Shabbir Cheema

Principal Adviser and Programme Director, Governance Systems and Institutions at the United Nations

G. Shabbir Cheema is Principal Adviser on Governance, Division for Public Administration and Development Management, United Nations. He is also Visiting Fellow at the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovations, Harvard University. As a senior UN official over the past 15 years including six years as the Director of Governance Division of UNDP, he provided leadership in crafting democratic governance and public administration programs at the country level, and designing global research and training programs in electoral and parliamentary systems, human rights, transparency and accountability of government, urban management and decentralization. He received his Ph.D. in political science in 1973 from the University of Hawaii. He has taught at Universiti Sains Malaysia, University of Hawaii, and New York University. From 1980 to 1988, he worked as Development Administration Planner at the United Nations Center for Regional Development, Nagoya, Japan.  He has authored or edited eight books and numerous book chapters and journal articles on governance and public administration. His books include Building Democratic Institutions : Governance Reform in Developing Countries, author (Westport: Kumarian Press 2005); Reinventing Government for the Twenty First Century : State Capacity in a Globalizing Society, co-editor (Westport: Kumarian 2003); Urban Shelter and Services : Public Policies and Management Approaches, author (New York: Praeger, 1987);  and Decentralization and Development : Policy Implementation in Developing Countries, co-editor  (Beverly Hills: Sage Publications 1984).