POLS301 Comparative Politics

Lecture 13

Public Management and Policy

Outcomes

Dr Ersun N Kurtulus
Social Scienes University of Ankara (ASBU)
 Today’s Lecture
• historical development of public management
• different understandings of bureaucracy:
spoils system and the Weberian notion.
• recruitment to and accountability of the
bureaucracy
• “New Public Management”
 Public Management
• networks of central departments and public agencies
• provision of advice to politicians before policy is made
and help to implement decisions once they are made
• public management consists of the bureaucracy - i.e.
the permanent salaried officials employed in central
government departments to advise on and administer
government policy
• increased role of semi-independent agencies, local
governments and non-governmental organizations and
other sub-contractors
• network management as much as public management
 Public Management (Historical
Development)
• personal service to the monarch
• early 20th century: emergence of the Weberian notion of modern
bureaucracy as a structured hierarchy, against which more recent
developments of networks, outsourcing and governance is judged
and evaluated
• application of techniques emanating from modern industry on civil
affairs
• the Weberian notion of bureaucracy was more influential in
Continental Europe than the new world which found it elitist and
undemocratic – “implementation of policy decisions can be done by
the common men.”
• the Weberian style public management reached its zenith in late
1970s largely due to increased regulation and demands of the
welfare states.
• it was criticized after 1980s for being self-serving and expensive
 Max Weber - Bureacuracy
• “a structured hierarchy in which salaried officials
reach rational decisions by applying explicit rules
to facts before them.” (Hague and Harrop)
– careful division of tasks
– impersonal authority and methodic application of
rules to particular cases
– recruitment on the basis of merits (proven or
potential)
– secure jobs and salaries and promotion according to
seniority and merit
– a disciplined hierarchy in which lower officials are
subject to the authority of their superiors.
 Spoils System
• “to the victor the spoils”
• “…elected politicians distribute government jobs
to those with the foresight to support the
winning candidate” (Hague and Harrop)
• it is the opposite of “merit system” whereby civil
servants are recruited on the basis of merit as
determined by competitive examination
• merit system was introduced in the USA in 1883
with Pendleton Act, which created Civil Service
Commission. This was a reaction to the prevailing
spoils system.
Public Management in the 21st Century
“The Three Es”
• economy
– minimize inputs (“spend less”)
• efficiency
– achieve maximum output of goods and services
for given input (“spend well”)
• effectiveness
– ensure that policy achieves its goals (“spend
wisely”)
Aims of Public Management in the 21st
Century (Hague and Harrop)
• show flexibility while abiding by rules
• deliver results while working within set
procedures
• distil policy advice for ministers while
managing complex tasks
• act decisively while consulting widely
• help ministers realize political goals while also
remaining neutral
 Recruitment
• move from spoils system to meritocracy; from
recruitment by personal links with the ruler to
open selection on merit
• unified approach
– recruitment to the civil service as a whole rather than
a specific position within it; administrative work
require intelligence, education and judgment not
necessarily technical skills (ex. United Kingdom)
• departmental approach
– recruitment, through competitive examinations, of
people with technical skills to specific departments or
jobs (ex. France)
 Recruitment and Representativeness
of the General Population
• typical civil servant in Western liberal democracies is a male
from dominant ethnic group (white), graduate from a
public school and coming from a middle or upper class
family – in short, not a representative of the wider
population
• affirmative action: policies designed to overcome the
legacy of past discrimination against particular groups
• positive discrimination: application of lower recruitment
standards to the members of disadvantaged groups
• attempts to diversify the composition of the civil service
(ex. USA, Canada, much less in Europe)
• problems with positive discrimination: awkward situation
of the recruited and resentfulness of the discriminated
 Organization of the Civil Service
• departments
– an administrative unit (sometimes called ministry) under
the direct control of a minister
– often established by statute and structured as a hierarchy
• divisions
– operating units of a department, also called sections or
bureaus, under a minister but with significant
independence
• non-departmental public bodies
– also called “quangos,” units created in an attempt to
provide management flexibility and political independence
 Non-departmental Public Bodies
(Quangos)
• increase in the number of quangos throughout the
democratic world; due to their autonomy, they raise issues
about coherent governance
• especially widespread in USA and Scandinavia
• reasons for establishing quangos
– protection from political interference in day-to-day operations
and short term pressure
– flexibility as a result of their autonomy
– allow ministers to focus on policy-making
– recognition of the professional status and autonomy of their
staff
• they fulfill different tasks, delivering public services,
providing advice to government or regulation of activities
Accountability of the Public Sector
• the question of political control over non-elected civil
servants; the risk of civil servants, thanks to their
expertise and experience, controlling dilettante
(novice) politicians rather than the other way around.
• the bureaucracy is far from being the neutral
instrument in the hands of elected politicians as
presumed by the Weberian notion – a problem that
Weber himself had acknowledged.
• re-formulating the problem of political control into a
problem of accountability; rather than realizing minute
control over the actions of the civil servants, they
should be required to defend their actions post hoc
 Accountability
(Hague and Harrop)

• “Accountability can be used narrowly to refer

to a reporting requirement (‘to be called to
account’) or more broadly as a synonym for
responsibility (‘to be held to account’). In the
latter sense, to be accountable is to be held
responsible for one’s actions by and often
before another body. This body can express
judgements about, and may be able to impose
sanctions on, the actor”
 Accountability
• the problem is exacerbated by a complex environment
where policy making involves coordination between
several ministries – a straight line accountability to a
minister becomes insufficient (Polidano, referred to in
Hague and Harrop)
• multiple accountability: senior civil servants are not
only accountable to ministers of their own department
but also to the Prime Minister, the finance ministry and
also, to obligations inherent in agreements with other
national and international organizations (ex. Canada)
 Instruments of Accountability
• internal controls
– ministerial direction
– regulators
– professional standards
• external scrutiny
– legislature and judiciary
– ombudsman
– interest groups and the mass media
 New Public Management
• powerful critique of Weber’s ideas about
bureaucracy
• broader, non-ideological impact; adopted by
international organizations such OECD and led to
radical reforms in the public sectors of Australia,
Canada, the United Kingdom and New Zealand
• Osborne and Gaebler Reinventing Government - a
key text inspired by business culture
• “steer, don’t row”
 New Public Management
10 principles (quoted in Hague and Harrop)
• promote competition between service providers
• empower citizens by pushing control out of the bureaucracy into
the community
• measure performance by focusing on outcomes
• be driven by goals, not rules and regulations
• redefine clients as customers and offer them choices – between
schools, housing options etc
• prevent problems before they emerge, rather than offering services
afterwards
• earn money rather than simply spend it
• decentralize authority and embrace participatory management
• prefer market mechanisms to bureaucratic ones.
• catalyze all sectors – public, private and voluntary – into solving
community problems
 Components of New Public
Management (Hague and Harrop)
• managers given more discretion but held
responsible for results
• performance assessed against explicit targets
• resources allocated according to results
• departments unbundled into more independent
operating units
• more work contracted out to the private sector
• more flexibility in recruiting and retaining staff
• costs cut in an effort to achieve more with less
 Conclusions
• public management is the dimension of a political
system that covers preparations for policy
making and implementation of political decisions
• Weberian notion of bureaucracy as a neutral
instrument in the hands of politicians has been
influential for a very long period, but it has also
been challenged
• New Public Management applies principles and
values brought from businesses and private
sector to the organization of the civil service
 Seminar Question (Next Week)
• Compare and contrast “new public
management” with Weberian notion of
bureaucracy. Which model is convincing and
why?