Attacking Poverty has attracted more than the usual interest in World Development Reports mainly because it reflects the dilemma in future strategy for the World Bank. Its basis in a widely welcomed consultation with the poor, its transparent process and new conceptual framework contrast with...

The research investigated the extent to which 'new public management' style reforms (in which the state confines itself to contracting, guiding, facilitating and financing in providing public services, rather than delivering them itself through civil service organizations) are successful in the...