Abstract

The main argument in this book is that the traditional model of administration is obsolete and has been effectively replaced by a new model of public management. This change represents a paradigm shift from a bureaucratic model of administration to a market model of management closely related to that of the private sector. Managerial reforms mean a transformation, not only of public management, but of the relationships between market and government, government and the bureaucracy, government and the citizenry, and bureaucracy and the citizenry. The beginnings of this movement were in the thorough ideological attack on the public sector in the 1970s and 1980s mainly in the United Kingdom and the United States. Initially the attack was theoretical, based on public choice and other economic theories, later it was an attack on the traditional practices and conditions of the public services. As the 1980s ended, the change to managerialism seemed a little less ideological as it was adopted by other countries, and after governments to an extent rediscovered the public sector. If the idea earlier in the 1970s was that government could be reduced to almost nothing, it is no longer. Instead, we may be seeing a relatively pragmatic division between those things governments and public services do well, and those things the private sector does well. There has, however, been a substantial reduction in the scale and scope of government and more seems likely. Another effect of the attack on government has been far more important than that fostered by the noisy debate over government's role and size. This has been a transformation in the management of the public sector. It is by no means complete, but the agenda has been agreed by most governments in the developed world. Instead of cutting government in the hope this would, by itself, make economies improve, the strategy has been to improve the management of government. If the public sector was to stay important it faced the need to greatly improve its performance and to do so by using any means at all. This has included importing some theories and practices from the private sector and exporting some goods and services provision back. 53 The traditional model of administration was one of bureaucracy, due process, neutrality, and direct provision. It did operate in a non-partisan way, but was also a system in which performance was secondary, and considered too difficult to measure. No one really knew what was produced, how well it was produced or whether it had any effect on its targets, if indeed there were any. It is hardly surprising that this model lost both its utility and its political support.