Public Management and Administration: a Need for Evolution

Recently, British public management has relied too much on private sector approaches suited to market‐facing situations, to the detriment of systems based on a realistic estimate of the special nature of public business, and its needs for economy and co‐ordination. Accountability processes have suffered from over‐simplification (targetry) and from a gross multiplication of mechanisms focusing on individual error, as opposed to ensuring intelligent assessment of business results. There has been an over‐emphasis on management of inputs and outputs, as opposed to systems gearing the result‐producing mechanisms to means for policy formation and co‐ordination of effort. We need now to re‐think and define properly the systems whereby ministers are advised, account is rendered, resources are allocated and effort is co‐ordinated—and the qualifications of the relevant actors. Suggestions are made to these ends.     

Let's Get Public Administration Right,But in What Sequence?: Lessons from Japan and Singapore

The so‐called Good Governance Model requires perfect public administration that is accountable, efficient, equitable, representative, responsive and transparent and that respects the rule of law. Accordingly, the Good Governance Movement promotes a variety of public administration reforms worldwide. However, the effectiveness of promoting all kinds of administrative reforms at once is in question, because that could overwhelm the reform capability of countries, and more important, some reforms can compete with, rather than complement, one another. Such scenarios are possible, and the implication is clear: administrative reform discourse must consider how to best sequence and prioritize reforms, the outcomes of which must be identified. The experiences of Japan and Singapore offer some insight into this. This study first codifies administrative reforms by using the concepts of administrative themes, and it systematically traces, compares and contrasts reforms in both countries in light of these themes. This leads to the conclusion that the sequences in which administrative reforms evolved in those places contributed to dissimilarities in their administrative traditions today. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A candidate for relegation? Corruption,governance approaches and the (re)construction of post‐war states

The article discusses the place of anti‐corruption in the post‐war donor agendas. It uses examples from a set of country reports to demonstrate the divergence between the rhetoric and reality of donor‐led initiatives, and the delivery of reform through the governance approach of which addressing corruption has been a part. It suggests that dealing with corruption has often been diluted or downplayed within the wider approach. Within the debate to revise that approach, corruption may be relegated further down the agenda. While recognising the complexity of the post‐war reform process, and the demands from the multiple tasks and volume of funding being addressed by a range of domestic and external actors, the article suggests that failure to address corruption within any new approach in favour of what are considered more pressing reform issues may well cause problems for the future. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How to bring about change in the Bangladesh civil service? Attempts to change mindsets,behaviours and practice

This article addresses three critical questions central to many donor funded programmes which seek to enable pro‐poor reform and growth. In the context of Bangladesh, the research asks first, does the civil service has a role in promoting change of this kind? Second, can a senior civil service development programme succeed in creating reform minded civil servants? And, third, if so how might the contribution be made both more substantive and of value? These questions are addressed systematically through a literature review and evidence drawn from Managing at the Top (MATT 2)—a DFID funded programme. Some tentative conclusions are drawn in the final section. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

FLYING BLIND? EVIDENCE FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE PUBLIC MANAGEMENT REFORM AGENDAS,IMPLEMENTATION AND OUTCOMES IN LOW INCOME COUNTRIES

Although considerable resources and attention have been allocated to recent ‘good governance’ public management reform in low income and fragile states, there is little evidence as to what degree this agenda has been implemented nor as to whether it has led to improved services and outcomes for populations. To address this lacuna, we conduct a review of the large but almost entirely qualitative literature on good governance reform in the 49 countries classed as low income by the United Nations. We find only a small number of documents that link good governance public sector reform agendas with implementation. Fewer still assess outcome. We conduct an empirical analysis of the relationship between reform agenda (using data from the literature review), implementation, service delivery and outcomes, as measured by performance on Millennium Development Goals indicators. We report that there is little, if any, empirical evidence that reform enhances service delivery. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Reform of the Local Administration in Spain in Terms of Population

Spanish Local Corporations are playing an increasingly important role in the provision of public services without reducing their function of consolidation and structuring of the current sociopolitical system. This reality implies an increase in their need of financial funds without new compensation resources. Also, there is a certain tendency to loose population in many counties along with a greater organic and territorial dispersion that accelerates their financial weakening. This makes necessary to find management alternatives ensuring the appropriate provision of local public services and thus the Local Corporation reform becomes an alternative. In this context, the present paper approaches the analysis and the results based upon a territorial balance criterion on the population and its distribution, aiming ultimately to design an indicator able to measure the need of the Spanish local government structure according to its population and the size of its municipalities. This indicator might measure the regional impact to any variation both in the distribution of its population and in the number of municipalities.     

Towards state activism： Long live public administration

The last two decades of human civilization has witnessed fast changing in polity, society, economy and almost every sphere of state activities. The era of new economic order and revolution in the information technology sector has compelled the public administration to adopt the new paradigms. However, the new concepts such as NPM, public choice approach and state minimalism are being questioned in the framework of welfare state and emerging needs of the regulatory administration. It has been realized by almost all the modern and democratic nations that the state and its instrumental part （public administration） are not the evils; rather they are inevitable institutions for mankind. Terrorism, cyber crimes, disaster management, economic meltdown, sustainable development, capacity building, international relations, development of heavy and basic infrastructure and protection of human rights etc. are the prime and exclusive functions of the public administration. The 9/11 attack on US and 11/26 attack on India, plus the recent recession with the global warming worries have proved that we have to move towards state activism.     

Relationships between Policy Academics and Public Servants: Learning at a Distance?

The cultures and practices of the public service and academic researchers are very different. However, there are areas of common interest in policy and governance, and some potential for building closer relationships. Public servants make direct use of academic research only in exceptional circumstances. Nevertheless, there are other ways in which academic expertise can be useful and influential. This article surveys the international literature on the ways in which practitioners make use of external expertise, including academic research. It also considers whether the heightened interest in ‘evidence‐informed policy’ might provide avenues for mutual influence between practitioners and academics.     

西方公共服务绩效与政府信任关系之研究及启示

一般认为,改善公共服务能够提高公民满意工进而增加政府信任度,但从实践来看,20世纪80年代以来,西方国家公共服务绩效的增长与创新却并未有效缓解政府信任的衰退趋势,或者说并未促进公民信任水平的提升。公共服务绩效与政府信任的复杂关系至少表现为四个方面：主观效应、期望效应、非对称效应和非整合效应。未来,绩效导向的公共服务改革与信任重建,需要进一步促进公民参与和绩效认同,重视看法和期望管理,加强绩效传达与沟通,关注绩效过程,推进绩效公平。     

Public sector reform in Sub‐Saharan Africa: what can be learnt from the civil service performance improvement programme in Ghana?

This paper focuses on public sector management reform ‘best‐practice’ case experience from Sub‐Sahara African (SSA). Given that ‘best‐practice’ is a relative concept and often debatable, the paper uses the Ghana Civil Service Performance Improvement Programme (GCSPIP) experience as rather a ‘good‐practice’ case with the view to sharing the outcome and lessons to encourage collaborative‐learning. It seeks to share the outcome and lessons learnt by the Ghana civil service reform with future public service reformers and to contribute to the literature. The paper concludes with an adaptable three‐dimensional framework. The framework argues that successful future public service reform (PSR) should consider three broad issues: first, are the ‘critical success factors’, including wholehearted political leadership commitment; wholehearted bureaucratic leadership commitment; thoughtful synergistic planning/preparation; patience for implementation and evaluation; capacity to convince; neutralise and accommodate reform‐phobias and critics; sustainable financial and technical resource availability and conscious nurturing of general public support. Second, is the need for reformers to appreciate the concerns of the public and the civil society scepticism of public ‘institutions’ and its ‘operatives’ and finally placing any reform programme in a country‐specific context, including understanding its history, culture, politics, economy, sociology, ideology and values. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

United We Stand? Governance Challenges for the United Kingdom Coalition

Coalition government is an unfamiliar experience for Whitehall and Westminster. All actors are still adapting to the rules of this new political game. A number of governance challenges confront the United Kingdom's Conservative‐Liberal Democrat coalition. It must strike a balance between the visions of two distinct parties and blend these into a coherent strategy for government. Like any government, it will expect to resolve most differences internally and then to show a united face to the world. Effective consultation and dispute‐resolution processes within the executive will therefore be at a premium. But the separate political identities of the two parties also need to be preserved, and sufficient resources must be provided to each side within the government to enable this to happen. This article assesses the response of the coalition to these challenges in its first six months and draws lessons from relevant international experience.