About

Dr. Joshua Jebuntie Zaato holds a Ph.D. in Public Administration from the University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, in Canada. He is currently a Lecturer at the Department of Political Science, University of Ghana, Legon. His main research interests are in the fields of Governance, Public Policy Analysis, Management Reforms and State Owned Enterprises. He is also an expert in the Governance and Management of Public Private Partnerships. Dr Zaato has also published extensively in some of the most prestigious international peer reviewed journals in the field of Public Administration, attended and presented his research at some of the most prestigious international conference, and is currently a reviewer for a number of journals in the field.
He has also gained extensive teaching, research and administrative experience in Canada, the UAE and Ghana. He has over ten years of experience teaching courses in Political Science, Public Administration and Social Research Methods in Canada, The UAE and Ghana.  Dr Zaato has also consulted for the World Bank and private enterprises all over the world.
His current research focuses on Governance and policy failure and learning in Ghana and the developing world. He is also focused on administrative capacity of the developmental state.
Dr. Zaato is also a member of many academic and research associations including the International Research Society for Public Management (IRSPM), International Political Science Association (IPSA), American Society for Public Administration (ASPS) among others.
He is the immediate past Assistant Chair of the International Studies Department in the College of Humanities and Social Science, Zayed University, Dubai, as well as the editor of the Newsletter of the same college.

Education

• PhD Public Administration - University of Ottawa, Canada
• Master of Arts (MA) Public Administration - Brock University, Canada
• Bachelor of Arts (BA), First Class Honours. Political Science - University of Ghana, Ghana

Research Interest

• Public Sector Reforms in Ghana
• Governance and Leadership in Ghana
• Public Private Partnerships in Ghana/Developing Countries
• Policy Learning and Policy Failures in Ghana/Developing Countries

Selected Publications

• Zaato, J. J. & Foli, R. (2024). Interest Groups and the Passage of the Domestic Violence Act in Ghana: Insights from the Advocacy Coalition Framework. In: Ayee, J.R., Amoah, L.G., Alidu, S.M. (eds) Political Institutions, Party Politics and Communication in Ghana: Three Decades of the Fourth Republic, (pp.157-172). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-54744-7_9
• Zaato, J. J. (2024) It’s not only about value for money: evolution and development of SOEs and the making of the state-led economic development in Ghana, in Kpessa-Whyte Michael and Dzisah James (eds) Public policy in Ghana: conceptual and practical insights (pp.73-91) Cham: Palgrave Macmillan
• Zaato, J.J. (2024). An Alternative Approach to Funding Public Universities in Developing Countries. The Case of the University of Ghana and Africa Integras Failed Public-Private Partnership Agreement, American Society for Public Administration Occupational Paper Series, 6(1), pp. 29-39.
• Zaato, J.J. (2024). Pockets of Innovation in the Public Sector: Digitalization as a Driver of Change and Innovation in Ghana’s Public Sector, Ghana Social Science Journal, 21(1), pp. 58-74.