Public sector reforms and accountability: The case of south and Southeast Asia

In this paper we examine how different contextual factors influence the nature of new public management (NPM) reforms and the state of public accountability in Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. It is notable that these countries fall into two distinct groups and that even in the successful pair of countries, Singapore and Malaysia, the extent of the accountability mechanisms implemented as part of the process of implementing the NPM model is quite limited, whereas the accountability and transparency of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka deteriorated during this period. We argue that political history, the pattern of economic development, the nature of political leadership, the capability of the administrative system, the capacity of existing institutions, and the state of civil society are the most significant contextual factors influencing accountability practices in these countries.