats seemed to be making about the prospects of its Technical Assistance programmes making any sort of dent in what I called (variously) the kleptocracy or “impervious regimes” of most ex-communist countries.

And in 2018 I produced No Man’s Land – journeys across disputed borders but this was simply the notes from my various projects in central europea and central Asia with some initial and very tentative conclusions.

So I have work to do!