Indonesia: what do we mean by decentralization?

Decentralization has been a major theme in many countries in recent years. In Indonesia it has been part of the rhetoric of the Government for some time, but recent initiatives have suggested some more substance. This article reviews two main concepts: inter-governmental decentralization and management decentralization. It examines the Indonesian approach to decentralization in law and in practice, focusing on some recent initiatives in reforming the grant system and the declaration of a ‘pilot areas’ decentralization project. The aim of such initiatives appears to be to reap the efficiency gains of management decentralization without transferring power. However, the Indonesian system lacks some of the institutional requirements for effective management decentralization, notably the absence of performance measures and an effective framework of constraints, as reflected in the shortcomings of the systems of central controls over local government. The article concludes with an analysis of the reasons why the Indonesian Government appears to be so wary of western notions of decentralization. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Public Admin. Dev. Vol. 17 , 351–367 (1997). No. of Figures: 0. No. of Tables: 2. No. of Refs: 49.     

The colour purple: perceptions of accountability across the Tasman

This article explores the changing rhetoric and substance of accountability in the relationships between parliamentarians and public servants in what Alex Matheson terms the ‘purple zone’—where the ‘blue’ of political strategy and ‘red’ of public administration merge in ‘strategic conversation’. The primary focus is on current developments in Australia. As the Westminster system of governance, and the role of public administration within it, undergo profound transformation, the prerogatives of elected parliamentarians (in the blue corner) and the responsibilities of career public servants (in the red corner) are changing fundamentally. In Australia and New Zealand the increasingly complex relationships that exist between government, parliament, public service and the wider community challenge the traditional notions of accountability. Both the lines of accountability, and its standards, are under challenge. The acceleration of Australia's move to contract out the delivery of government services is creating new arenas of creative tension between administrative review and management for results. Public service agencies are increasingly perceived to be themselves in a contractual relationship with government. There is a risk that the public good may become subverted by private interest. How will we ensure that agencies will ‘not contract out responsibility at the citizen's expense’? © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Public Admin. Dev. Vol. 17 , 293–306 (1997). No. of Figures: 0. No. of Tables: 0. No. of Refs: 33.     

Prisoners of the paradigm: process consultants and ‘clinical’ development practitioners

It is argued that process consultancy and clinical development practice, which are the dominant methods underlying much of the consulting work undertaken by development practitioners, are adopted for ideological rather than pragmatic reasons. The behaviour of process consultants is said to bear the hallmarks of the puzzle-solving activity of normal scientists operating within a ruling paradigm. The scientific and practical limitations of process consultancy are discussed within this context. A pragmatic approach, which attempts to match consultancy method with the circumstances in which it is to be applied, is presented on logical and empirical grounds as being more likely to produce desirable outcomes. It is also suggested that, in many development contexts, desirable outcomes are more likely to be achieved where emphasis is given to ends rather than means. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Public Admin. Dev. Vol. 17 , 341–349 (1997). No. of Figures: 0. No. of Tables: 0. No. of Refs: 38.     

The New Public Administration: management innovations in government

Over the last two decades there have been some fundamental changes in the working of government which have resulted in major and visible management innovations in the organizational structures and systems of government aimed at delivering greater efficiency, and more responsive and flexible public services. The innovations have led to the ‘New Public Administration’. This article identifies the innovations in thinking about the role and functioning of government; about service users; about administrative structures and about staff. The article also discusses the strategies and actions employed in the new synergy between the public and private sectors, as well as the reforms in financial planning and control systems. In conclusion, the broad objectives of these reforms have been to shift emphasis from developing plans to developing key strategic areas; to shift emphasis from inward-looking systems to developing partnerships; to shift emphasis from inputs and processes to outputs and outcomes; and to shift emphasis towards managing diversity within a unified public service. Finally, managerial pragmatism and political conviction are highlighted as essential to motivating management innovation in government. (© 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)     

Organizational learning in non-governmental organizations: What have we learned?

Learning is considered to be an essential component of organizational effectiveness in all sectors—private, public and non-governmental. All NGOs aspire to be ‘learning organizations’, yet few have reflected systematically on the success in this regard. This article summarizes the experience to date of international NGOs that have prioritized learning as an objective, drawing out areas of both success and failure, and reflecting on whether there are any features that distinguish learning in NGOs from learning in other types of organization. A simple typology and set of tests of NGO-learning are presented, along with a series of challenges for the future. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Public Admin. Dev. Vol. 17 : 235–250 (1997). No. of Figures: 0. No. of Tables: 0. No. of Refs: 48     

The Institute for Fiscal Studies Report: English Council Funding: What’s Happened and What’s Next?

The article reviews the recent Institute for Fiscal Studies (IfFS) report, English Council Funding: What’s Happened and What’s Next. The article provides an overview of the main themes and findings of the report which examines the consequences of a sustained period of austerity for English local government and the impact of austerity on certain key council services. The article explores what the report has to say about the way councils have responded to reductions in government funding and the strategies they have developed to protect certain frontline services. The article reviews the suggestions made in the IfFS report for changing English local government funding and finds that they reflect a form of centralist thinking which lacks a radical edge when it comes to reform.     

Urban Government Innovation: Identifying Current Innovations and Factors that Contribute to Their Adoption

This article presents two new sets of information regarding local government innovation. Using survey techniques, the research establishes a list of 22 modern local government innovations and identifies what are considered by local government professionals to be the top three mainstream local government innovations and cities leading in their usage. The research uses statistical techniques and previous research on the topic to test what effect factors related to the 100 most populated U.S. cities have on innovation usage. Among other variables, consistency, the population size, size of the advantaged population, and number of Democratic voters are found to be positively related to innovation on usage by cities.     

Local Government in Tasmania: Reform and Restructuring

Tasmania has a long history of failed attempts at restructuring local government boundaries yet managed a major reform process of 'modernisation' between 1990 and 1993 that incorporated major changes to council operations together with a restructuring of boundaries and a reduction from 46 to 29 councils. This process can be compared with a recent attempt to reduce further the number of local governments. In April 1997 the Liberal Premier announced reforms ('Directions for Tasmania') that led to a further reduction in the number of councils. This process collapsed following legal challenges and the proroguing of parliament prior to the 1998 state election. The defeat of the Liberal government saw the abandonment of the proposed amalgamations and establishment of 'partnerships' between the new ALP state government and councils. This paper compares the 1990–93 and 1997–98 reform processes and evaluates the outcomes of the amalgamations in 1990–93. It argues that the success of amalgamation and reform in local government has been strongly influenced by the degree of local government involvement and support in the reform process, lessons that have wider application.     

Decision-making for Urban Technology

This article describes the decision-making process that is involved in introducing innovations to local public organizations. It defines six stages of the process of innovating in the public sector, as well as the four sets of actors involved in the process. The article is based on the findings of a study conducted for the National Science Foundation, entitled Adoption and Utilization of Urban Technology: A Decision-Making Process (1976). In this study, twenty case histories of urban innovation in Syracuse and Rochester, New York, provided an in-depth data base on decision-making with respect to new technology in the local public sector. The findings in these twenty cases are cited, together with an analysis of the factors that lead to success or failure. The role of urban entrepreneurship and coalition-building and its vital impact on the introduction of new technology is also examined. Some previous misconceptions regarding innovation in urban government are revealed in the conclusions. Also, the skills of key actors, especially bureaucratic entrepreneurs, that are necessary for succesful local innovation are depicted.     

The Role,Scope and Scale of Local Government in New Zealand: Its Prospective Future

This article contributes to the current debate as to the role, scope and scale of local government in New Zealand. In 2008, the Nationals Local Government Minister announced his intention to undertake a fundamental review of local government in NZ. This review finally took shape in mid 2011 with the publication of the consultation document ‘Smarter Government, Stronger Communities: towards better local governance and public services’ ( Hide 2011 ). This article adds to the debate by identifying four key themes within the NZ local government system, namely: the legislative framework; managerial capabilities; calibre of elected members and finally democratic deficit and community disengagement. Whilst the first two themes are undoubted strengths, the latter two are equally weaknesses in the local governance system of NZ. Hence the article makes a number of recommendations, seeking to exploit the strengths and to correct the weaknesses in order to create a robust and credible local governance system for NZ.     

Policy planning in HM Customs and Excise Customs Policy Directorate. A trainer's perspective

Following the creation of flatter management structure, HM Customs and Excise reviewed the way they carried out the development of policy advice to decision takers. They wished to create a procedure to give an assurance of the quality of the work in the development of policy. With the aid of consultants, they identified a set of management tools and techniques to ensure that planning for policy development is carried out efficiently and effectively. These tools are: stakeholder analysis, to identify the key players and their interests in the policy to be developed; a policy family tree analysis to establish where a policy fits within wider government policy objectives; a project management checklist to enable decisions to be taken on resource allocation; an assessment of the priority to be assigned to the policy and its development; a high level assessment of the cost implications for business of complying with the policy; and the development of an evaluation plan to assess the success of the policy in delivering the policy objectives. HM C and E commissioned a successful training programme with the Civil Service College to help them deliver the quality in policy work they sought. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Public Admin. Dev. Vol. 17 : 223–234 (1997). No. of Figures: 4. No. of Tables: 0. No. of Refs: 0.     

Decentralization,local governance and centre–periphery conflict in Sierra Leone

Issues of centralization–decentralization and centre–periphery resource distribution are frequent administrative and political concerns which can have, upon occasion, very profound consequences for the stability of a society. An analysis of recent events in Sierra Leone demonstrates their significance. On 25 May, 1997 the country's first democratically elected government in almost 30 years was overthrown after little more than a year in office by a group of rebellious military officers. Most commentators have attributed this turn of events simply to military disgruntlement. In fact, a careful analysis demonstrates that the central government's commitment to decentralization and the strengthening of local governance exacerbated the centre–periphery conflict issues that have plagued the country since its independence and thus were the real underlying causal factors. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hospital management improvement in China

Hospitals in China, as in many parts of the world, are facing unprecedented changes. The situation in China may be more complicated than in some countries, because these changes are compounded by the influence of major changes in the macro-economic system as well. In response to this situation the Chinese Ministry of Public Health has launched a major initiative to strengthen the management of their hospitals. This article reports on the plan of action for management improvement in the areas of administrative training, management structure, staff motivation, information system, with emphasis on quality and inter-hospital cooperation. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Public Admin. Dev. Vol. 17 : 267–275 (1997). No. of Figures: 0. No. of Tables: 0. No. of Refs: 21.     

From process consultation to a clinical model of development practice

This article argues that two related concepts, process consultation and, in particular, the clinical perspective, developed by the organizational psychologist Edgar Schein, can improve the understanding, teaching and conduct of development practice. Process consultation, which is more than just the application of so-called process approaches, and the clinical perspective are described, and the case for them is put, in relation to contrasts with ethnography and action research and in the light of contemporary debates about the relationship between development studies and development practice. Five particular aspects of the clinical model—the primacy of the ‘helpful intervention’, the subservience of science to helping, its client centredness, its recognition of interventionists’ financial and political status, and its overt normativeness—are seen as particularly relevant to development practice. In conclusion, the clinical model is seen to pose four challenges for development studies: the creation of development's own theory of practice, the establishment of rigorous practitioner training programmes, the consequent institutional change, and an acknowledgement of the implications of development studies’ disciplinary biases. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Public Admin. Dev. Vol. 17 , 325–340 (1997). No. of Figures: 0. No. of Tables: 0. No. of Refs: 48.     

地方政府医药价格改革的时空演进机理——以政策创新扩散为视角

在我国单一制政体和复杂的府际关系下,社会政策的创新与扩散是一个涉面广泛、多元博弈的复杂政治过程。基于政策创新扩散理论,对中央、23个省级政府和4个直辖市的医药价格改革制度进行了案例追踪和文本比较分析。研究发现,地方医药价格改革政策扩散效应显著,随时间进程扩散呈现全国互动模型下的"S"型曲线;空间维度上,整体表现为由经济发达的东部沿海地区先行,逐步向中部、西部等其他地区推进;区域扩散和邻近效应显著,扩散存在势能差且具有一定的梯度性,沿动力源向周围政策势能低的省份扩散,呈现等级制模型;垂直影响和层级效应明显,体现政策变迁的互动性、动态性与复杂性;扩散内容以跟风模仿为主,学习性与创新能力不足。为提高地方政府政策持续创新力,中央政府应完善顶层设计并适当放权,拓展地方政府创新空间;地方政府应审时度势,积极提升再创新能力,发挥垂直影响的积极作用,加快政策扩散进程。     

Creating Public Value and Institutional Innovations across Boundaries: An Integrative Process of Participation,Legitimation, and Implementation

Public value creation has become a critical challenge, but existing approaches have limitations and it is unclear how they can be integrated. This article addresses this issue by analyzing four best‐practice cases in which public value was created through the integration of community indicators and government performance management. It identifies an iterative process of participation, legitimation, and implementation, with institutional innovations across boundaries between civil society, politics, and administration. These institutional innovations help integrate the often fragmented arenas of participation, legitimation, and implementation.     

Political transition,economic liberalization and civil service reform in Malawi

This article reviews the efforts aimed at reforming the civil service of Malawi at the same time as the country has been undergoing political transition and economic liberalization since 1991. Some of the measures in the civil service reform programme interfaced with either the political transition process (for example, the Public Service Act) or with economic policy reform (for example, privatization). In a few other cases, it was a mixture, a political economy perspective (for example, curbing corruption). The article draws attention to the achievements and problems of implementation, including the coordination of donor support, and highlights the lessons learned and the prospects for the remaining years of the decade and beyond. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Public Admin. Dev. Vol. 17 : 209–222 (1997). No. of Figures: 2. No. of Tables: 2. No. of Refs: 9.     

Building sustainable professional capacity in African public sectors: retention constraints in Kenya

Significant investments are being made by aid agencies to increase Master's-level training of African professionals serving in the public sector. Yet no case studies present detailed data or analysis of past efforts to build sustainable human capacity in governmental institutions. The article reviews career and retention data on 169 economists, planners, and statisticians trained under funding provided by 6 long-term aid projects for targeted posts in Kenyan ministries. After reviewing retention constraints revealed by this data and other evidence, it offers recommendations that might assist governments and aid agencies to design and implement capacity building initiatives with a higher probability of ensuring that returned graduates serve for adequate periods of time in the positions for which they were trained. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Public Admin. Dev. Vol. 17 , 307–324 (1997). No. of Figures: 0. No. of Tables: 1. No. of Refs: 31.     

地方政府公共服务创新：驱动机制与路径选择——中国情境下的分析框架和经验证据

不断推进地方政府公共服务创新是破解当前公共服务供给困境,构建我国治理体系和治理能力现代化的重要组成部分。在对国内外相关文献分析的基础上,从政治制度、社会需求和资源支撑等视角出发,构建了中国情境下地方政府公共服务创新驱动机制的分析框架,通过模糊集定性比较分析的方法,对"中国地方政府创新奖"下公共服务创新类项目进行了系统比较分析。研究发现,在中国情境下,晋升激励是引致地方政府创新成功的充分条件,领导支持是驱动地方政府创新成功的必要条件;而在创新的代表性路径中,公民参与和媒体报道也发挥着重要作用,经济发展水平和改革本身的难度对创新工作的影响有限;行政主导型、需求诱发型和多方互动型的创新模式是我国地方政府公共服务创新时选择的主要路径模式。未来中央应更注重从制度层面激发地方政府公共服务的创新热情,降低社会公共服务需求的政府进入门槛,同时应注重激发公共服务创新要素组合的叠加效应。     

The Struggle for Local Government: Indian Democracy's New Phase

The 73^rd Constitutional Amendment of 1993 giving local governmenta constitutional status introduced new institutions into theworking of Indian democracy through several significant innovations,such as reservations of seats for marginal groups, women, Dalits,and Adivasis; creation of a decentralized planning mechanism;establishment of state election commissions to oversee localelections and state finance commissions to prepare a blueprintfor sharing of state revenues; and institutionalization of thevillage assembly (gram sabha). This article examines the implicationsof these innovations for local government and vulnerable groupsin the context of Indian democracy. It does so within the largerdebate on the capability of political institutions to produceoutcomes and so a new political culture.