Bureaucratization from above, bureaucratization from below: Dissemination and reception of a managerial instrument in the health context in Benin

Based on a field survey and interviews with Global Fund officials, this article examines the dissemination of a specific public policy instrument (“Results-Based Management”) in the health context in Benin. Through this process, we can analyze more generally the movement of bureaucratization specific to the neoliberal era. In particular, I focus on the way in which managerial rationality and formalism are enforced by the Global Fund through both incentivizing and repressive techniques. I then show that these procedures are appropriated according to the logic of the Beninese administration. From this point of view, the role of “public policy professionals” is decisive. Belonging to a privileged social group, they strengthen their positions through their participation in international programs, while striving to redefine the principles of the functioning of their administration.