The objectives of this article are to (1) define the contributions of the Comparative Public Administration to knowledge of governance, management of public services, and national development; (2) assess the relevance of these contributions to the African experience; (3) examine how comparative research, despite certain limitations, had steered public administration out of its ethnocentric and provincial mode of analysis into a wider global horizon of search and discovery; and (4) examine the relevance of development administration concepts to practice in Africa, particularly during the formative phase of post-colonial experience. The article offers suggestions for change strategies.

Points for practitioners

Comparing public administration practices of a country with those of other countries, with past performance, or with benchmarks is vital for administrative improvement and for developing reform strategies. Administrative knowledge, derived through cross-cultural comparative analysis, provides a broader horizon for the practitioner of management and better understanding of the larger context of governance. Also, comparison provides the practitioner with significant insights into policies and actions that work and those that do not work at the local, national, and global levels.