26 August 2015

POL2042S tutorial assignment 1

Aidan Horn (HRNAID001)

Question
Which institutional theory, in your opinion, provides the most useful means
of understanding the conduct of civil service institutions (CSIs), and why?
Draw on theories discussed in the first half of the course.

Response
Governance (as a theory) can be argued to be the primary influence on the
structure of CSIs in the 21st century. The natural response to the question is,
“the new public management (NPM),” because there is an “absence of a
coherent alternative agenda”, while ‘governance’ is not yet a well-defined
theory (McCourt, 2001:113). However, NPM is a component of ‘good
governance’ (Rhodes, 1996:656). A preliminary remark: the question
presupposes that we are considering 21st century civil service institutions,
otherwise our choice of theories would be restricted and our opinion
outdated.

Rigid adherence to one particular theoretical position will not bode well for a
state’s administration (Goldfinch, 1998:222). Rather, a state’s administration
should be structured around the local political and economic environment,
while taking into account previous administrative structures (Evans,
2010:37). Thus, any particular response to the question must be sensitive
that some theories work best in some countries, and other theories work
best in other countries. On the one hand, developing states have seen much
success with the traditional model (Evans, 2010:45). On the other hand,
industrial states are becoming increasingly fragmented and exhibit a
network or NPM model. NPM devolves responsibility from the state
bureaucracy towards agencies and private enterprises under contract, hence
creating a pluralistic arena which is either competitive (as in the United
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States), or co-operative (as in New Zealand and the United Kingdom)

(Frederickson & Smith, 2003:216). In either case, a response requires
evidence that a substantial number of state administrations are
characterized by the chosen theory.

Governance can be viewed as a theory which is trying to move the study of

public administration forward in the context of the 21 st-century,
encompassing the best ideas of previous theories (Frederickson & Smith,
2003:221). Government reform has been present in countries across the
world since the late 20th century, and governance encapsulates the ideals of
such a reformed state. It is a theory which is espoused by the World Bank,
and imposed on developing countries as part of its lending policies (Rhodes,
1996:656; World Bank, 2006:123). Good governance is defined as
an efficient, open, accountable and audited public service which has the
bureaucratic competence to help design and implement appropriate policies
and manage whatever public sector there is
(Leftwich, 1993:611).

It encompasses bureaucratic traditions, but focuses on public-provider

partnerships and the relationship between the public and the state.
Governance criticizes NPM in that NPM is focused on intra-organizational
goals, but not inter-organizational goals, but otherwise follows the
disaggregation and hollowing out of the state that NPM argues for.

Governance is a theory which many countries follow, in both developed and

developing countries. Let us look at the United Kingdom as a case example.
The United Kingdom practised management reforms extensively.
Governance is relevant to the United Kingdom because the United Kingdom
is characterized by multiple self-organizing agencies performing service
delivery roles, while line bureaucracies still exist (Rhodes, 1996:663). In the
United Kingdom, networks amongst government agencies and private
enterprises are present, so co-operation and “mutual adjustment” of policies
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and activities are necessary steps towards achieving societal outcomes

(Rhodes, 1996:664-6).

In conclusion, states in the 21st century are the product of extensive reforms
that occurred since the late 20th century. In the developed world, those
reforms were born out of a NPM approach. Governance is a developing
theory which utilizes many aspects of NPM while also responding to modern
challenges in the relationship between the state and citizen. Because of its
responsiveness to modern challenges and because of its universal
applicability across both developed and developing countries, governance is
currently the most useful theory for understanding the conduct and
objectives of CSIs.

References
Evans, P.B. 2010. Constructing the 21st century developmental state: potentialities
and pitfalls. In Constructing a democratic developmental state in South
Africa: potentials and challenges. O. Edigheji, Ed. HSRC Press: Cape Town. 37-
58.

Frederickson, H.G. & Smith, K.B. 2003. Theories of governance. In The public
administration theory primer. Westview Press: Cambridge, MA. 207-227.

Goldfinch, S. 1998. Evaluating public sector reform in New Zealand: have the
benefits been oversold? Asian Journal of Public Administration. 20(2):203-232.

Leftwich, A. 1993. Governance, Democracy and Development in the Third World.

Third World Quarterly. 14(3):605-624.

McCourt, W. 2001. The NPM agenda for service delivery: a suitable model for
developing countries? In The internationalization of public management:
reinventing the third world state. W. McCourt & M. Minogue, Eds.
Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. 107-128.

Rhodes, R.A.W. 1996. The new governance: governing without government. Political
Studies. 44(4):652-667.
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World Bank. 2006. Monitoring developing-country governance. In Global monitoring

report: Millennium Development Goals: strengthening mutual accountability,
aid, trade, and governance. 123-138.