Reconstructing Public Administration after Conflict
1.  Challenges in reconstructing public sector leadership Every country strives for high-quality leadership in public administration. For post-conflict countries, however, special challenges may arise because of weak governance institutions, the difficulty of institutionalizing new leadership models, and discrepancies between formal rules and actual behaviours.
Overcoming weak governance structures and unpredictable systems The root causes of intrastate conflict are usually assumed to be poverty and economic inequality or clashes among different ethnic or religious groups. However, the central cause of violent conflict is weak governance institutions characterized by low levels of institutionalization and the personalization of politics. This is also one reason for relapses into conflict after peace agreements have been signed and governance and public administration institutions redesigned. In other words, divisive politics based on the monopolization of power and the exclusion of major social and political groups in the pre-conflict stage is often responsible for armed rebellion and civil wars. As an example, consider Uganda. Rebel groups there took up arms in response to a succession of dictatorial regimes whose leaders repressed the opposition and were accused of rigging the 1980 general elections (Langseth and Mugaja, 1996). In Rwanda, a succession of Hutu-dominated governments that expelled and excluded Tutsis triggered a Tutsi-led armed rebellion and the Hutus’ subsequent efforts to exterminate the Tutsi in the 1994 genocide. In Somalia, Siad Barre monopolized power from 1969 until 1991 by favoring his own clan and imprisoning and killing opponents. Therefore, a major priority of post-conflict governance is to transform previous patterns of divisive oppositional politics. While many conflict-affected countries have elaborate constitutions, charters, criminal and civil codes and justice systems, their institutions, including the rule of law, are nevertheless often undermined by a culture of personalized politics, corruption and impunity for the powerful. Recent scholarship indicates that communal divisions within the State are often actively crafted by political elites, community leaders or
The root causes of intrastate conflict are usually assumed to be poverty and economic inequality or ethic/religious clashes, however, the central cause of violent conflict is weak governance institutions
Institutions are often undermined by a culture of personalized politics, corruption and impunity for the powerful 25