REINVENTING EXCELLENCE OR HOW BESTSELLERS THWART THE SEARCH FOR LESSONS TO TRANSFORM THE PUBLIC SECTOR

What makes a best-seller in the study of public management? In the 1980s there was Tom Peters and Robert Waterman (1982), In Search of Excellence. In the 1990s there is David Osborne and Ted Gaebler (1992), Reinventing Government. Throughout this period managing the public sector remained a live issue, many books of great interest and merit were published on the topic, but none had an equivalent impact. Earlier contributions to this symposium have discussed the practical application and strengths and weakness of Reinventing Government. This article discusses two other books both of which could make an important contribution to improving public sector management: Gareth Morgan (1993), Imginization and Robert E. Lane (1991), The Market Experience. The discussion has two objectives: to show the relevance of each book and to identify the distinguishing characteristics of a best-seller.     

1992: THE ILLUSION OF CHANGE

Despite all the recent publicity surrounding the benefits of a 'Europe without frontiers' it would be wrong to assume that the attainment of this goal is a foregone conclusion. The 1992 deadline is a political expedient designed to create the impression that European economic integration is an irreversible process. However, the reality is that there is still a long way to go before Europe is truly 'open for business'. Barriers to trade will remain despite the enthusiasm of the Commission for radical change, because it is the member states who finally decide on the shape of new initiatives. In order to achieve agreement compromises have to be made, and this reduces the impact of reforms. The measures taken to complete that internal market of the EC can become exercises in harmonization rather than significant reforms which offer direct benefits to business. This article is concerned with one such exercise in harmonization, the introduction of the Single Administrative Document ( sad ).     

The Line‐Item Veto in Georgia: Fiscal Restraint or Inter‐Branch Politics?

This article about use of the line‐item veto in Georgia concludes that the item veto has been used not as an instrument for reducing the budget total or the size of state government, but as an instrument for protecting the executive budget. Using appropriations data and drawing upon interviews with participants in the budget process, including seven governors, the authors present evidence that in Georgia the item veto (1) is not frequently used, (2) when used, is more likely to remove legislative language than delete dollar amounts, and (3) enables the spending priorities and fiscal policy preferences of the governor to prevail as state policy.     

Law,language, and the power of ‘invisible threats’ of violence against women

Violence, and the threat of violence, is a pervasive feature of women's lives. From high-profile threats in politics to everyday harms such as domestic abuse, violence, threat, and intimidation control women's behaviour and silence their voices. Yet in many cases the pernicious and harmful effect of threat is not captured by the law. Drawing on the work of sociologist Pierre Bourdieu and empirical research undertaken in Northern Ireland, this article analyses the ways in which both objective and ‘incorporated’ social structures generate invisible forces of fear and threat that the law does not see, but that women feel and structure their lives around. The article develops the novel conceptual tool of ‘invisible threats’ to capture threat as harm, to show the relation between threat and gendered (in)securities, and to challenge institutions of the law to respond better to invisible threats as perceived and articulated by women.