Administrative Reform And Its Impact on Citizens

1. Administrative ReformAnd Its Impact on Citizens

2. Reform, Reform, Reform • Always Part of Government Business • But Increased Activity • Or At Least More Obvious Activity • NPM was Central to Governing for Past Several Decades • Multiple Drivers EU NPM Economic issues Politics

3. The Old Public Administration • Both Academic and in Practice • Should Not be Too Quick to Denigrate • Coming Back??

4. Political as Well as Administrative Logics • Protected Ministers • Remember the Systems Against Which these Ideas Were Juxtaposed --Weber --Wilson • Legalism and Uniformity • Welfare, and Warfare, States

5. Basic Assumptions • 1. Autonomy of State Action • 2. Hierarchical Authority • 3. Accountability Upwards • 4. Permanence and Stability • 5. Civil Service

6. Styles of Reform • The Market—NPM • Participation—”Governance” and Democracy • Deregulation

7. Also Political • Assumptions of NPM • Assumptions of Governance • Assumptions of Empowerment

8. The Market • Diagnosis—Monopoly • Structure—Disaggregate, or Privatize • Management—Market • Policy—Choice, Market (quasi-market) • Good Government—Low Cost, Choice

9. Participation • Diagnosis—Hierarchy • Structure—Flatten Organizations • Management—Involvement • Policy—Choice • Good Government—Choice, Involvement

10. Deregulation • Diagnosis—Rules • Structure—Irrelevant • Management—Freedom • Policy—Autonomy, Innovation • Good Governance—Low Cost, Efficiency

11. Pollitt—8 Principles • Cost-Cutting • Disaggregating Bureaucracies • Decentralizing Decisions Within Organizations • Separating Purchasers and Providers • Market-Type Mechanisms • Targets and Indicators • Dismantling Traditional Personnel Management • Increasing Emphasis on Quality WALK THROUGH THESE

12. Governance • Diagnosis—Statism • Structure—Networks • Management—Managing the Networks • Policy—Deliberation, Negotiation • Good Government—Democracy, Participation

13. Styles of Diffusion • Coercion • Mimesis • Learning

14. Coercion • International Organizations • EU • Consultants • Dominance of Funding

15. Mimesis • Simple Aping • “Best Practice” • IO’s Involved Again • A “Cargo Cult”

16. Learning • Understanding the Social and Political Foundations of Reform (NZ?) • Attempts to Match Conditions with Reform Programs • Very Difficult Exercise in Reality • But Also Can be Used as a Barrier to Change • Defining the Variables for Success and Failure Substantive Political

17. Impacts of Reform • On State • On Public Service • On Citizens

18. Impact on States • Fragmentation • Coordination Problems • Loss of Control • Substitute Private Goods for Public Goods • Loss of Public Value

19. States, 2 • BUT Efficiency Effectiveness Democracy Flexibility Half-Full or Half-Empty? When Does Flexibility Become Unpredictability? Often Politically Constructed

20. Impact on thePublic Service • Deprofessionalization • Loss of Organizational Memory • Loss of Morale • Or Empowerment • Multiple Empowerment • Change in Role to Bargainer

21. Impact on Citizens • Again, Depends on Which Style • Some Positive • Some Negative • Even That Evaluation Dependent Upon Values

22. Citizens, Positive • Empowerment • Involvement • Treated as a Customer With Choice • Less “Bureaucracy” • Multiple Routes of Access

23. Citizens, Negative • Customers, not Citizens • Diminished Sense of Equality of Provision • Confusion, Indeterminacy • Loss of Public Value, e.g. Information Policy • Networks may be LESS democratic • Networks May be More Opaque • Elitism on Several Dimensions

24. Reactions • Reassertion of the Center • Performance Management • Strategic Management • Neo-Weberian State • All Linked

25. Metagovernance • Return to Steering • But with a Lighter Hand • Steering at a Distance • Will This Really Help Citizens?

26. Conclusions • The Best of Times, The Worst of Times • Any Reform Will Beget Problems (Simon) • Should Admire Reformers for Continuing to Find the Solution • But Wonder about What they Have Learned?