Austerity and governance: coordinating policing and mental health policy in the UK

Abstract

Notions of network and polycentric governance highlight the possibility of innovation and adaptability in service delivery. At the same time, it has been argued that austerity and financial restrictions create strong pressures for public sector reform as public sector organisations look to new ways to deliver services. Hence the argument from governments in advanced democracies was that austerity would drive innovation. This article argues, through an analysis of the issue of policing and mental health in the UK, that network governance and polycentrism can be a major constraint on reform when policy is delivered through multiple overlapping agencies, but with a lack of overarching authority. In the case of policing and mental health, introducing new governance arrangements is complex, much more so in a context of austerity.Resistance within organizations can oppose to novel forms of governance and the new demands created by expenditure cuts further stress service delivery.

La gobernanza en las políticas públicas de salud mental. El estado de la cuestión

“…En el caso de las políticas de austeridad, propicia una mayor dificultad para obtener resultados esperados, por el contrario, es ideal que desde los gobiernos federales se incentive las políticas de salud en los gobiernos locales. Lavras and Onocko, 2017;Petersen et al, 2017;Looi, Allison and Bastiampillai, 2019;Solar and Smith, 2020;Wiktorowicz et al, 2020) Las estructuras desorganizadas podrían responder a la falta de capacitación y coordinación entre los actores e instituciones, ya que presentan dificultades en la formulación e implementación de políticas, lo cual puede ser a causa de la necesidad de contar con mejores sistemas de información que permitan tomar decisiones basadas en evidencias y generar planes integrales eficaces. En ese mismo sentido, la falta de marcos legales también representa una dificultad para las políticas públicas y los actores involucrados.…”

Patent power in biomedical innovation: Technology governance in biomodifying technologies

“…When states decide to enforce austerity measures, finding a balanced governance strategy becomes even more complex. 97 Then, political wisdom may be replaced with political desperation. London and Kimmelman 98 warned that sometimes, the eagerness with which some countries welcome international clinical research '[…] might represent the desperation of host communities more than their zeal for advancing the research agenda […]'.…”

Introducing Change in Public Service Organizations under Austerity: The Complex Case of the Governance of the Defence in the United Kingdom

“…The ongoing waves of public service reform based on managerial approaches, the marketization of public services, and the creation of policy networks responsive to community has led NPM to a change from public administration to public management. Under the latter, public service organizations are understood to be proactive and capable of anticipating strategic calculation about change and their relationship with their stakeholders (Solar and Smith 2020a, 2020b).…”

“…Governments balancing their budgets in a period of fiscal austerity are faced with the problems of managing delivery demands while trying to cut back the rising burden of expensive public services (Hunt 2011; McTaggart and O'Flynn 2015; Solar and Smith 2020a, 2020b). During the first half of the 2010s, for example, Western industrialized nations sought to scale down the size of defence saving on personnel, civilian workforce, equipment, and capabilities, while proposing new ways of managing the sector during austerity (see Dorman, Uttley, and Wilkinson 2016; The Economist 2017; Taylor 2012).…”