Mission driven bureaucrats : empowering people to help governments do better / Dan Honig ; with contributions from Sarah Thompson.

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2024]

xiv, 246 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

"In March 2020 I had the good fortune to be on sabbatical in Dakar, Senegal, doing research for this book. As COVID-19 spread Senegal reacted quickly, closing its borders and canceling all commercial flights. It set up public quarantine and contact tracing, established a curfew, and implemented rules for wearing masks and gloves on public transportation. Senegal did all this well before the US or UK had initiated any of these policies. I say "Senegal" reacted quickly, but really, I mean individual Senegalese people. Policy direction came from President Macky Sall, but actual execution relied on tens of thousands of individuals acting in the name of the state. Bureaucrats - employees from the Ministry of Health, doctors on the state's payroll, police officers - were the "Senegal" who did contact tracing, treated the infected, and enforced the curfew to minimize the spread of the virus. As March turned to April, the US State Department organized an evacuation flight from Dakar, urging Americans to take the opportunity to return home. A few days later, my wife, our son, and I joined 150 or so other Americans at Dakar's very empty airport. Many were sad to leave Senegal and quite afraid of what lay ahead in America. Once everyone received a medical check, we entered a repurposed cargo plane that was operated by the US State Department Operations Medicine team. A man named Joseph, wearing a full protective suit, addressed us from the front of the plane"-- Provided by publisher.

English

September 27, 2024

Includes bibliographical references and index.