The drought policy bureaucracy, decentralization, and policy networks in post-apartheid Namibia

In Namibia in 1990, apartheid was ended, and a democratic form of governmen t was installed; 2 years later, the national government established a syste m of partially decentralized regional governments. At the same ti,ne, the g overnment reacted to the severe drought of 1992 by instituting a national d rought relief bureaucracy with particular attention to the predominantly Bl ack African communal areas, which incorporated the new regional councils. T his, in turn, created the opportunity for those councils to serve as organi zational nodes within widening policy and informational networks related to the drought relief process. These networks incorporated village leaders, m inistry officials, and the regional councillors and helped to assure the ef fective implementation of the drought relief program. This suggests a stron g (although not determining) link between informational networks and policy outcomes. This article also makes clear that provided sufficient behaviora l responsibility subnational governmental bodies can play crucial roles in drought relief processes in developing-world settings.