Dr Abena Frimpoma Dadze-Arthur

Dr Abena Frimpoma Dadze-Arthur

Department of Public Administration and Policy
Associate Professor
Co-Director of the Public Management & Leadership Programme
Co-Convener of Black Scholars Connect, CEO & Founder of UoB Operating Division Mindset Dynamics

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 4999
Email
a.f.dadze-arthur@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
School of Government
Muirhead Tower
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Abena is an Associate Professor in the Department of Public Administration and Policy. Combining the experience of an international policy practitioner with the robust theoretical approach of an academic, Abena’s research and teaching focus on decolonizing and transforming approaches to public management and governance, and contributing to the development of indigenous solutions and sustainable change.

Abena is the Co-Director of the Public Management & Leadership Programme in the Department of Public Administration and Policy and Co-Convener of Black Scholars Connect. Abena is also the Vice Chair for Equality, Diversity & Inclusion of the UK Association for Public Administration (UKAPA), an external examiner for Manchester Metropolitan University, and Associate Editor of the Wiley journal Public Administration & Development. Abena is also CEO and founder of the University of Birmingham's Operating Division Mindset Dynamics.

Qualifications

  • PhD in Culturally Rooted Public Management, University of Birmingham, UK, 2016
  • MSc in Contemporary Political Sociology, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK, 2002
  • BSc (Hons) in International Studies, Drexel University, USA, 2000
  • PRINCE2 Certified Project Manager
  • IPDET/World Bank Certified Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist
  • Kaplan & Norton’s Certified Balanced Scorecard Practitioner

Biography

Abena Dadze-Arthur: Homo Subjectivus - The Human Factor in Public Management Reform

Dr Abena Dadze-Arthur spent 10 years working as an international public policy specialist on a variety of research, advocacy, policy and consultancy projects, focussed on addressing socio-economic disadvantage and delivering social justice outcomes, in a range of governance contexts across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, with her last appointment being a three-year post as adviser at the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Court (diwan). In 2011, Abena redirected her career to researching and teaching International Public Management and Governance at the University of Birmingham, which enabled her to combine her practitioner experience with the robust theoretical approach of an academic in understanding the design, delivery, evaluation and management of effective public policies, quality public services, and good governance processes in diverse cultural and institutional contexts.

A passion for globally inclusive education, which collapses geographic, methodological and disciplinary boundaries and integrates decolonial, indigenous, feminist, queer and other subjugated epistemologies, drives Abena’s ambition to research and advocate for an increasingly pluralistic approach to conceptualising and brokering knowledge in the field of public management and governance that recognizes the ‘situationality’ of all. Abena is fluent in English and German, proficient in French, and has basic language skills in Arabic & Twi (Ghana’s Akan language).

Teaching

  • Public Management & Governance in a Changing World
  • Public Sector Economics
  • Comparative Public Management
  • Democracy, Governance and Participation

Research

Research interests

  • Transfer and brokering of knowledge across cultural and institutional boundaries
  • Decolonizing, transforming, and indigenising approaches to public management and governance
  • The scientific study of subjectivity (Q Methodology)

Publications

Recent publications

Book

Ohemeng, FLK, Ayee, JRA & Dadze-Arthur, AF (eds) 2026, The Politics of Democratic Backsliding: Bureaucratic and Political Relationships in Emerging and Developing Countries. Emerald Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83662-536-0

Dadze-Arthur, A 2017, An analysis of Clifford Geertz's: The interpretation of cultures. Selected essays: Book Series: The Macat Library. Routledge, Routledge.

Article

Dadze-Arthur, A & Mangai, M 2024, 'The journal and the quest for epistemic justice', Public Administration and Development, vol. 44, no. 4, pp. 326-341. https://doi.org/10.1002/pad.2064

Dadze-Arthur, A & Mörth, A 2021, 'Testing ZELPH ['sɛlf] – a self-assessment instrument to surface intended and unintended outcomes of work-integrating pedagogies', Journal of Work-Applied Management, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 36-50. https://doi.org/10.1108/jwam-11-2020-0047

Dadze-Arthur, A 2020, 'The contribution of case studies to conceptualising the implementation of work-integrating higher education', eucen Studies eJournal of University Lifelong Learning, vol. 4, no. 2. https://doi.org/10.53807/0402cp6i

Chapter

Dadze-Arthur, AF, Ohemeng, FLK & Ayee, JRA 2026, Conclusion and Lessons: Democratic Backsliding as Administrative Reconfiguration Across Regimes, Regions, and Governance. in FLK Ohemeng, JRA Ayee & AF Dadze-Arthur (eds), The Politics of Democratic Backsliding: Bureaucratic and Political Relationships in Emerging and Developing Countries. Emerald Publishing Limited, pp. 245-258. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83662-536-020261013

Ayee, JRA, Dadze-Arthur, AF & Ohemeng, FLK 2026, Introduction: Politicians and Bureaucrats in an Era of Democratic Backsliding. in FLK Ohemeng, JRA Ayee & AF Dadze-Arthur (eds), The Politics of Democratic Backsliding: Bureaucratic and Political Relationships in Emerging and Developing Countries. Emerald Publishing Limited, pp. 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83662-536-020261001

Ohemeng, FLK, Dadze-Arthur, AF & Ayee, JRA 2026, When Democratic Institutions Become Instruments of Control: Competitive Authoritarianism and Democratic Stagnation in the Case of Ghana, 2017–2024. in FLK Ohemeng, JRA Ayee & AF Dadze-Arthur (eds), The Politics of Democratic Backsliding: Bureaucratic and Political Relationships in Emerging and Developing Countries. Emerald Publishing Limited, pp. 221-244. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83662-536-020261012

Dadze-Arthur, A 2022, Democracy, governance and participation: Epistemic colonialism in public administration and governance courses. in KA Bottom, J Diamond, PT Dunning & IC Elliott (eds), Handbook of Teaching of Public Administration. 1 edn, Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd., pp. 218-226. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800375697.00036

Dadze-Arthur, A 2020, Zur zielgerichteten Einbindung des Lernorts Praxis in das Hochschulstudium. in Wandel an Hochschulen? Entwicklungen der wissenschaftlichen Weiterbildung im Bund-Länder-Wettbewerb ‘Aufstieg durch Bildung: offene Hochschulen.

Dadze-Arthur, A & Skelcher, C 2016, Democratic governance: the role of politics and politicians. in Public Management and Governance, 3rd edition. 3 edn, Routledge.

Dadze-Arthur, A & Raine, JW 2016, EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING AND TEACHING AT A DISTANCE: HOW DISTINCTIVE AN EXPERIENCE? in Developing Public Managers for a Changing World Vol: 5. vol. 5, Developing Public Managers for a Changing World (Critical Perspectives on International Public Sector Management, Vol. 5, Emerald, pp. 141-159. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2045-794420160000005008

Commissioned report

Dadze-Arthur, A, Mörth, A & Cendon, E 2020, International Trailblazers: Work-integrating Higher Education in Selected Higher Education Institutions in the US, England and Denmark, Results of an International Case Study Research Project. German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

Doctoral Thesis

Dadze-Arthur, A 2016, 'Homo Subjectivus: shoehorning customer-centric reform into the subjectivities of Abu Dhabi’s public administrators', ???thesis.qualification.phd???, The University of Birmingham.

Editorial

Chudnovsky, M, Elliott, IC, Bhuiyan, S, Brown, PR, Chen, WD, Dadze‐Arthur, AF, Herrold, CE, Mangai, MS, Masood, A, Pande, D, Castro, SV & Wu, AM 2026, 'How to Get Published in a Leading Public Administration Journal', Public Administration and Development. https://doi.org/10.1002/pad.70125

View all publications in research portal