Why is Public Policy Implementation Difficult in Developing Countries? Analysis of E-Government Implementation in Lesotho

Abstract

Governments formulate and implement public policies to intervene in the problems in the society. While policy implementation has increasingly been recognised as necessary for bridging the gap between policy goals and expected results and desired impacts, the process itself is dynamic, complex and problematic and has yet to be adequately understood. Despite the fact that implementation has emerged to be problematic across the world, literature shows that developing countries generally find it more difficult to implement government policies. Yet, the why question remains a largely under-investigated area of scholarship. The aim of this study is to contribute to an ongoing debate of why policy implementation is difficult in developing countries by exploring the challenges affecting electronic government (e-government) implementation in Lesotho. Semi-structured interviews were used to gather information from a purposively selected sample of government officials. The findings demonstrate that implementation in developing countries such as Lesotho is not linear, continuous and coherent. Rather, it is usually fragmented and gets interrupted all the time. The results reveal that vision and strategic planning, policy and regulatory laws, leadership, and resistance to change are the most significant factors influencing e-government implementation in Lesotho. It is recommended that the government carefully considers these factors to avoid policy hiccups and failure.

Keywords

• policy
• implementation
• challenges
• e-government
• developing countries
• lesotho