Traditions of governance: interpreting the changing role of the public sector

Abstract

The role of the state is changing under the impact of, for example, globalization. The changes have been variously understood as the new public management (NPM), the hollowing-out of the state and the new governance. This special issue of Public Administration explores the changing role of the state in advanced industrial democracies. It focuses on the puzzle of why states respond differently to common trends.This introductory article has three aims. First, we provide a brief review of the existing literature on public sector reform to show that our approach is distinctive. We argue that the existing literature does not explore the ways in which governmental traditions shape reform. Second, we outline an interpretive approach to the analysis of public sector reform built on the notions of beliefs, traditions, dilemmas and narratives. We provide brief illustrations of these ideas drawn from the individual country articles. Finally, we outline the ground covered by all the chapters but we do not summarize and compare their experiences of reform. That task is reserved for the concluding article. THE REFORMSThe wave of public sector reform that began in the 1980s is commonly referred to as the new public management (NPM). The term refers to a focus on management, not policy, and on performance appraisal and efficiency; disaggregating public bureaucracies into agencies which deal with each other on a user pay basis; the use of quasi-markets and of contracting out to foster competition; cost-cutting; and a style of management

Sistema de Gestão pela Qualidade: uma pesquisa na seara da Gestão Pública

“…Usualmente referido como a Nova Gestão Pública (NGP) ou Nova Administração Pública (NAP), esse movimento introduziu o conceito de Administração Pública com avaliação de desempenho e eficiência, a promoção da concorrência e de uma modalidade de gestão que destaca a liberdade gerencial, separando a burocracia pública das organizações. Como atributos fundamentais da NAP, identificam-se algumas variações que representam uma redução das distâncias entre o setor público e o privado [6].…”

Electricity Crisis of Bangladesh: Result of Organizational Inefficiency?

“…As a result inexperienced investors creates problem in building new power plants. Bevir et al (2003) argues that, the reform (NPM) processes ensure the parliamentary debates and questions, committee hearings in most of the developing nations as well as Bangladesh. The World Bank (2003) praises the role of Bangladesh Parliament named, 'Jatiya Sangsad' that it helps to pass the electricity reforms related acts.…”

Accountability in Public Policy Partnerships

“…Over recent years, the discipline of political science has witnessed a rapidly growing debate on 'governance', both at the national and the international or global level of politics. For some of the many contributions to this debate see, for example, Albert and Kopp-Malek (2002), Bevir et al (2003), Choudhury andAhmed (2002), Finkelstein (1995), Hewson and Sinclair (1999), Hooghe and Marks (2003), Jordan et al (2005), Keohane (2001), Knill and Lehmkuhl (2002), Kooiman (1993), Krahmann (2003), Nuscheler (2000), Nye and Donahue (2000), Pierre (2000), Rhodes (1996), Rosenau (1995), Stoker (1998), Vayrynen (1999. Key issues in this debate relate among others to the definition of the concept, empirical analyses of how governance works and the implications of new forms of governance for traditional government, its workings, legitimacy and accountability.…”