Public Policy and Administration recent issues

Implementation and the Governance Problem: A Pressure Participant Perspective

Cairney, P. — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:08:23 PDT

This article has two aims: to qualify the UK government’s ‘problem’ of governance in a comparison with Scotland and Wales, and to use implementation studies (the ancestors of the new governance literature) to explore policy developments since devolution in Britain. It presents a puzzling finding from extensive interview research: that while we may expect UK government policy to suffer a bigger ‘implementation gap’ based on distinctive governance problems (such as greater service delivery fragmentation and the unintended consequences of top-down policy styles), pressure participants in Scotland and Wales are more likely to report implementation failures. Using a ‘top-down’ framework, it explores three main explanations for this finding: that the size of the implementation gap in England is exaggerated by a focus on particular governance problems; that pressure participant dissatisfaction follows unrealistic expectations in the devolved territories; and that the UK government undermines devolved policy implementation, by retaining control of key policy instruments and setting the agenda on measures of implementation success.

The Reconfiguration of Risk in the British State

Taylor, G. — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:08:23 PDT

A particularly prominent feature of contemporary politics appears to be an increasing concern with how risk, science and politics collide. To some, it reveals a political order that has become risk averse. This article challenges this view and argues that we need to appreciate the impact of the New Right on the reconfiguration of risk in politics. Influenced by a conservative view of individual responsibility and a liberal distaste for state regulation of the market, the New Right argues that risk is not to be feared, but embraced, that it should be viewed in a positive light; it stimulates both innovation and creativity. Here, the role of expert advice is to sustain the view that risks are an attendant feature of day-to-day life, that what matters is how, as individuals, we make judgements about those risks. Rather than perform the task of sustaining order through responsible government, science participates in (re)constituting order through the market. It articulates the extent to which individuals are exposed to risk, or defines more clearly where no risk can be proven. And if no risk can be proven, intervention cannot be warranted.

Leadership in Public Sector Partnerships: A Case Study of Local Safeguarding Children Boards

Dudau, A. — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:08:23 PDT

In the complex cobweb of public sector organizational structures, the need to tackle intricate societal problems set the context for a new direction in leadership studies, one that enables the achievement of policy goals by creating collaborative capabilities. In the policy area of children and young people, Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs) can allow leadership to manifest itself through a number of media. First, the local authority is the statutory designated leader of this partnership in the local community. Second, the representatives of agencies with a duty to cooperate on children’s issues are themselves leaders of their organizations’ resources and commitment to the partnership’s goal. Third, in the light of unprecedented complexity in policy making, getting things done often depends on the leadership capabilities of people and of organizations to work with the tension between multiple sets of professional, organizational and sectoral values. Although, in theory, leadership should be an important element of inter-agency working, essentially being about making things happen beyond usual institutional constraints, in reality however, empirical findings have shown that leadership in LSCBs is systematically inhibited, hence endangering the outcomes of collaborative, inter-professional and inter-organizational work. The article concludes with the paradox of public servants demonstrating leadership in inter-organizational settings while remaining an impersonal administrator subjected to tight public scrutiny. The article seeks to make a contribution to the public policy and management field in general and to that of collaborative management in particular. To this end, the existing developments in the leadership literature have been used to shed light on one case study of one of the more controversial partnerships in the British public sector: LSCBs.

Exploring the Connections among Adaptive Leadership, Facets of Imagination and Social Imaginaries

Stephenson, M. — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:08:23 PDT

This article explores the relationship between leadership as adaptive work and different forms of social consciousness, and between leadership and alternate facets of imagination. It argues that nongovernmental and government leaders typically are enjoined either to support or to challenge existing imaginaries at different levels of analytic aggregation — social, community, interorganizational and organizational — and that they routinely employ different dimensions of imagination to do so. These include aesthetic, cognitive, affective and moral imagination. The essay concludes with a brief overview of the implications of the argument for leadership practice.

Frank Stacey Memorial Lecture 2008: Scenes from the Departmental Court

Rhodes, R.A.W. — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:08:23 PDT

This article argues for research grounded in interpretive theory, or the beliefs and practices of actors, and observational fieldwork, or thick descriptions of what the actors think they are doing. However, discussions of theory and method only come to life when they are grounded in fieldwork. So, at the heart of the article is an account of the Private Offices of British central government departments. I argue that the focus on beliefs and practices enables me to tell a new story. The existing literature does not explore how the individuals who comprise the department’s core executive coordinate the department’s tasks and resolve conflicts. There is a ‘departmental court’ that dare not speak its name. By describing the court ‘at work’, I focus not on individual Private Offices but on the tasks of coordination and conflict resolution at the top of the department. I conclude that any approach that provides new evidence and a novel interpretation makes a strong case for inclusion in the armoury of every student of public administration.

Can Public Opposition to Inheritance Tax be Weakened?

Prabhakar, R. — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 07:40:03 PDT

Inheritance tax is the subject of recent political controversy in Britain. Public opinion appears to be a major barrier to boosting this tax. Evidence exists that suggests considerable public disquiet with inheritance tax. Recently, some commentators have argued that the way that inheritance tax is presented or `framed' could enhance public support for this tax. This article presents original focus group evidence on this claim. I note that while opposition to inheritance tax is deep-rooted, framing can help mitigate opposition. This article is important because it provides evidence on a live area of policy debate.

Biopesticides, Regulatory Innovation and the Regulatory State

Greaves, J. — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 07:40:03 PDT

This article analyses regulatory innovation. It considers, in particular, how a regulatory environmental agency has been encouraged to innovate in the area of biopesticides. The literature on regulatory innovation is reviewed, the discussion situated within Moran's theory of the regulatory state. It considers to what extent innovation has occurred within the agency, looking at its proactive stance, and how unusually for a regulatory body it has negotiated new policy spaces in which to operate. The article looks at the contextual drivers and also the exogenous and endogenous pressures behind the innovation. It shows how the executive has intervened in order to promote more use of biopesticides and how pressure is also being exerted within the regulatory authority. By using the existing literature and empirical evidence a framework is outlined for explaining the likelihood of regulatory innovation occurring in regulatory agencies.

Changing Course: Policy Reversals, Terrorist Financing and Title III of the USA Patriot Act

Roberge, I. — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 07:40:03 PDT

Policy reversals represent a particular type of policy change. Reversals refer specifically to instances when a policy is adopted or discontinued despite previously adopted positions. In cases of reversals, decision makers have reassessed their core values usually because of substantive events in the policy parameter. Although reversals represent a stark redirection, they could not take place without prior institutionalization in the field. We use Title III of the Patriot Act, which deals among other things with money laundering and terrorist financing, to illustrate our point.

Public Service Motivation: How Does it Relate to Management Reforms and Changes in the Working Situation of Public Organizations? A Case Study of the Italian Revenue Agency

Cerase, F. P., Farinella, D. — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 07:40:03 PDT

To what extent can PSM be considered a characteristic that evolves in the course of the individual's working life? After offering this question as a contribution to a research agenda on PSM, the article examines in what way the different dimensions of PSM, held by a group of employees in the Italian Revenue Agency, relate to their perceptions of recent changes in working conditions. It also explores the relationship between perception of change, PSM dimensions and job satisfaction, work motivation and organizational commitment. Out of the web of interactions that tie together these variables some support is found for the argument that there is a relationship between some PSM dimensions and changes in the work environment. It is suggested, however, that the question raised, besides needing further studies, could be much better researched with a longitudinal study of a cohort of individuals.

New Directions in Public Administration: Serving Beyond the Predictable

Bourgon, J. — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 07:40:03 PDT

Governments serve as a vehicle through which citizens, communities and societies express their values and preferences (Bourgon, 2007). Some of these values and preferences remain constant; while others change as societies confront new situations and evolve. Periodically, new values surface whose energy transforms the role of government and the practice of public administration. Reflecting back on the last three decades, we can see how public administrators around the world embarked on a journey of experimentation and innovation in response to changing circumstances and public expectations (Bourgon, 2008a). The nature and pace of change has been astonishing. The theme of the conference is `New Directions in the Study and Practice of Public Administration'. In addressing this theme, I will argue that the search for new directions in research and the practice of public administration should relate to the search for a new balance in the role of government.

Towards a Common Understanding of Corruption in Africa

Fraser-Moleketi, G. — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 07:40:03 PDT

Corruption takes place at the interface between the public and private sectors. The corollary of this argument is that effective anti-corruption strategies must be designed to both enhance democracy in the political sphere as well as corporate governance in the private sector. Corruption has been manifest in all historical epochs — the periods of colonialism, neo-colonialism and the Cold War and in the contemporary period. In an effort to fight the Cold War through proxy nations in the South, the global superpowers overthrew many democratically elected regimes in Africa, Asia and Latin America and often replaced them with malleable regimes. The legacy of the Cold War has created an environment for the forces of Globalization, which are supranational in character to once again exploit the vulnerabilities of nation states. By situating corruption in its historical context and by linking it to the unregulated and regulated markets of capitalism, nationally and globally, corruption can be seen as more than the relationship between the bribe giver and the bribe taker. It has historical roots; it is systemic and goes beyond the individual to the structural and the institutional levels. By asserting that corruption is rooted in the forces of the market and in the pursuit of profitability, corruption often seen as `the price of doing business' must not be viewed as an intrinsic element of the value system of democratic capitalism.

Information Management -- Headache or Opportunity?: The Challenges that the Recent Focus on Information Management is Presenting to Senior Leaders in the Public Sector

Ceeney, N. — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 07:40:03 PDT

There has been significant recent focus on information and data handling in the public sector prompted, in part, by the loss of two discs from HMRC in late 2007 containing the details of 25 million citizens. This article explores the issues behind this new focus, and examines how many of the underlying issues are either new, or really different from the issues that Boards explore every day in relation to other business challenges. Drawing on recent publications as well as from the author's experience as Government Head of Profession in this arena, this article argues that information assets are as much opportunities as risks, and that the opportunities are still poorly understood, and information assets underexploited. It also proposes that Boards need to treat information management as a core business challenge, and use existing techniques, particularly that of risk management and cultural change, to ensure that they address the critical challenges that digital information presents.

2009 Public Administration Committee Conference: Call for Papers

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 07:40:03 PDT

Editorial: Special Issue: Gender and Equality in Public Life

Miller, K. J., McTavish, D. — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 07:31:44 PDT

Representative Bureaucracy -- What, Why and How?: Evidence from the European Commission

Stevens, A. — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 07:31:44 PDT

Issues of representation have become increasingly salient in European countries with attempts to find mechanisms to increase the representation of women, including various types of quota and parity legislation. This article examines the extension of the idea to bureaucracies. It looks at two arguments about this extension: should bureaucracies be regarded as places where representation can and should occur, and, even if representation in bureaucracies is regarded as possible, is it desirable. Having concluded that it is both possible and desirable, the article then examines the outworking of the notion of representation within one bureaucracy, the European Commission, on the basis of the considerations applied by feminists to elected representation. The example of the EC illuminates aspects of representative bureaucracy, and supports a normative argument for representation on the basis of symbolic, justice and deliberative arguments even if the agency argument must be nuanced by the need to avoid partiality.

Gender Still Matters and Impacts on Public Value and Innovation and the Public Reform Process

Maddock, S. — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 07:31:44 PDT

At present, in England there is little alignment between innovative work and government accountability frameworks. Innovation rarely catches on if it is driven from the top or through a system's approach to change; its flow depends on networking and active relationships, which take time, are less predictable yet provide a much stronger anchor for sustainable institutional reform. In earlier stages of reform the divide was between those leaders who are actively driving change and those were more passive in their leadership role. Most public sector executives are now actively concerned with `public value' and transforming their organizations rather than merely making them more efficient.

Twenty-nine per cent Women Councillors after a Mere 100 Years: Isn't it Time to Look Seriously at Electoral Quotas?

Game, C. — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 07:31:44 PDT

Just over 100 years ago, 5 pioneering women and 1 quite exceptional one became the first legitimately elected female members of English county and county borough councils. While obviously important, the Qualification of Women Act 1907 that enabled their election was far from the only one to have influenced women's electoral involvement in local government. Their first real opportunity had come in 1870, when the remarkably female-friendly electoral system introduced in Forster's Education Act enabled women to become elected members of school boards — one of the very first being the `quite exceptional' woman mentioned above, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson. The first part of this article examines the rules governing women's 19th-century voting and candidacy rights, and concludes that they were a decisive factor in determining both the extent and nature of women's participation in public life. The second part examines the comparable modern-day rules surrounding electoral systems and gender quotas and suggests that they are similarly influential in determining — or limiting — the representational diversity in our elected governmental bodies. With women comprising just 29 per cent of English councillors after more than a century, the time has surely come, the article concludes, to follow other countries in their utilization of electoral quotas.

Gender Balance in Scottish Local Authority Councils

Siebert, S. — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 07:31:44 PDT

Women make up over 40 per cent of community councillors in Scotland, however, evidence suggests that they are less likely to progress to local authority councils. This article investigates the barriers to wider engagement of women in participative democracy, and based on the analysis of empirical data suggests some ways of promoting a more equitable gender representation in Scottish local authority councils. The barriers identified by respondents include male incumbency, traditional perceptions of gender roles and the bad reputation of local politicians. The adversarial nature of politics, `political infighting' and `backstabbing' as well as a considerable level of misogyny were perceived as barriers against women's participation, as well as a lack of confidence and lack of understanding of the role of the local councillor. Greater representation of women in public life is crucial in ensuring that women's interests are represented in decision-making. Despite some views against positive action, the strategies to increase the number of women being selected and standing for local elections are seen as the most effective solution to the problem of under-representation of women on local councils. The presence of women in representative institutions may create role models and this is perceived to potentially lead to an increase of women's participation. Women's networks, within political parties or independent of them, are effective in sharing experience, skills and knowledge, so are mentoring and shadowing as well as other forms of informal learning. A number of practical solutions were identified throughout the project: an increase of the councillors' allowance, availability of childcare facilities in local councils and family-friendly hours of council meetings are seen as potential incentives for women candidates.

Valuing Skills: Helping Mainstream Gender Equity in the New Zealand State Sector

Junor, A., Hampson, I., Smith, M. — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 07:31:44 PDT

The state sector has led slow progress towards pay and employment equity in Anglophone countries. Horizontal and vertical job segregation have, however, proved intractable barriers to closing the gap fully. An under-researched element of the solution may involve examining whether skill levels are accurately reflected in the low pay and flat career structures of occupations and part-time jobs where women and ethnic minorities are concentrated. This is a public policy issue, requiring that systemic reviews of pay and employment equity include skill reassessments. It has so far been mainly a public administration issue, because of the state sector's vanguard role in equity reviews. Against a backdrop of equality initiatives in the UK and other Anglophone countries, we focus on the pay and employment equity review process in Aotearoa-New Zealand between 2004 and 2008. Here a mainstreaming approach has been adopted, `making gender equity ordinary' by providing tools for reviews of pay and employment opportunity and for remedies such as job re-evaluation. Our focus is on the potential contribution to this agenda of skill reassessments. We outline the research-based development of a toolkit to help classify the under-recognized social and organizational skills required in jobs where women are concentrated, from low-paid `support' roles to policy advice. This skills taxonomy can also help identify the progressive deepening of these skills through problem-solving practice — an identification that may assist in defining career pathways. We conclude with an equity and business case for `mainstreaming' its use.

Gender Equality and the Equality and Human Rights Commission: Dilution or Connection?

Micklem, R. — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 07:31:45 PDT

The Steel White Paper of 1973: An Idiographic Study in Public Policy Making

Chapman, R. A., Cockerill, T. — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 02:49:10 PST

In 1960 Professor William Robson, the leading specialist on the study of nationalized industry and public ownership, wrote: `The real character of the relationship between Ministers and public corporations is only gradually becoming known to the public' (Robson, 1962: 142). It seems that advances in knowledge of this subject have been no more than modest in the past 50 years. This article is an idiographic study (Riggs, 1962; Chapman, 1966) intended to contribute to that advance. It is a study, in as much depth as possible, of the gestation of the 1973 White Paper on the Steel Industry and of the implementation of its main proposals. It contributes not only to an understanding of the British Steel Corporation but also to the history of a particularly significant development in policy-making and administration in the 1970s and later. The main sources for the study have been: government files in the Public Record Office (PRO) at the National Archives; published commentaries and analysis, both contemporary with the White Paper and later.

The Role of Public Agencies in the Policy Making Process: Rhetoric versus Reality

Verschuere, B. — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 02:49:10 PST

This article focuses on the role public agencies play in the policy making process. Based on a single embedded case-study of one Flemish public agency and two policy-programmes in which this agency is involved, the normative practitioner model of the policy/operations divide is tested. This model assumes (or prescribes) that policy making is a political prerogative, while public agencies as administrative actors should stick to implementing policy. The evidence shows that reality is more complex than the rhetoric of the practitioner model. Agencies may be more involved in policy preparation and policy decision-making than assumed, and political actors may in some cases have a large say in policy implementation. The evidence from my case-study shows that in reality the policy/operations divide might not be that clear-cut, and that this normative model should be revised on some points. Next to that, the findings may be discussed in the light of the current administrative reform projects in various countries that propagate a strict labour division between the political sphere (policy) and the administrative sphere (implementing policy). This discussion is particularly relevant for the Flemish public sector that is currently facing a major reform of that kind.

New Labour and Joined-up Urban Governance

Catney, P. — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 02:49:10 PST

This article examines New Labour's approach to joined-up government within UK urban policy. In particular, it analyses the government's success in achieving greater degrees of integration in urban governance. It suggests that the growth in the number of multi-sectoral partnership schemes and area-based urban policies under Labour produced tensions with key elements of its joined-up government agenda. The article examines the rationale underpinning the government's approach to 'joined-up governance' and explores the processes by which the government sought to encourage the reorganization of urban governance through the institutional development of strategic and single-purpose partnership bodies. It also highlights the effects of these processes on the ground through an examination of developments in the city of Sheffield. It explores changes in the structure of urban governance in the city in response to national restructuring and local agendas, highlighting the importance of local leadership in providing coherence to urban governance and indicates some democratic tensions that have arisen.

Partnerships in Health and Social Care: England and Scotland Compared

Evans, D., Forbes, T. — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 02:49:10 PST

Since 1997 partnership working across the public sector has been a key theme of UK Government and Scottish Executive policy. Both Governments' policy approaches initially converged on this theme. However, while the UK Government has become lukewarm to the use of partnership working to deliver public services, the Scottish Executive has remained true to the partnership ethos. This article compares approaches to partnership working in health and social care between the UK Government and the Scottish Executive using a qualitative methodology based on semi-structured interviews two English and two Scottish health and social care partnerships are examined with regard to policy implementation of both Government's partnership agenda. The UK Government appears to have been confused over its aims and objectives for health and social care, while the Scottish Executive on the other hand has followed a more consistent approach beginning with the integration of primary and secondary health services and desire to integrate health and social services. However, in what appears to be a major flaw in policy, both the UK Government and the Scottish Executive have privileged the NHS as the main player in their health and social care partnership designs at times alienating the Local Authorities. As a result, there has been a missed the opportunity to develop true health and social care partnerships in the UK that are fully inclusive of all partners and instead we have seen the retention of many historical antecedents to effective joint working between the NHS and Local Authorities.

Australia's Regions: Congested Governance or Institutional Void?

Everingham, J.-A. — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 02:49:10 PST

The article uses the example of a region in the Australian State of Queensland to illustrate the emergence during the 1990s of a plethora of regional organizations including Catchment Coordinating Committees, Regional Development Organisations and Regional Organisations of Councils. Some have regarded this profusion of sub-national bodies as diminishing the role of the state. Certainly one result was ambiguity in the roles and responsibilities of different bodies and different levels of government. Weaving together these disparate initiatives into a coordinated system of regional governance is a significant challenge. A case study of the Central Queensland region supports recent sociological accounts of changes in governance notably those of Fung and Wright (Empowered Participatory Governance), Healey (Collaborative Planning) and Sorensen and Torfing (Network Governance). The analysis identifies institutional features and normative principles of an emerging, multi-layered and multi-stakeholder, form of governance where a network employing deliberative practices coordinates formal political institutions and other actors from non-state sectors. These offer a potential model of regional governance suggesting the network form (with a role for state actors, but not state-dominated) and deliberative decision-making practices may provide coherence and coordination in policy-formulation and administration at a regional level.

The State of UK Governance: Whitehall -- Structures and Functions under Brown

Duggett, M. — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 02:49:10 PST

This article has two elements. The first relates a real current experience in civil service life and discusses the `way it was' on a certain date — 11 June 2008 — with reflections on the structure of departmental Whitehall and Cabinet Government under Gordon Brown's premiership; and on the key role of Public Service Agreements in the way the civil service works now. The second considers what this perceived reality tells us about some current theorizing about `networks' and governance while insisting on the centrality of the observable fact and the parliamentary context as one such `fact'.