Book Review The Limits of Institutional Reform in Development. Changing Rules for Realistic Solutions, by Matt Andrews. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 2013.

Developing countries commonly adopt reforms to improve their governments yet they usually fail to produce more functional and effective governments. In this book Matt Andrews argues that reforms often fail to make governments better because unrealistic initiatives do not fit developing country contexts and are not considered relevant by implementing agents. Maria Kuecken finds this is a must-read that makes a substantial contribution to the field of institutional reform.