The Institutional Architecture: Reorganising Government for Better Socio-economic Development

This chapter examines the extent to which South Africa can be viewed as achieving its developmental goals based on its institutional architecture and how the institutional setup has evolved since 1994. The analysis examines the progress, challenges and prospects of South Africa in achieving its developmental goals. This analysis is undertaken in a comparative context and largely makes use of a developmental state framework. The chapter concludes that many mistakes have been made regarding the development approach pursued in South Africa so far. Among other issues, the way government is organised and capacitated has constrained its effective functioning which has resulted in weak socio-economic development. The analysis is supported by the quantification of the role of government in pursuing socio-economic development. The results confirm that government’s intervention in the economy can yield positive development outcomes. This supports the argument that the capacity and the organisation of the South African government can be reconfigured to better pursue socio-economic development. The reorganisation of the government discussed in the chapter is about the institutional architecture and the functions of as well as relationships between institutions tasked with planning, monitoring and evaluation in order to ensure improvements in wellbeing in the country. In addition, the chapter supports the view that government must play an active role in the economy and it further confirms the important role of social policy in economic development.