CHAPTER THREE: DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL GOVERNANCE _____________________________________________________________________ administration has been comprehensively reformed and a Ministry of Public Service and State Reform has been established. Indeed, some important texts have been adopted, for example Law 10/98/AN of 21 April 1998, which lays down detailed rules for government intervention and for the distribution of competencies between the state and other development actors, and Law 20/98/AN of 5 May 1998, which establishes standards for the creation, organisation and management of the structures of the state. 268. The strengthening of administrative governance has led in particular to the introduction of new ICTs in the administrative arm. Technologies such as the Integrated Administrative and Salary System for Public Workers (SIGASPE), the Automated Customs Data System (ASYCUDA), the Integrated Expenditure Circuit (CID), the Integrated Revenue Circuit (CIR), and governmental and ministerial websites are part of this dynamic. The results of these reforms have, however, been somewhat mitigated. 269. It appears from the surveys conducted that, although administrative agents enjoy a better reputation among citizens, a significant proportion of the population still believes that these agents are not very attentive to its concerns. This undoubtedly demonstrates that the confidence of citizens in the administration has not yet been fully restored, despite the various reforms undertaken. ii. Conclusions of the CRM 270. Document reviews and meetings with stakeholders have helped the mission to identify, and to confirm, the shortcomings noted in the CSAR and to discover others. Since the late 1970s, this African state has evolved in an international context marked by globalisation, excessive liberalism, the opening of borders, the unprecedented competition for the control of natural resources and for the control of markets, and the development of ICT. Domestically, such state is confronted by the emergence of new public players such as local authorities, civil society and the domestic private sector, all of which require greater democracy, more emphasis on the rule of law, more governance and the right to play a real role in the country’s development through opening up the space for the initiative and accountability of non-state actors. 271. In such a context, a public administration subscribing to the principles of another time characterised more by bureaucratic formalism and effectiveness inevitably finds it hard to be an expression of a state capable of undertaking collective-interest actions at low cost. Burkina Faso, in seeking to develop and increase the efficiency of its state, has been resolutely engaged in the process of comprehensively reforming its public administration. This reform, which commenced in the period between 1986 and 1988, and which intensified later, has affected not only the public service, but also the entire public administration from a systemic perspective. The administration’s missions, structures, resources, organisation, operation, methods and procedures, as well as its external relations, have been revisited by the reform. The primary 128