LAHORE: A book, titled Public Sector Reforms in Pakistan: Hierarchies, Markets and Networks, was launched at the Department of Governance and Global Studies, Information Technology University (ITU), on Tuesday.

This book has been co-edited by Dr Abiha Zahra, Prof Geert Bouckaert, Prof Zafar Iqbal Jadoon and Prof Nasira Jabeen with 14 chapters contributed by multiple authors.

Dr Imdaad Husain opened the ceremony and emphasised the significance of the book for the public sector management.

Dr Saeed Shafqat, the professor and director, Centre of Public Policy and Governance (CPPG), FCC, endorsed the book and stressed that the public sector was the backbone of the state. He underlined the need to have decentralised and citizen centered public policies sector reforms.

Meghna Sabharwal, professor of public and nonprofit management, The University of Texas at Dallas, urged the public policy and public administration scholars to examine the nature of reforms and their outcomes separately. She termed ingredients like structures, culture/context, capacity, political will/leadership essential for successful reform.

Dr Yaqoob Bangash, a Fulbright Fellow at the South Asia Institute, Harvard University, congratulated the editors for a meaningful contribution to the scholarship on public sector reforms in Pakistan. He said, “Public sector reforms in Pakistan have been attempted many times but they have failed because we do not integrate them in our society”.

Fahad Ali, dean Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, congratulated Dr Abiha Zahra, the editor and assistant professor at the ITU for the wonderful and much needed contribution.

Dr Abiha Zahra said the book provided a research-based analysis of public sector reforms in Pakistan, offering a broad overview of reforms at different levels of government, including federal, provincial, and local.

She added that the book examined decentralization and devolution reforms in various policy sectors while it also reflected on market-oriented reforms and the steps taken to involve the private sector to build a better government public sector. She said the book explored new trends in the public sector in the areas of digitalization and disaster management.

Bringing together young researchers, academics, and practitioners, the book set a new milestone in the movement towards context specific reform studies in both the academia and the professional practice of public administration, particularly in South Asia, Ms Zahra said.

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2022