Africa Rising in a Fast-Changing World: Transcending Continental Public Administration Challenges

Abstract

Africa's liberation movements and decolonisation process through the 1950s and 60s were not without struggle, given the marked reluctance of some colonial powers to part with imperial control. In their wake, new realities emerged across the Continent within this newfound “freedom”. While Africa by no means underwent a homogeneity of colonial and liberation experiences, an identity crisis has been depicted across the Continent's governance and service delivery trends. Public sector reform approaches within the diversities of the colonially inherited identities across the Continent demonstrated the key leadership role in delivering the gains of the Continent's independence. African countries have thus had to stand amidst local and international pressures in crafting their own public administration paths with respect to institutional adaptation, governance and leadership excellence and technology-driven modernisation. What is certain is that finally, after years of hegemony over the global South from countries of the North, states on the African Continent have emerged as major players in the deliberations of the United Nations, with independent inputs on all matters of global significance. Thus, the chapter explores how the emergence of Africa as an independent force in world affairs transcends the challenges of public administration on the Continent.