Chapter 11 Public administration Singapore-style

The World Bank relies on six indicators to assess the level of governance in 212 countries from 1996 to 2008. However, for this chapter, only two indicators – government effectiveness and control of corruption – are discussed here as they are more relevant than the other four indicators of voice and accountability, political stability, regulatory quality, and rule of law. “Government effectiveness” refers to:the quality of public service provision, the quality of the bureaucracy, the competence of civil servants, the independence of the civil service from political pressures, and the credibility of the government's commitment to policies. ( Kaufmann et al., 2004, p. 3 )