Complexities of decolonising African public administration in the neoliberal world

The African Public Administration curricula and pedagogy continue to reflect the enduring hegemonic influence of Western ideals, models, and orientations, evident in the sustained reliance on Euro-American theoretical frameworks, analytical constructs, paradigms, methodologies, and their exclusionary canonisation process. A substantial body of research by scholars on the subject has heightened concerns and made several proposals for aligning pedagogical approaches with postcolonial African realities, aspirations, culture, and indigenous knowledge systems. This article critically examines the state of affairs regarding the repositioning of teaching and learning in Public Administration at African universities. The paper employs a systematic scoping review as its guiding methodology. The search strategy yielded 78 eligible publications. The findings of the review indicate persistent obstacles to achieving full decolonisation. Furthermore, strategies are being reshaped and sharpened within a largely globalising world, where the influence of Westernisation is being revitalised through universalist neoliberal schemes (e.g. isomorphic pressures channelled through international rankings, global standardisation, and global accreditation) for far-reaching influence globally. Current push-back efforts against the enduring encroachment of global influences are underwhelming, and continuing on this trajectory undermines the prospects of the decolonisation project. The paper concludes that more potent, strategic, and calculated countervailing response actions are necessary from within the African space, including deeper self-introspection, curriculum indigenisation, language decolonisation, deconstruction of dominant exclusionary colonial knowledge structures, and foregrounding African agency in the realm of epistemologies.