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Constructing the Craft
of Public
Administration
Perspectives from Australia
c h r i s t i n e sh e a r e r
Constructing the Craft of Public Administration
“This is an important and timely assessment of how senior public servants ply their
craft, greatly enriched by the manner in which it incorporates the views of
departmental secretaries themselves and captures their innate scepticism of
managerialism. One is left agreeing that good public administration is a cornerstone
of democratic governance but that its application requires much more than
textbook knowledge.”
—Peter Shergold, Chancellor, Western Sydney University, Australia
“Constructing the Craft of Public Administration is a sophisticated, comprehensive,

theoretically-informed sociological analysis of leadership at the peak of the public
service in Australia. Drawing on wider developments in Westminster systems, it
charts the momentous changes to the public services impacting over the past few
decades. The originality of Christine’s research focuses on how departmental secre-
taries grapple with the competing challenges in executing their responsibilities,
within the increasingly contestable environment in which they operate. But more
importantly, Christine complements this analysis with an explicit emphasis on what
they have actually done and can do to better manage their roles and responsibilities.
Christine traces how legacies of command, control and assurance meld with softer
political and artful skills. Christine concludes by producing a fine conceptual model
of the craft of working in public administration. This book is among the best empiri-
cal analyses of Australian departmental secretaries in situ to date.”
—John Wanna, Emeritus Professor, Australian National
University and Griffith University, Australia
“Christine Shearer’s book is an important contribution to understanding the ‘pur-

ple zone’ between politics and administration. The book’s strength comes from
presenting the perspective of those directly involved, current and former Australian
departmental secretaries. While acknowledging Australia’s ‘considered approach’
to NPM reforms and its ‘reasonably judicious’ adoption of private sector manage-
ment approaches, Christine questions whether NPM has had a lasting positive
impact. More important is the continuing relevance of the ‘craft of public admin-
istration’, particularly being both politically astute and firmly apolitical.”
—Andrew Podger, Honorary Professor of Public Policy,
Australian National University, Australia
“Christine Shearer’s terrific exploration of trends in contemporary public adminis-
tration is essential reading for anyone wanting to make sense of how things work
in government. Her clear-eyed study, drawing on interviews with senior public
servants, confirms that grand reform ideas must work through complex – often
invisible – gear shifts before the rubber meets the road. This book is a treasure
trove of insights.”
—Michael Mintrom, Professor of Public Policy and Director of Better
Governance and Policy, Monash University, Australia
By thinking about public administration as a craft, learned through practice,

Christine Shearer offers a fresh perspective on the leadership of the Australian
Public Service. Her interviews and analysis convey the rich context of departmen-
tal secretaries as boundary riders, public actors who must simultaneously wrangle
ministers, advisers, politics and public duties. The result is a nuanced and original
study of why public sector leadership is too complex to fit within the simple mod-
els of private sector management.
—Glyn Davis AC, Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Australia
and New Zealand School of Government, Crawford School of Public Policy,
Australian National University, Australia, Visiting Professor,
Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, UK
As civil service institutions lose their identity and purpose under political and man-
agerial pressures, an original exploration of the core issues has been produced.
Tapping a unique set of interviews with Australian departmental secretaries, the
study probes the case for a renewed craft of public administration. Strongly recom-
mended for insights of international relevance.
—John Halligan, Emeritus Professor of Public Administration and Governance,
Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, University of Canberra, Australia
Christine Shearer
Constructing the Craft

of Public
Administration
Perspectives from Australia
Christine Shearer
Kirribilli, NSW, Australia
ISBN 978-3-030-81895-1 ISBN 978-3-030-81896-8 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-81896-8
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer
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v
Foreword
Dr. Christine Shearer has served the public interest and the public service
with considerable value with this book. Based upon meticulous research of
some of the most senior cadres of the Australian federal public service, she
has clarified empirically what it is that these public servants do. They steer
the nation, using the tools of public policy development, to deliver effi-
cient and effective government within the frame that the government of
the day mandates. The great sociologist and student of many things,
including politics, Max Weber once wrote, just over a hundred years ago:
According to his proper vocation, the genuine official … will not engage
in politics. Rather, he should engage in impartial ‘administration.’ This
also holds for the so-called ‘political’ administrator, at least officially, in so
far as the raison d’etat, that is, the vital interests of the ruling order, are not
in question. Sine ira et studio, ‘without scorn and bias,’ he shall administer
his office. (Weber, 1948, p. 95)
Many things have changed since Weber wrote these words in the trau-
matic times of 1917; for one thing, it would be unconscionable in our
time to think that the most senior cadre of public servants would be, nec-
essarily, exclusively male. They may well be but there is no necessity
attached to it. That they might be is another question, for another day.
One thing that has not changed is the moral ethos of public service at its
best: that these impartial administrators must be able to deliver public
policy with an ‘ability to execute conscientiously the order of the superior
authorities, exactly as if the order agreed with his own conviction. This
holds even if the order appears wrong […] and if, despite the civil
vii
viii Foreword
servant’s remonstrances, the authority insists on the order. Without this

moral discipline and self-denial, in the highest sense, the whole apparatus
would fall to pieces’, states Weber (1948, p. 95).
In the same essay, Weber writes of the vanity of politicians that can lead
to two deadly sins in politics: lack of objectivity and irresponsibility of poli-
ticians tempted to displays of performativity, constantly ‘in danger of
becoming an actor as well as taking lightly the responsibility for the out-
come of his actions and of being concerned merely with the “impression”’
(Weber, 1948, p. 116). Such performativity is usually made in good faith,
in a belief in the purity and purpose of one’s party interests and ideology,
whether it hinges around social or liberal variants of democracy, allied with
the passion of politics as a noble cause, a struggle, a fight over meaning. In
the heat of these battles, out of the spotlight but subject to the vanities of
the moment, executive public servants must retain a sense of their voca-
tion, their ethos, says Weber.
The findings of this study conducted by an author who was herself a
full-time public servant while researching for the PhD that she now holds
with distinction (and who is still serving the public in the same branch of
the federal bureaucracy that she occupied while researching her federal
colleagues) is to confirm that the central thesis of Weber’s analysis largely
holds. Despite the waves of reform that have washed through governmen-
tal action in the highest echelons of the public service, including loss of
tenure, adaptations to the fads and fashions of the moment, such as new
public management, economic rationalism and so on, her work demon-
strates that it is a commitment to the vocation of delivering good public
policy, within the remit of the political passions of the day, that the senior
echelons of the public service strive to serve.
The findings derive from a great deal of work, including interviewing
many holders of the highest public office in the land. These interviews,
however, were the tip of an iceberg of study conducted in university librar-
ies, reading scholarly journals and other published works across a broad
range of scholarship. On the one hand, she draws on the literature of
public administration but not exclusively; she also draws on the much
broader field of contemporary management and organisation studies as
well as the sociology of organisations in framing her scholarly vocation.
That vocation is framed by a simple research question: How do current
and former Departmental Secretaries in the Australian Public Service con-
stitute public administration, in a context of evolving reforms? By dint of
interviews, focus groups and documentary analysis, grounded in an
Foreword ix
extensive canvass of the literature on the major English-language polities,

a picture of the constitution of public administration is provided that is
empirically and theoretically grounded. The body of knowledge of public
administration, its development and education practices, is deepened. By
casting light on the work of public service conducted by some of its most
accomplished practitioners, this book and its author contribute to the
public intellectual role that academic knowledge can play.
Ultimo, NSW, Australia Stewart Clegg

Camperdown, NSW, Australia
Reference
Weber, M. (1948) From Max Weber: Essays in sociology, edited with an
introduction by H. H. Gerth & C. Wright Mills. Routledge &
Kegan Paul.
Acknowledgements
My appreciation and gratitude are offered to my principal supervisor

Professor Stewart Clegg, for his guidance, advice and mentoring during
my candidature, which allowed me to learn the craft of research from a
sage. I also acknowledge my appreciation and gratitude to cosupervisor
Associate Professor Judy Johnston, who graciously provided me with
cosupervision, which complemented that of my primary supervisor.
Professor Stewart Clegg was the catalyst who suggested that I turn the
thesis on which this book is based into a book. Professor Stewart Clegg
provided me with encouragement and mentoring and also graciously
agreed to prepare the foreword to the book. His contribution is much
appreciated.
I especially acknowledge the participants of my research, which forms
the basis for this book, the current and former Departmental Secretaries
of the Australian Public Service. These participants took large amounts of
time out of their extraordinarily busy working schedules to contribute
generously, richly and openly to the research. They were willing and gra-
cious in their contribution for which I am grateful and without which this
book and the research on which this book is based would not have been
possible. Their contribution is a true reflection of the unique and cher-
ished public service ethos to which they subscribe.
The early advice and guidance offered by John Wanna—Emeritus
Professor at the Australian National University and Griffith University and
formerly Foundation Professor with the Sir Bunting Chair of Public
Administration at the Australia and New Zealand School of Government—
based at the Australian National University; Professor Peter Shergold, AC
xi
xii Acknowledgements
FRSN Chancellor of Western Sydney University and formerly Secretary of

the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet; Michael Mintrom,
Professor of Public Sector Management at Monash University and joint
Monash Chair at the Australia and New Zealand School of Government
was of great assistance and gladly accepted. The wise words of wisdom
from Andrew Podger, AO Honorary Professor of Public Policy at the
Australian National University, and formerly a long-term public servant
and in my view Mandarin, were of great value.
I am appreciative of and acknowledge the willingness with which
Palgrave Macmillan agreed to take me on and the trust they afforded me
to translate the thesis into a book. The advice and guidance that Nick
Barclay Senior Editor Public Policy and Public Administration Palgrave
Macmillan offered me was on point and gratefully accepted. I acknowl-
edge Nick’s professionalism and generosity and the valuable support and
assistance provided by Nick’s team, Ruby Panigrahi, Rebecca Roberts,
Sarulatha Krishnamurthy and the entire team.
Finally, I recognise the patience and dedication of my beloved husband
Mark Shearer, who quietly read numerous versions of the manuscript and
provided me with feedback and commentary, which served to challenge
my thinking, improve the work and ultimately enabled me to produce a
book of substance and quality.
Disclaimer
All of the content and views expressed in my publications and presenta-

tions are mine and do not reflect those of my employer the Australian
Tax Office.
Contents
Part I Introduction 1
1 Public Administration and the Reform Agenda 3
2 Contemporary Management Ideas and Public Sector

Reforms Across Westminster Polities 41
Part II The Macro Level: Policy Contexts and Environments 89
3 The Environments in Which Departmental Secretaries

Construct the Craft of Public Administration 91
4 The Impact of Contemporary Management Ideas: Their

Influence on Public Administration137
Part III Exploring the Everyday Work Life of the Most

Senior Public Servants 181
5 Departmental Secretaries: The Public Actors Who

Construct the Craft of Public Administration183
6 Roles, Responsibilities and Boundary Riding211
xiii
xiv Contents
Part IV Discussion, Implications and Conclusions 249
7 Discussion, Conceptual Model, Contributions and

Implications251
8 Conclusions305
Index311
Abbreviations
AAOs Administrative Arrangements Orders

AHRI Australian Human Resources Institute
AICD Australian Institute of Company Directors
AIM Australian Institute of Management
APS Australian Public Service
APSC Australian Public Service Commission
CAC Commonwealth Authorities Corporations of Australia Act
CCT Compulsory Competitive Tendering
COAG Council of Australian Governments
DS Departmental Secretary
EQ Emotional Intelligence
FMA Financial Management Act (1997)
FMIP Financial Management Improvement Program
FOI Freedom of Information
G20 Group of 20
GATT General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs
GDP Gross Domestic Product
HRM Human Resources Management
ICT Information and Communication Technology
IMF International Monetary Fund
INSEAD Institut Européen des Affaires d’Administration
IPAA Institute of Public Administration Australia
ISO International Organisation for Standardisation
JCPAA Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audits
KPI Key Performance Indicator
KRA Key Results Area
MAC Management Advisory Committee
xv
xvi Abbreviations
MBO Management by Objectives

MTM Market-type Mechanism
NPG New Political Governance
NPM New Public Management
NPR National Performance Review
NPV New Public Value
OECD Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
PART Program Assessment Rating Tool
PGPA Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act (2013)
PM Prime Minister
PM&C Prime Minister and Cabinet
PMB Program Management and Budget
PMS Performance Management System
PPBS Planning Programming and Budgeting System
PRP Performance-Related Pay
PSA Public Service Act 1999 (amended 2013)
PSM Public Sector Management
PSR Public Sector Reform
SES Senior Executive Service
SRA Strategic Results Area
TBS Treasury Board Secretariat
TQM Total Quality Management
W.O.G Whole of Government
WB World Bank
List of Figures
Fig. 3.1 Model Depicting Dilemma of the Urgent Over the Important 113
Fig. 4.1 Ideal types, arrayed by degree of resonance, and latitude for,
translation of “new” managerial practices. (Adapted from
Powell et al., 2005, p. 255) 166
Fig. 6.1 Execution of Departmental Secretaries’ roles and responsibilities
across a spectrum 213
Fig. 7.1 Conceptual model of the craft of public administration 282
xvii
List of Tables
Table 1.1 The essence of new public management as proposed by Pollitt 6

Table 1.2 Current Departmental Secretaries’ demographic details 28
Table 1.3 Former Departmental Secretaries’ demographic details 29
Table 1.4 Current Departmental Secretaries’ public service career details 30
Table 1.5 Former Departmental Secretaries’ public service career details 31
Table 3.1 Overview of the Impact of the Environments and their
Elements on the Craft of Public Administration 92
Table 6.1 Departmental Secretary stakeholders 234
xix
PART I
Introduction
CHAPTER 1
Public Administration and the Reform

Agenda
‘Public and private management are fundamentally alike in all unimportant

respects.’ (Allison, 1984, p. 14 drawing on Sayre)
Westminster polities initiated public sector reform from the early 1980s, as
governments were embracing economic neoliberalism. Governments,
consultants, supranational organisations and some academics promoted a
new managerialism that purported to adapt modern private sector man-
agement practices to the public sector. Many believed that government
needed to be reinvented, and with the adoption of new private manage-
ment techniques, public administration would evolve into public
management.
In the intervening years, public sector reform literature has carried
many debates about what constitutes public sector management work,
what techniques could be adopted, and how they might be practised.
Much of the recent research is desk-based, rational–normative in narrative
and underpinned by assumptions based on beliefs whether new manageri-
alism has or has not been adopted. The focus of the recent research may
also be on the techniques rather than on what actually constitutes public
administration, as carried out by the most senior public officials. In this
book, therefore, I address this gap in the literature, making an original
contribution to theory and practice through a qualitative case study.
The methodological framework employed was a grounded theory
approach used to allow for the development of a broad sociological
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 3

Switzerland AG 2022
C. Shearer, Constructing the Craft of Public Administration,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-81896-8_1
4 C. SHEARER
account, rather than one constrained by narrower functionalist and posi-

tivist theoretical approaches. I used a qualitative case study using semi-
structured interviews with current and former Departmental Secretaries in
Australia’s Public Service, complemented by document analysis to verify
the emergent grounded theory. The process of analysis after transcribing
incorporated the ‘testing, clarifying and deepening of [the researcher’s]
understanding of what [was] happening in the discourse’ or narrative
(Mishler, 1991, p. 277) to interpret the data, and I considered the con-
cepts and theories concurrently during transcribing and analysis. I devel-
oped a set of first-order concepts which I used to develop second-order
themes and eventually developed aggregated overarching dimensions.
The thematic analysis process was documented in a data structure table. I
reviewed the public administration literature, especially related to public
sector reforms across Westminster polities from the 1980s to 2010. I also
considered, though to a lesser extent, the literature on new institutional
theory as it pertains to the travel of contemporary management ideas.
This book examines what constitutes public administration1 in the
empirical context of the Australian Public Service (APS), providing evi-
dence of how public administration2 is practised three decades on from
supposed major reforms and relevant in the 2020s.
1.1 Why Does Public Administration Matter?

Management, whether in the public or private sector, has an important
part to play in our economic, social, and political well-being and the con-
sequences of management are far-reaching (Drucker, 1965; Ghoshal,
2005; Khurana, 2007). As Spender (2007, p. 36) proposes, ‘everything
we have and do depends on our organisations as engines of wealth and
social order, and these have to be managed’. Our society is one of
‘organisations, not of markets’ (Spender, 2007, p. 36, drawing on Simon,
1
The phrase ‘the craft of public administration’ denotes the unit of analysis. This phrase is
used throughout this book, but it will be referred to in a number of different ways including
‘constitution of public administration’, ‘public administration work’, ‘public sector manage-
ment work’, ‘management work’ and ‘work’. The connections between the concepts of pub-
lic administration and bureaucracy and their multiple permutations are not direct and are not
assumed in this book.
2
The book focuses on public administration as practised only by Departmental Secretaries
in the Australian Public Service (APS).
1 PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND THE REFORM AGENDA 5
1991). Public sector management is of significant consequence, albeit

with a fundamentally unique remit.
Across the Westminster polities, public sector management and its
employees are responsible for delivering products and services for citizens
and, in effect, are responsible for supporting the continuing function of
our democracy, in a constitutional sense. As former Australian Prime
Minister Hawke argued:
the public sector is a substantial employer and producer in its own right and
its functions in regard to the private sector, such as taxation, regulation,
economic analysis and policy advice, have assumed critical importance in
determining the overall efficiency of our economy. (1989, p. 8)
Our economic, political and social well-being is dependent on the pub-

lic sector and its management practices which touch all our lives in direct
and indirect ways.
The public sectors of Westminster polities have undertaken significant
reforms over the past century and especially from the 1980s to 2010.
During this period, greater demands for better performance were made of
our public sectors and of public sector managers, and such demands were
and continue to be a ‘moral imperative’. Pressure on public resources from
the 1970s translated into misdirected anger at public sector managers who
were asked to justify ‘what social good they serve[d]?’(Mascarenhas, 1993,
p. 326). In particular, the influences of microeconomic theories took cen-
tre stage and were accepted by many as appropriate for the reform of
Westminster public sectors. At their heart, these microeconomic theories
advocated managerialism and a ‘new public management’ (NPM), based
essentially on the principles and practices of private sector management.
Little, if any, attention was placed on the appropriateness of such private
sector management principles and practices for the public sector.
Various interpretations of the NPM exist. ‘New public management’
(NPM) is described by Borins (1988, p. 122) as a
normative reconceptualization of public administration consisting of several

inter-related conceptions providing high-quality services that citizens value;
increasing the autonomy of public managers, particularly from central
agency controls; measuring and rewarding organisations and individuals on
the basis of whether they meet demanding performance targets; making
available the human and technological resources that managers need to per-
6 C. SHEARER
form well; and, appreciative of the virtues of competition, maintaining of an

open-minded attitude about which public purposes should be performed by
the private sector, rather than the public sector.
Dinsdale (1997, p. 372) proposes that the elements of NPM include

‘collectively: 1) cultural change; 2) structural change; 3) market-type
mechanisms; and 4) accountability and performance measures’. Hood and
Jackson (1991, p. 178) argue that ‘NPM is a neologism [being] a conve-
nient but impressive shorthand term to denote a philosophy of administra-
tion’ which dominated the public sector reforms across Westminster
polities from the 1980s. Table 1.1 captures the essence of NPM as pro-
posed by Pollitt (1995, p. 134):
The NPM movement has heavily influenced public sector reform
efforts. NPM simplified concepts of ‘administration’ that for more than a
century were the responsibilities of senior public bureaucrats (du Gay,
2006, p. 166, note 7). Administration previously was composed of both
‘policy advising’ and ‘management’, whereby management involved the
planning, coordinating, and overseeing of resources to implement the
policies of government (ibid.). However, under public sector reforms
influenced by the NPM, senior public bureaucrats are expected to simply
‘manage’ as their counterparts in the private sector, whose focus is limited
to predominantly being business responsive (du Gay, 2006). Management,
Table 1.1 The essence of new public management as proposed by Pollitt
Cost cutting, capping budgets and seeking greater transparency in resource allocation
(including activity, formula and accruals-based accounting).
Disaggregating traditional bureaucratic organisations into separate agencies (‘executive
agencies’; ‘government business enterprises’; ‘responsibility centres’; ‘state-owned’
enterprises’, etc.) often related to the parent by a contract or quasi-contract
(‘performance agreement’, framework document’, etc.).
Decentralisation of management authority, within public agencies (‘flatter’ hierarchies).
Separating the function of providing public services from that of purchasing them.
Introducing market and quasi-market type mechanisms (MTMs).
Requiring staff to work to performance targets, indicators and output objectives
(performance management).
Shifting the basis of public employment from permanency and standard national pay and
conditions towards term contracts, performance-related pay (PRP) and local
determination of pay and conditions.
Increasing emphasis on service ‘quality’, standard setting and ‘customer responsiveness’
Source: Pollitt (1995, p. 134)

rather than administration, is what is expected of public sector bureaucrats

post reforms, and this is encapsulated in the oft-quoted phrase of public
sector reformers across Westminster polities: to ‘just let the managers
manage’. But exactly what this new public sector management is remains
unclear. We know what NPM is meant to be from a conceptual perspec-
tive, but we do not know what it is and how it is practised in the APS.
Public sector reform efforts across Westminster polities have largely
been founded ‘on a lack of knowledge of what public sector management
really is’ (Mascarenhas, 1990, p. 89). Many have challenged the soundness
of trying to resolve the problems and concerns of the public sector by
simply importing or grafting private sector management policies, pro-
cesses and procedures (i.e. NPM or new managerialism) on to the public
sector (Allison, 1984; Mascarenhas, 1990; Savoie, 1994; Weller, 2001).
These academics have argued that private sector management principles
and practices are inappropriate for the public sector because this sector is
fundamentally different from the private sector from which NPM
approaches have been drawn (Allison, 1984). These challenges build on
the proposition put forward by Sayre ‘that public and private management
are fundamentally alike in all unimportant respects’ (Allison, 1984, p. 14;
Bower, 1977). Others argue that a paradox has developed across public
sectors in Westminster polities, particularly in the UK, from 1980 to 2010,
‘that everything has changed, and nothing has changed’ (Talbot, 2001,
p. 299).
Public sector reforms were implemented across Westminster polities
with little attention paid to the environment or context in which public
sector management operated, which differ in a number of ways (Clark,
2001; Mascarenhas, 1993; Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, 1995).
These differences are observed across many domains such as politics, gov-
ernance, constitutional frameworks, institutional/interpersonal relation-
ships, accountability of parliamentary government and principles of
democracy and make public administration more complex. Public admin-
istration has to incorporate ‘balancing political, economic, and social con-
cerns for equity, ethics, and fairness, as well as integrating perspectives for
bettering “the public good” in complex, highly diverse, competitive, and
inequitable environments’ (Ott et al., 1991, Bertelli & Lynn, 2003,
p. 262).
What is often forgotten is that a core aspect of public administration has
significant constitutional obligations (du Gay, 2006; Lynn, 2007; Peters
& Pierre, 2007, p. 6). As du Gay argues: ‘the pursuit of better
8 C. SHEARER
management, different from the pursuit of better bureaucratic public

administration, has to [acknowledge] the political and governmental lim-
its to which it is [ … ] or should be [ … ] subject’ (2000, p. 144). Further,
as Rohr argues, ‘this does not [mean] a complete renunciation of contem-
porary managerialism but [instead] involves an attempt to [moderate] its
excesses by subjecting it to the discipline of constitutional scrutiny’ (1998,
p. 104). Across Westminster polities, the quest of reformers to modernise
public administration paid perhaps inadequate attention to some or all of
the differences between the two sectors (Julliet & Mingus, 2008, p. 218).
Reformers failed to appreciate the different and complex nature of public
administration and the environment in which it is practised (Mascarenhas,
1993, p. 325). There is a need to better understand the public sector envi-
ronment, which forms the context in which public administration is con-
stituted (Bouckaert & Halligan, 2008; Hagen & Liddle, 2007; Lynn,
2006; Pollitt et al., 2007; Savoie, 1994; Wilson, 1989).
The enduring nature of public administration as constituted by the
Departmental Secretaries reflects more so that of Weber’s bureaucracy and
its administration and as more recently espoused by the work of Caiden,
du Gay and Rhodes. These authors drawing on Weber’s work propose that
bureaucracy and its administration is performed by certain people ‘bureau-
crats’ who operate within distinct environments or ‘orders of life’ who
perform their work in the bureau which comprises its own distinct ethic.
The attributes of a bureaucrat ‘(strict adherence to procedures, acceptance
of hierarchical subordination and superordination, abnegation of personal
moral enthusiasms, commitment to the purposes of the office) are the
product of definite ethical practices and techniques through which indi-
viduals acquire the pre-disposition and capacity to conduct themselves
according to certain norms’ (du Gay, 2000, p. 29). These norms are inher-
ently required within bureaucracy and its administration.
Weber believed bureaucrats embody an ethos or ‘instituted style of
ethical life, or Lebensfuhrung’ comprising a unique ethos (Weber, cited by
du Gay, 2000, p. 43). Bureaucracy ‘is represented as a specific “order of
life” subject to its own laws’(Weber, cited by du Gay, 2000, p. 43) which
incorporates a way of operating and conducting oneself within a code of
professional conduct and within a specific ‘life order’ (du Gay, 2000,
p. 74). Critical to Weber’s conception of bureaucracy and its associated
sphere or culture, ‘[…] is that access to office is dependent upon lengthy
training in a technical expertise, usually certifiable by public examination,
and that the office itself is a “vocation” (Beruf), a focus of individual moral
commitment and ethical action which is separate from and privileged over
the bureaucrat’s extra-official ties to kith, kin, class and individual inner
conscience’ (Weber, 1978, II:958–9; du Gay, 1994:667–9; Hunter,
1994:156).
The procedural, technical and hierarchical organisation of the bureau
provides the ethical conditions for a person’s comportment. The ethical
attributes of the “good bureaucrat” include commitment to the purposes
of the office, strict adherence to formal process and procedure, acceptance
of sub-ordination and super ordination, abnegation of personal moral
enthusiasms and esprit de corps. Collectively, such qualities represent a high
level of competence in what is acknowledged to be a ‘difficult ethical
milieu and practice’ (du Gay, 2000, p. 44). These qualities are the result
of a specific organisational habitus, namely ‘declaring one’s personal inter-
est, subordinating one’s own deeply held convictions to the diktats of
procedural decision-making, […] through which individuals learn to com-
port themselves in a manner befitting the vocation of office holding’ (du
Gay, 2000, p. 44).
The bureaucratic qualities, including the impersonal, expert, proce-
dural and hierarchical character of bureaucratic reason and action, have
been portrayed by managerialists as deficient and instead the bureaucrat
and bureaucracy are viewed in a pejorative sense. However, Weber refuses
to view the bureaucrat as ‘morally bankrupt’ (Weber, 1978, II:978ff, cited
by du Gay, 2000, p. 74). Furthermore, the requirement for objectivity,
impartiality, and rationality within a bureaucratic ethos does not suggest a
‘universal objectivity’ as MacIntyre does, (du Gay, 2000, p. 30). Neither
does such objectivity, impartiality, and rationality suggest that bureaucrats
‘practice soulless instrumentalism’ (du Gay, 2000, p. 30); they do however
imply a ‘general antipathy towards [those practices by bureaucrats] that
open up the possibility of corruption, [via] for example, the improper
exercise of personal patronage, the indulgence of incompetence, or … the
betrayal of confidentiality’ (du Gay, 2000, p. 30). Instead Weber acknowl-
edges the unique ethos of the bureau and proposes that it is a moral insti-
tution and that the ethical attributes of the bureaucrat can be viewed as
the ‘contingent and often fragile achievements of that socially organized
sphere of moral existence’ (du Gay, 2000, p. 74). Because the cultural and
ethical dimensions and achievements of the bureaucrat ‘including the
modes of conduct … [associated] with competence in professional prac-
tices’ are derived from ‘formal bureaucratic legal-rational principles rather
than theological or philosophical principles’ (du Gay, 2000, p. 74), they
10 C. SHEARER
are considered as exemplary. Hence the characteristics of the bureau,

including its ‘vocation, duty, and commitments’, provide for the ‘“office”
not turning to corruption and irreducible plurality and private moral abso-
lutisms […]’ (du Gay, 2000, p. 74). In this sense, as (Minsons (1991,
p. 17) cited by du Gay, (2000, p. 31) argues, the vocation of bureaucracy
and administration is viewed as associated with a liberal-pluralist ‘[ethos]
of responsibility’.
The case for bureaucracy is tied to the interdependence of the actors,
their environments and role responsibilities, which are fundamentally dif-
ferent to the more contemporary managerial and fluid organic, dynamic
and malleable management practices espoused in managerial and reform
discourse (du Gay, 1994, p. 658; Rhodes, 2015). The practice of public
administration is based on a vast array of traditional craft skills: counsel-
ling, stewardship or statesmanship, practical wisdom, probity, judgment,
political nous and diplomacy (du Gay, 2009; Goodsell, 1992; Rhodes,
2015; Watt, 2012). Furthermore, as Rhodes (2015, pp. 1–2) argues, the
‘traditional craft skills of public administration remain relevant today
because of the primacy of politics in the work of political-administrators’.
These craft skills include the ‘capacity to absorb detail at speed, to analyze
the unfamiliar problem at short notice, to clarify and summarize it, to
present options and consequences lucidly, and to tender sound advice in
precise and clear papers’ (James, 1992, p. 26). These are traditional skills
that are attuned to the management of a minister’s political environment
or the ‘high politics’ of serving one’s minister (Rhodes, 2015, p. 8). The
traditional skills of the craft of public administration as practised by
bureaucrats are an integral component of governing (Rhodes, 2015,
drawing on Goodsell, 2004).
Bureaucracy and its public administration are anchored to the very dif-
ferent spheres and ‘life orders’ in which bureaucrats such as departmental
secretaries find themselves. Pointing to specific orderings of life and the
types of responsibility such orderings require, du Gay proposes that ‘the
properties of personae and the properties of specific cultural settings’ call
forward certain ethics/ethos and that the ethics of the bureaucrat and the
politician are distinct and related to their specific and ‘different life orders’
(2000, pp. 119–121). This is akin to what Weber argues when he states
that ‘we are placed in various orders of life, each of which is subject to dif-
ferent laws’ and that as such there exists an ‘irreducible plurality of “value
spheres”’ (du Gay, 2000, p. 11, drawing on Weber). These different value
systems often exist in conflict with each other (Weber, 1989, p. 22, cited
by du Gay, 2000, p. 10). As such, du Gay (2000, p. 10) points out that it
is not possible to have an ‘ultimate, supra-regional persona’ that can oper-
ate in a normative one-size-fits-all universal manner across the public and
private sectors. The ‘ethos of bureaucratic office’ (du Gay, 2000, p. 10) is
different fundamentally from all other value spheres and is considered of
relevance specifically to public administration. Furthermore whilst the
‘impersonal, procedural and hierarchical character of the bureau [is viewed
by reformers] as a symptom of moral deficiency’ (du Gay, 2000, p. 62), du
Gay drawing on Weber points out that such ‘bureaucratic conduct’ com-
prises a unique morality or ethics which is the bureaucratic ethos.
The preservation and safe-guarding of ‘social and political pluralism,
individual liberty and our democratic systems’ (du Gay, 2000; Rhodes,
2015) is possible, because of the bureaucratic ethos that demands ‘deper-
sonalisation and dissociation processes’, further reflecting an appropriate
way of operating, which is an appropriate fit for the public sector and its
work. Allison’s work and his assertion that ‘public and private manage-
ment administration are fundamentally alike in all unimportant respects’
(1984, p 14), encapsulates the dilemma of assuming that differing institu-
tional logics can be served in similar ways. The difference between private
and public sector values and codes of conduct means that one set of values
and codes cannot be completely transposed onto the other. The public
sector values, as enshrined in Weber’s bureaucratic ethos, are ‘procedural
and regulatory [in] nature’ (Caron & Giauque, 2006, p. 548). According
to this ethos, administrative standards defend the public interest, and so
the public servant is ‘an agent of the defence and perpetuation of democ-
racy and the public interest’ (Caron & Giauque, 2006, p. 548).
Reformers [of bureaucracy] and advocates of NPM use the term
‘bureaucracy’ in a pejorative sense by focusing on the defects of large
organisations. Bureaucracy is associated with ‘waste, inertia, excessive red-
tape and other dysfunctions’ (du Gay, 2000, p. 106). Efficiency and effec-
tiveness are understood in the narrow context of private sector
managerialism rather than in the broader context of public administration
with its ‘qualitative and quantitative dimensions’ (du Gay, 2000, p. 107).
Hence, reformers have called out and criticised the costs of bureaucracy
without considering all of its dimensions. Public administration and
bureaucracy may be more expensive than other forms of government,
although in and of itself it is not an expensive form of government.
However, given that this form of government in Westminster polities is
coupled to western democracy, it is common sense that such costs
12 C. SHEARER
associated with bureaucracy will be incurred (du Gay, 2000, p. 107).

Further as former Departmental Secretary of Defence Sir Arthur Tange
(1982 p. 2) has commented, public sector reformers ‘demolished or at
least fractured the symmetry of the Westminster model’ and yet they did
not replace it with ‘a coherent structure of ideas to be a guiding light for
loyalties and behavioral proprieties in the Federal Public Service’.
Traditionally public bureaucratic administration comprised two core
components, which continue to this day: ‘policy advising’ and ‘manage-
ment’. Contemporary public sector reformers have more recently tried to
suppress the terms ‘administration’ and ‘administrator’ with ‘manage-
ment’ and ‘manager’ (du Gay, 2000, p. 137). This suppression matters
because unlike their equivalents in the private sector, public sector bureau-
crats spend their time not only on ‘mobilising and coordinating resources
to carry out accepted policy’ or what is commonly understood to be man-
agement (Parker, 1993, p. 170), but also on ‘advising on policy […]
including framing legislation, dealing with other governments, regulating
aspects of the economic system, administering justice and distributing all
sorts of social services’ (du Gay, 2000, p. 138). Thus, bureaucrats have
‘responsibilities of a “state interest” or “public interest” kind that are
more complex and onerous than those ‘[associated with]’ simply ‘[meet-
ing]’ the bottom lines of management’ (du Gay, 2000, p. 144), in addi-
tion to management responsibilities.
This managerial constitution is considered deficient because many of its
tenets and principles are flawed. The managerial constitution of public
administration, as advocated by advocates of NPM, sees private and public
sector contexts and their respective management work ‘as interchangeable
and indistinguishable’ (du Gay, 2000, p. 127). They argue that bureau-
crats, politicians and entrepreneurs/business people are similar and that
their ethos can be considered as homogeneous or interchangeable. But
the lack of distinction by such advocates termed ‘anti-bureaucrats’ by du
Gay (including Kanter, Peters, and Champy) (du Gay, 2000, p. 62) is
problematic. By advocating that those who hold public office or who are
public administrators adopt ‘entrepreneurial or business principles’
(Osborne & Gaebler, 1992, cited by du Gay, 2000, p. 79) does not take
into account the perils such as ‘opening the doors to corruption’ (du Gay,
2000, p. 79), which such principles can create in public, political and
administrative roles.
There exists much disdain by reformers for the perceived negative
aspects and image of bureaucracy (in both the public and private sectors),
and such is understandable when it is divorced from its social and histori-
cal context as well as the institutional logic to which it belongs. However,
underlying the perceived negative aspects associated with bureaucracy are
often ‘certain qualitative features of government [such as the intent] to
ensure fairness, justice and equality in the treatment of citizens’ (du Gay,
2000, p. 80). Little attention is given to the value that is provided by the
qualitative aspects of bureaucracy, and indeed such is all but ignored.
Reformers promote the ‘entrepreneurial, “businessed” organisation as all
of a piece; as an organic entity’ (du Gay, 2000, p.66) when in reality it is
as fragmented as bureaucracy.
The constraints and prescriptions on the overarching governmental,
political and bureaucratic environment do not allow for entrepreneurial-
ism. Those proposing ‘entrepreneurial government’ in all spheres/arenas
of organisational life are perhaps unaware of the inherent differences
between public administration and business management (du Gay, 2000).
There is a positive dimension to the constraints and prescriptions in that
they ‘provide for and deliver on the foundations of our constitutional and
political capacity’ (du Gay, 2000). When attention is focused on public
sector management as distinct from management in other contexts, a dis-
tinctively bureaucratic type of organisation, with accountability both hier-
archically and to elected representatives, may mean that far from being
inefficient, it is in fact the most suitable type of organisation. Consequently,
regarding bureaucracy as an inefficient type of organisation may reflect a
superficial understanding of bureaucracy and, perhaps, a blinkered appre-
ciation of public administration. Bureaucracy may be more expensive than
other types of organisation, but that is not surprising when ‘democracy is
not necessarily the cheapest form of government’ (du Gay, 2000, p. 95).
Reformers may have used an ‘irrelevant yardstick’ for the assessment
and measurement of the public sector and its management (Peters &
Pierre, 2007), as this ‘yardstick’ was based on limited knowledge of the
public sector and what constitutes public administration. Adequate assess-
ment measures for the evaluation of the public sector are rare, and, where
such measures do exist, they are largely subjective, anecdotal in nature and
inadequate (Mascarenhas, 1993). Sound measures of public sector perfor-
mance aligned specifically to the public sector, including the performance
of its managers, are required (Carter, 1989; Downs & Larkey, 1988). To
develop such measures, there is a need to determine what public adminis-
tration is and what it is not, to be able to compare and contrast it with the
private sector and hence determine what, if anything, is appropriate to
14 C. SHEARER
import from the private sector (Allison, 1984; Elmore, 1986; Mascarenhas,
1993).As the United Nations warned, however, ‘private sector practices
must be imported “judiciously” in a way that respects’ (Foley, 2008,
p. 299) ‘the unique character of the public sector, its workforce, esprit,
and values’ (Lavalle, 2006, p. 217).
Some research (e.g. see Weller, 2001; Weller & Rhodes, 2001) has
been undertaken in Australia on what constitutes public administration. It
does not, however, present a comprehensive empirical picture of the con-
stitution of public administration, especially of the work of the most senior
public sector management cadre, the Departmental Secretaries, in the
context of evolving reforms.
1.2 The Influence of Economic Rationalism

An environment of evolving reforms frames the context in which public
administration has been constituted. These reforms, underpinned by con-
temporary management ideas, were based on what has been termed eco-
nomic rationalism, including principles and practices derived from the
private sector, replete with its focus on the perceived efficiency and effec-
tiveness of this sector. Economic rationalism3 is defined by Pusey (1993,
p. 14) as
a doctrine that says that markets and prices are the only reliable means of
setting a value on anything, and further, that markets and money can always,
at least in principle, deliver better outcomes than states and bureaucracies.
(Italics in original)
Pusey (1991) argued that Australian management and public sector

management, in particular, became obsessed with an economic
3
Economic rationalism is defined formally as ‘a theory of economics which opposes gov-
ernment intervention and which maintains that the economy of a country works better when
it responds to marketplace forces in such matters as utilisation of resources and industrial
relations’ (Macquarie Dictionary, 2015). Economic rationalism encompasses ‘economic
policy based on the efficiency of market forces, characterised by minimal government inter-
vention, tax cuts, privatisation, and deregulation of labour markets’ (The Free Dictionary,
2015). The term is not necessarily linked to managerialism, but in practice it often is because
of the importance assigned to performance management aspects as market performance sur-
rogates. While the term managerialism, an initially critical term, has been somewhat co-opted
by neoliberalism, economic rationalism is still largely used as a term of critique. For a com-
prehensive discussion of the term and its associated meanings and uses, see Stokes (2014).
rationalism that wreaked largely negative consequences on society. Most

of the top public sector bureaucrats in the Australian Public Sector (APS),
with a median age of 46 (in 1986), were influenced by an undergraduate
curriculum of predominantly positivist economics (Pusey, 1991) that pre-
disposed them to economic rationalism. A preference ‘for an economically
rationalist orientation’ towards policy and government was observed in
the highest echelons of the APS of the 1980s (Pusey, 1991, p. 63). These
senior bureaucrats held views similar to those of the ‘New Right’ manage-
rialists towards the involvement of the state in social and economic mat-
ters: they were in favour of smaller government, less involvement by the
state, incentives for individuals, and an economy less controlled by gov-
ernment (Pusey, 1991, p. 64). Economic rationalism and its ‘vocabulary
of a new laissez-faire minimalist state’ were also observed in the central
agencies of the APS in the 1980s (Pusey, 1991, p. 107).
Across Westminster polities, there was an underlying assumption that
private sector business management is similar to, but fundamentally better
than, its equivalent in the public sector (Box et al., 2001; Kettl, 1997;
Light, 2006; Nigro & Kellough, 2008; Thayer, 1978). The quest for effi-
ciency and effectiveness in the public sector along the lines of the private
sector was evident (Arnold, 1995; Kettl, 1997; Light, 2006; Nigro &
Kellough, 2008; Pautz & Washington, 2009).
Although earlier forms of managerialism associated with the work of
Taylor and Gulick across the Westminster polities existed for many decades
prior to the 1980s (Pollitt, 1993), from the 1980s onwards ‘economic
rationalism’ was accompanied by new managerialist reforms to the public
sector. These reforms were influenced by classical microeconomic
approaches or an ‘economic imperialism’ (Udehn, 1996, p. 1). Classical
microeconomic theories4 such as agency theory, rational choice theory,
public choice theory, and transaction cost theory, exerted a strong ‘nor-
mative influence’ on public sector reforms (Box et al., 2001, p. 611; Nigro
& Kellough, 2008). The influences of microeconomic theory are anchored
in a ‘market-based model’ that advocates the downsizing of government,
applying private sector management principles to public sector administra-
tion, viewing citizens as customers, divorcing policy-making from
4
Economic theories, especially those of the new institutional economics (agency, transac-
tion costs, property rights), were a significant influence on public sector reforms across the
Westminster polities. Although considered, for the purposes of this book they are not dis-
cussed in depth.
16 C. SHEARER
administration implementation and viewing government as akin to a ‘busi-

ness within the public sector’ (Box et al., 2001, p. 611; Kettl, 1997).
Reforms, especially of the Reagan and Clinton Administrations in the
United States of America (USA), incorporated many of these market-
based model characteristics such as ‘decentralisation, competition, dereg-
ulation, [downsizing], privatisation, user fees, and [entrepreneurial]
culture’ (Rosenbloom, 1993, p. 506; Box et al., 2001), innovation and
empowerment (Williams, 2000). As Zifcak (1994, p. 19) suggests, ‘right
wing think tanks began to play prominent roles in debates about govern-
ment and public affairs’ in the mid-1980s, shaping reform ideas in the
USA as well as in the UK.
The reforms that took place in the UK were a catalyst to public sector
reform across the Westminster polities (Public Services Trust, 2009, p. 24;
Talbot, 2001, p. 291). In the UK, from the early 1980s, new managerialist
influences, drawing on economic theories such as new institutional eco-
nomics, new classical macroeconomics and public choice, became pre-
dominant following the earlier election of the Thatcher Conservative
Government in 1979 (Gregory, 2007; Wallis & Dollery, 1999; Weller,
2001). Prime Minister Thatcher adopted and vigorously promoted the
teachings of economic liberalism originating from ‘the Austrian theorist
Friedrich Hayek, and the American economist Milton Friedman’ (Kelly,
1994, p. 35). A range of advisors was engaged to work with the Thatcher
Government, with her first efficiency advisor being Rayner (a businessper-
son) (Metcalf & Richards, 1990). ‘Radical liberal ideas were [advocated
and] espoused, if not always implemented’ (Kelly, 1994, p. 35) by Prime
Minister Thatcher and her counterpart President Reagan in the USA. Such
economic ideas and theories focussed on government failure and a con-
cern with a growing ‘Leviathan’ government (Wallis & Dollery, 1999,
p. 16; Gregory, 2007). To address this perceived failure, such as a govern-
ment’s uncontrolled growth, inefficiency and ineffectiveness, it was argued
that private sector management principles were required (Ackroyd et al.,
2007; Bogdanor, 2001; Caiden, 1991; du Gay, 2006; Gregory, 2007;
Wallis & Dollery, 1999). Both Prime Minister Thatcher and President
Reagan embraced with great ‘intellectual and political ferment’ the new
managerialism inspired by neoliberalism (Kelly, 1994, p. 35; Hood, 1991;
Mascarenhas, 1990, 1993; Pollitt, 1990). Managerialists advocated
‘generic managerialism’, a view based on assumptions that management is
a ‘generic, purely instrumental activity embodying a set of principles that
can be applied to a public business, as well as in private business’ (Painter,
1988, p. 1; Wallis & Dollery, 1999; Weller, 2001). This view of generic
managerialism became a prevalent and strong influence on public sector
reform in the UK (Ackroyd et al., 2007; Bogdanor, 2001; Caiden, 1991;
Hood, 1991; Mascarenhas, 1990; Pollitt, 1990; Pollitt & Bouckaert,
2011; Public Services Trust, 2009; Wallis & Dollery, 1999).
The growing pejorative view held by many in the UK and the USA
towards the bureaucratic nature of government allowed these right-wing
leaning governments, in favour of reducing the power of their public sec-
tors and supporting greater participation of the private sector in the deliv-
ery of public services, to undertake extensive public sector reform that was
electorally popular. In particular, two popular texts Reinventing govern-
ment (Osborne & Gaebler, 1992) and Banishing bureaucracy (Osborne &
Plastrik, 1997) were promoted by consultants, giving rise to what is con-
sidered by some to be the reinvention movement of public sector reform
(Brudney et al., 1999; Brudney & Wright, 2002; Calista, 2002; Saint-
Martin, 2004), although this has been challenged on the basis that the
ideas promoted by such texts were ‘devoid of a knowledge of public
administration and its historical context’ (Williams, 2000, p. 522; Coe,
1997; Fox, 1996; Goodsell, 1992; Kobrak, 1996; Nathan, 1995; Russell
& Waste, 1998; Wolf, 1997). Other consultants and ‘management gurus’
who participated in the reinvention movement and NPM also strongly
influenced reforms and, in turn, the constitution of public administration,
especially during the 1980s, when the growth of management fads and
fashions5 was exponential (Abrahamson, 1991; Abrahamson & Fairchild,
1999; Donaldson & Hilmer, 1998; Hilmer & Donaldson, 1996; Furnham,
2004; Micklethwaite & Wooldridge, 1996; Pascale, 1991; Saint-Martin,
2004; Strang & Macy, 2001; ten Bos, 2000; Williams, 2004). The growth
was directly related to the vast amounts of monies that were to be made by
the management consultancy industry that depends on continued govern-
ment contracts for public sector reform (Micklethwaite & Wooldridge,
1996; Pollitt & Bouckaert, 2011; Saint-Martin, 2004). For example, in
the UK public sector, some £2.8 billion was paid to management consul-
tants in 2005/2006, which was a 33% increase on the previous two years
and was comparatively more per employee than that spent by the private
sector (National Audit Office, 2006; Pollitt & Bouckaert, 2011).
5
Although there is a comprehensive body of literature on management fads and fashions,
this literature is not covered in depth in this book due to space limitations.
18 C. SHEARER
A conflict of interest arose between consultants, whose intellectual

property was guarded in order that further monies could be made, and the
managers that they advised. These consultants and the industry that has
grown around them have often driven management theory and its prac-
tices; in doing so, rather than following practices based on academic con-
cepts and theories, they have espoused ideology (Micklethwaite &
Wooldridge, 1996; Saint-Martin, 2004). Seemingly without question
some public sector managers sought out such management consultants
and adopted their advice and NPM practices, perhaps because
many people who end up in middle managerial positions are promoted not
for their managerial skills but for their excellence in other jobs, as engineers
or lawyers or editorial writers [ … ] so they turn to people who “know” [ …
] buying a book on management, then organising a conference, with say a
consultant from McKinsey to act as a “facilitator”. (Micklethwaite &
Wooldridge, 1996, p. 65)
The consequences for public administration were that such ‘manage-

ment ideas are now an institutionalised part of government’ (Micklethwaite
& Wooldridge, 1996, p. 351).
In Canada, the Mulroney Progressive Conservative Party Government,
which came to power in 1984, was much influenced by the public sector
reform ideas emanating from the UK and the USA (Julliet & Mingus,
2008, p. 222; Paton & Dodge, 1995, p. 17) and ‘borrowed’, albeit par-
tially, their public sector reforms (Pollitt & Bouckaert, 2011, p. 248).
Prime Minister Mulroney’s rhetoric reflected the anti-bureaucratic and
pro-private sector managerialism of these two nations’ administrations
(Savoie, 1994). During the 1990s the dire financial and economic situa-
tion Canada faced—especially as a result of the creation of the North
American Free Trade Association (NAFTA) between Canada, the USA
and Mexico, with a high percentage of gross domestic product going into
debt-servicing by government—together with a constitutional crisis (pos-
sible secession of the Province of Quebec) directed further attention and
reform efforts to the public sector and its administration practices. Those
responsible for reform efforts, Aucoin (1995) argues, focussed less on
what actually constituted public administration and more on what govern-
ment constituted as Canada’s political/economic agenda (Aucoin, 1995).
In New Zealand (NZ) also during the 1980s, there was pressure for
public sector reform growing from neoliberal or conservative govern-
ments (Hood, 1991; Mascarenhas, 1993, 1990; Pollitt, 1990), especially
from within Treasury, whose focus was on theoretical economic argu-

ments proposed by ‘new institutional economics’ (Mascarenhas, 1990,
p. 80; Gregory, 2007; Hood, 1991; Scott & Gorringe, 1989; Treasury,
1987). Professionals from within NZ Treasury, with experience of neolib-
eralism and the ideas of managerialism at institutions such as the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the
World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), brought these
ideas to NZ (Scott, 2008b) largely unquestioningly and strongly promot-
ing the ideology of NPM (Hood, 1990, p. 7; Hood, 1991; Mascarenhas,
1993, p. 324; Treasury, 1987; Wallis et al., 2007).
In Australia, the key influences leading to public sector reform were an
emerging dissatisfaction with the growth and perceived inefficiency of the
public sector, ideological views that the public sector was crowding out the
private sector, and the example of public sector reform by neoliberal or
conservative governments such as the Thatcher and Reagan administra-
tions that adopted NPM, with great fervour(Hood, 1991; Johnston, 2000;
Mascarenhas, 1990, 1993; Pollitt, 1990). The growing global paradigm of
NPM, with its focus on economic rationalism, which swept the globe from
the 1980s onwards, played a significant part in influencing governments of
both persuasions in Australia, but especially the Australian Liberal National
Coalition Government (ALNCG), to adopt public sector reforms (Carroll,
1992, p. 10; Johnston, 2000, p. 348; Pusey, 1992, p. 38; 1993, p. 14).
Australia’s public sector reform agenda drew on and reflected studies
that were made by the Royal Commission on Australian Government
Administration (RCAGA), also known as the Coombs Commission of
1976, the 1979 Report of the Standing Committee on Expenditure, and the
Review of Commonwealth Government Administration 1983 (Johnston,
2000; Keating, 1989; Mascarenhas, 1993; Wilenski, 1986). These studies
and papers reflected a general dissatisfaction with the nation’s public ser-
vices and were especially prominent in ‘developing public awareness of the
need for reform’ (Mascarenhas, 1990, p. 79; Wilenski, 1986).
The advocacy by ‘political and bureaucratic managerialists, represent-
ing the government’ (Johnston, 2000, p. 359) in Australia, exerted a
degree of influence on public sector management reforms (Carroll, 1992;
Considine, 1990; Johnston, 2000; Nethercote, 1989; Painter, 1988;
Pusey, 1991, 1993; Yeatman, 1987). Departmental Secretaries,6 senior
bureaucrats and former bureaucrats of the time, especially those operating
6
For the purposes of this book, the generic title of Departmental Secretary is used when
referring to a number of position titles such as Portfolio Secretary, Departmental Secretary,
20 C. SHEARER
in central government agencies, became enamoured with and drove public

sector reforms (Codd, 1988; Holmes, 1989; Keating, 1988, 1989, 1990;
Paterson, 1988; Shand, 1987). As Pusey (1991) found, these bureaucrats
came from predominantly privileged social backgrounds, (although this
finding has been challenged anecdotally by Watt [2012]), had an educa-
tion anchored in economics and commerce, and reflected ‘conservative’
rather than espoused ‘committed centrist’ political dispositions. These
Mandarins were supporters and conduits of managerialism into the APS
stimulated by government’s adoption of economic rationalism. They pro-
moted and led the process of instituting NPM ideas in the public sector,
sometimes speaking at conferences such as the Institute of Public
Administration Australia (IPAA) to lend their voices to the reform pro-
cess. Indeed, a debate ensued in the 1980s in the Australian Journal of
Public Administration (AJPA) between a number of these Mandarins and
others, with academics who questioned the basis and merit of these
reforms. These debates were known as the managerialist–anti-managerialist
debates (Johnston, 2000).
The reforms advocated by the managerialists incorporated changes to
the constitution of public administration such as contracting out, contract
employment, performance management and measurement, program bud-
geting and evaluation, effectiveness reviews, financial management, corpo-
rate planning, strategic management, divisional organisational structures,
devolution of functions, grouping of activity by outputs or outcomes,
human resources management, a senior executive service (SES), generalist
managers, results-oriented remuneration and a focus on economy, effi-
ciency, and effectiveness (Alford, 1993; Codd, 1991; Davis, 1992; Hughes,
1992; Paterson, 1988; Weller & Lewis, 1989). It was argued that a para-
digm shift from the old public administration to the NPM should ensue.
More recently, reforms across Westminster polities have been framed
around emerging concepts of New Public Governance (NPG), Network
Governance (NG) and New Public Value (NPV). NPG has been heralded
as a new paradigm. Former approaches such as classical public administra-
tion (CPM) and NPM are viewed as no longer able to deal with the com-
plexities of society in our modern networked world of globalisation
(Koppenjan & Koliba, 2013). Public policy-making and public service
delivery are recognised as taking place across multi-level settings, blurred
Secretary, Commissioner, Agency Head, and Chief Executive Officer reflecting the nomen-
clature relevant in public sector organisations.
policy demarcations, greater levels of individualism, a plurality of cultures

and values, richer information and data and extensive mediatisation (ibid.).
Society’s need to deal with wicked problems is considered not possible via
the operation of any single entity (Head, 2008), such as the public service.
Instead, the concept of NPG has emerged which has at its core ‘the plural
nature of the contemporary state, where multiple different actors contrib-
ute to the delivery of public services and the policymaking system’
(Dickenson, 2016, p. 42).
Some argue that the ideology of neo-liberalism that fuelled NPM is
being challenged as a result of a succession of global financial crisis and
failures and scandals in public service delivery. The alternative suggested is
NPG, based on ideas of network governance NG (Osborne, 2010). Critics
suggest that a new form of governance is required, one that incorporates
networked structures of collaboration and coordination based on trust.
However rather than a comprehensive shift to new governance regimes,
what appears to occur in practice is ‘hybrid arrangements comprising fea-
tures of different forms of governance systems at the same time’
(Dickenson, 2016, 55).
The NPV concept calls for public administrators/managers to engage
in entrepreneurial activities and be more innovative in creating public
value outcomes for the community (Moore, 1995). Public value incorpo-
rates four key dimensions: (1) outcome achievement; (2) trust and legiti-
macy; (3) service delivery quality; and (4) efficiency (Faulkner & Kaufman,
2018). The concept is considered analogous to shareholder value in the
public sector, but it implies a breaching of the politics/administration
dichotomy and has attracted criticism.
However, each of the above-mentioned concepts have incorporated
only nuanced changes to NPM and many elements of NPM remain in later
reform efforts, albeit reflected within these different conceptualisations.
1.3 Methodology
1.3.1 Use of Qualitative Interviews

A social constructionist frame was applied to the conduct of the research
which underpins this book, which used semi-structured interviews (indi-
vidually) as the primary method for data collection and analysis. The social
constructionist perspective adopts a stance that ‘knowing occurs during
socially negotiated processes that are historically and culturally relevant
22 C. SHEARER
and that ultimately lead to action’ (Holstein & Gubrium, 2008, p. 430).
Furthermore, the social constructionist perspective focuses on the role of
relationships, a multiplicity of realities, consultative and collaborative
interdependencies, and dialogue and discourse, in order to know (Gergen
& Gergen, 2003, p. 158). Interviews allowed the participants in the
research, the Departmental Secretaries, together with the researcher (as
facilitator), as the “knowing subjects”, to construct the craft of public
administration.
Interviews also legitimately served to create a collaborative understand-
ing of the craft of public administration by Departmental Secretaries, via
the active production of narratives. An implication of interview narratives
is that they are a situated, constructed account rather than true or factual
representations of experience; all representations are ‘partial perceptions
of realities’ (Holstein & Gubrium, 2008, p. 433). However, although
‘knowledge is interactive, co-constructed, [ … ] negotiated, [ … ] histori-
cal, situational, changing, [ … ] difficult to duplicate, [ … ] plural and
fallible’ (Holstein & Gubrium, 2008, p. 432), it is conversations, dia-
logues, discourses, discussion, talk and social interactions which provide
the ‘contexts in which knowledge and meaning are produced and under-
stood’ (Holstein & Gubrium, 2008, p. 432). In relation to this research,
interviews served the purpose of knowledge production well.
However, interviews required several considerations to be met by the
researcher. The considerations that were met by the researcher include the
following:
• The researcher had to facilitate ‘transformative, interactive, and dia-

logical practices’, suggesting that participants of the research process
contribute to the decision-making associated with the design, topics
for discussion, methods for analysing the data, contributing to the
analysis, and ways of data representation (Kvale, 2006).
• The researcher and participants maintained an ‘openness and accep-
tance of diverse opinions, experiences and worldviews’ and to
approach the interview questions from a position of curiosity and
enquiry (Holstein & Gubrium, 2008, p. 443).
• The researcher/interviewer consulted and collaborated with partici-
pants because the process of co-construction might result in unex-
pected ‘areas of inquiry, scholarship, or action’ (Holstein & Gubrium,
2008, p. 443).
• The researcher/interviewer acknowledged and communicated the

responsibilities associated with knowledge co-construction, thus
enabling participants to recognise the unpredictable, uncertain and
fallible nature of knowledge co-construction.
1.3.2 Research Questions
The central research question was: how do current and former Departmental
Secretaries in the APS constitute public administration, in a context of evolv-
ing reforms?
The supporting research questions that were considered in this
research are:
1. Who are the Departmental Secretaries who practise public

administration?
2. How does the environment and context of the public sector in
which Departmental Secretaries practise, shape their public
administration?
3. How do Departmental Secretaries construct or perceive their roles
and responsibilities in the context of continuing reforms?
4. How have contemporary management ideas influenced Departmental
Secretaries and their work?
1.3.3 Research Design Framework

The research design framework adopted was a qualitative case study. It
comprised a ‘methodological congruence’ (Morse & Richards, 2002)
such that the research strategy, purpose, questions, and methods were
interconnected and interrelated in a unified and cohesive manner. The
qualitative case study enabled the voices of the Departmental Secretaries,
as individuals and as a group, to be heard to understand in complex and
detailed ways what constitutes public administration. The voices of the
Departmental Secretaries are integral to this study as they constitute the
most senior group of managers in the public sector, akin to their Chief
Executive Officer colleagues in the private sector. Such voices are less
prevalent in the literature on public administration and yet their stories
and the organisations (Public Sector Departments) from which they told
their stories represent a critical component for study.
24 C. SHEARER
1.3.4 Selecting Participants
The selection of participants was based on a number of factors including
the accessibility of participants, their willingness to provide information,
and the participant being ‘distinctive for their accomplishments and ordi-
nariness or who shed light on the phenomenon or issue being explored’
(Creswell, 2007, p. 119). The participants for the study were the current
and former Departmental Secretaries in the APS. The Departmental
Secretaries comprise the most senior management cadre in the APS and
hence their management practices were considered to be of consequence
for this research. By selecting both current and former Departmental
Secretaries, the researcher attempted to find inconsistencies between the
two groups of participants. The researcher envisaged that current
Departmental Secretaries might have been less candid and somewhat more
guarded in their commentary as they were currently employed in the APS,
whereas it was possible that the former Departmental Secretaries were
more outspoken and less ‘encumbered’ given they were no longer
employed in the APS. The researcher is currently employed in one such
APS organisation, and so has knowledge about, and access to, such
Departmental Secretaries (current and former) as a public servant, as well
as knowledge of reform in the APS over many years. Preliminary informal
discussions with the researcher’s own former Departmental Secretary were
positive, and the researcher was advised by the Departmental Secretary
that he was willing to participate in the research and to assist with facilitat-
ing access to his colleagues and counterparts. It was envisaged that the
other Departmental Secretaries would be as willing to provide information
and participate in the research, as they are generally responsive to such
requests. They were in a position and had the experience and capabilities
with which to contribute to the research exploring the craft of public
administration.
1.3.5 Gaining Access and Rapport Building

To gain access to Departmental Secretaries for the purposes of conducting
the research, a number of steps were required. These steps included: the
need to secure ethics approval for the conduct of the study; making an
initial approach to current and former Departmental Secretaries (via their
‘gatekeepers’/Executive Assistants), or directly where they had no such
gatekeepers; obtaining permission/consent from the participants to

participate in the research; communicating the purpose of the study and
researcher motivations for choice of participants; and the granting of
confidentiality and anonymity where requested/required. By diligently
completing these various steps, the researcher established a degree of rap-
port with the participants from which she then leveraged further rapport
during the conduct of the study via interviews.
There were two groups of participants for this research: (1) current
Departmental Secretaries and (2) former Departmental Secretaries. The
researcher planned to recruit more participants for this research than
might be required to achieve a ‘saturation’ point, that is, the repetition of
themes, information and concepts to allow for a lower than expected
response rate. The researcher envisaged that the ‘saturation’ point would
be realised from a lesser number of participants than that recruited. As the
research was qualitative, the number of participants for ‘saturation’ point
was likely to result in ‘rich’ description. The researcher secured 13 partici-
pants for the current Departmental Secretaries group and 12 participants
for the former Departmental Secretaries group, providing a total of 25
participants collectively for this research.
1.3.6 Data Collection and Analysis

Interview data were viewed and treated as the narratives or stories by
which the participants view and describe their reality. The interviews were
audio-taped. The data was manually transcribed by an external transcriber.
The researcher read and then re-read the transcripts to cross-check and
edit them against the original taped interviews. Making ready the data
involved putting the text into a ‘crunchable form’ (Van Maanen, 1988,
p.131). To achieve this crunchable form, the interview data were first
roughly transcribed in their complete form, including all the words and
nuances, and then selected sections were transcribed again to achieve
more comprehensive analysis.
The process of analysis after transcribing, incorporated the ‘testing,
clarifying and deepening [of the researcher’s] understanding of what [was]
happening in the discourse’ or narrative (Mishler, 1991, p. 277) to inter-
pret the data. Consideration of concepts and theories was made concur-
rently during the transcribing and analysis phase.
26 C. SHEARER
A system of codes7 was developed to facilitate the analysis. Miles and

Huberman (1994, p. 56) define codes as the ‘tags or labels for assigning
units of meaning to the descriptive or inferential information compiled
during a study’. Two sets of codes were developed. The first set comprised
coding the raw data/quotes relevant to the thesis using a system which
reflects the transcript number and page number, and where there was
more than one quote per page number per transcript, the addition of the
letters a, b, or c follows the page number. The second set comprised allo-
cation by the researcher of descriptive labels to the raw data/quotes, to
reflect the first- and second-order themes/concepts developed and even-
tually aggregated as overarching dimensions. The thematic analysis pro-
cess was documented in a data structure table.
A (limited) range of documents was sourced and analysed to gain a
further insight into the craft of public administration. These documents
provided a rich source of information on the legislated roles and responsi-
bilities of the Departmental Secretaries, their formal and legislated
accountabilities and the way in which they are remunerated and rewarded
for their performance. The researcher also conducted analysis of data col-
lected via a range of documents and records as mentioned above. The data
from these documents were considered for the content and/or context
they might provide on the craft of public administration. The analysis con-
sisted of a search for new and emerging constructions that presented
themselves in the documents. The analysis of these documents prompted
further enquiry and questions during interviews.
1.4 Departmental Secretary Demographics

Departmental Secretaries’ practice is senior level public sector manage-
ment work. Their demographic and career backgrounds shape who they
are and the persons that they are in turn shape what they do when they
7
The raw data/quotes relevant to the research were coded using a system which reflects
the transcript number and page number, and where there was more than one quote per page
number per transcript, the addition of the letters a, b, or c follows the page number. Therefore
(1.1a) refers to transcript (or interview) number one (1.), page number one of the transcript
(.1), and the first of several quotes on the same page of this transcript (a). These raw data/
quotes are referred to either in full in the book or they are referred to via their codes at the
end of the relevant sentence and paragraph to which they pertain within the book. These
quotes are italicised to differentiate them from other quotes in the book. The raw data/
quotes are not all included in full in the book.
construct the craft of public administration. The twenty-five participants

interviewed for this research were heads of portfolios, departments and/
or agencies of the APS, which were either policy or service delivery based.
They had a number of position titles such as Portfolio Secretary,
Departmental Secretary, Secretary, Commissioner, and Agency Head,
reflecting the nomenclature relevant for the particular organisations that
they headed. For the purposes of the research and this book, the generic
title of Departmental Secretary is used when referring to these partici-
pants. These portfolios, departments, and agencies covered a majority of
the functions of the APS and were predominantly large in size and scale.
The Departmental Secretaries had similar demographic backgrounds
(see Tables 1.2 and 1.3 below).
The Departmental Secretaries were mostly males (current 92% and for-
mer 75%) aged in their 50s, 60s and 70s, while a minority (current 8% and
former 25%) were females in their 40s, 50s and 60s. The Departmental
Secretaries, with one exception (a European-born naturalised Australian
citizen), were all Australian-born citizens with Anglo-Saxon family ante-
cedents. Many of these Departmental Secretaries (current 85% and former
75%) were born, educated, and had lived their lives in Canberra, the pri-
mary location of the APS. Only one current Departmental Secretary, who
had recently joined the ranks of the Departmental Secretaries from another
jurisdiction, did not ‘fit’ the above-mentioned profile. The majority of
Departmental Secretaries’ educational qualifications were in economics
and law.
Given that most Departmental Secretaries hold qualifications in such
fields as law, economics, science, and other professional technical domains,8
they do not have a formally substantive knowledge of the discipline of
management (2:6). While participants were not directly asked how their
academic qualifications9 influenced the way they construct the craft of
public administration, examination of the basic demographic details of
these public actors is revealing. Their ‘qualifications’ show that only one
current and no former Departmental Secretaries have a qualification
grounded in management theory and practice. This participant is the only
8
The term technical domain is used in this book to denote non-management fields of
expertise and knowledge that apply within the APS. In particular, this term relates to the field
of public policy as it pertains to the various portfolios.
9
Demographic details were collected simply to provide a profile of the public actors and
not to determine, directly, how various demographic details might influence the way they
constructed the craft of public administration.
28 C. SHEARER
Table 1.2 Current Departmental Secretaries’ demographic details

Participanta Gender Age Ethnicity Qualification Residential
area
E M 50–59 Anglo- Bachelor Economics/Law Sydney

Saxon NSW
N M 50–59 Anglo- Master Public Policy Canberra
Saxon ACT
I M 60–69 Anglo- Bachelor Accounting/IT Canberra
Saxon ACT
O F 40–49 Anglo- Bachelor of Applied Science/ Canberra
Saxon Master of Information Science/ ACT
Master of Business
Administration
J M 60–69 Anglo- Bachelor Commerce Canberra
Saxon ACT
U M 50–59 Anglo- Bachelor Economics Canberra
Saxon ACT
W M 60–69 Anglo- Bachelor Arts Canberra
Saxon ACT
X M 50–59 European Bachelor Economics/Law Canberra
ACT
A M 60–69 Anglo- Bachelor Economics/Master Canberra
Saxon Economics ACT
D M 50–59 Anglo- Bachelor Arts/Law Canberra
Saxon Master Law ACT
H M 50–59 Anglo- Bachelor Economics/Arts/ Canberra
Saxon Masters Economics/PhD ACT
Economics
L M 60–69 Anglo- Bachelor Economics/Master Sydney
Saxon Science Economics/PhD NSW
Economics
S M 50–59 Anglo- Bachelor Economics Canberra
Saxon ACT
a
Alphabetic letters were randomly assigned to provide anonymity and de-identify all participants. Quotes
from participants which are referred to throughout the book were coded for record-keeping purposes
using numerical values which cannot be cross-referenced with the alphabetic letters
member of the youngest demographic (40–49 years), and also the only
public actor within this study with a formal education encompassing any
likely knowledge of managerial techniques consistent with the NPM.
The majority of participants have formal educational qualifications
based in law (20%) and economics (48%). Both of these areas are relevant
Table 1.3 Former Departmental Secretaries’ demographic details

Participant Gender Age Ethnicity Qualification Residential
area
M F 60–69 Anglo- Bachelor Arts/Bachelor Canberra

Saxon Economics ACT
P M 60–69 Anglo- Bachelor Arts-Law/Master Canberra
Saxon Industrial and Labor Relations ACT
C M 60–69 Anglo- Bachelor Economics/PhD Canberra
Saxon Economic Geography ACT
T F 50–59 Anglo- Bachelor Economics Canberra
Saxon ACT
G F 60–69 Anglo- Bachelor Psychology/Master Canberra
Saxon Public Administration ACT
Y M 60–69 Anglo- Bachelor Economics Canberra
Saxon ACT
K M 60–69 Anglo- Bachelor Economics Canberra
Saxon ACT
F M 60–69 Anglo- Bachelor Science/PhD Canberra
Saxon ACT
R M 70–79 Anglo- Bachelor Law Canberra
Saxon ACT
B M 60–69 Anglo- Bachelor Science Melbourne
Saxon VIC
Q M 60–69 Anglo- Bachelor Arts Melbourne
Saxon VIC
V M 60–69 Anglo- Bachelor Arts Melbourne
Saxon VIC
to the public sector. Law, it can be assumed, would provide an awareness

and knowledge of legal and regulatory responsibilities, especially those
outlined in the Australian Government Public Service Act 1999 (amended
2013, S.15). This Act, however, is silent in terms of any specific manage-
rial responsibilities directly related to the NPM. Instead, there are just two
broad managerial responsibilities, first, for the efficient, effective, econom-
ical, and ethical management of the ‘Department’ and second, ‘to man-
age’ consistent with APS policies. The closest Secretaries’ responsibilities
come to the NPM is in the provision of ‘leadership, strategic direction and
a focus on results for the Department’, but, as will be discussed in Chap. 6,
their public administration is focussed predominantly on serving their
minister.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
anelando, e alfine appoggiarsi al braccio del nipote per raggiungere
il sommo del rialto.
— Come ti senti oggi, mamma? — le chiese Aurelio, impensierito.
— Così, così... non troppo bene; soffro un poco d’asma.... stanotte
non ho chiuso occhio....
Soggiunse sùbito rivolta allo Zaldini, sorridendo:
— Sono i maledetti acciacchi dell’età mia. Non c’è di che stupirsene.
A settant’anni battuti la vita è già un prodigio.
E parlò d’altro.
Su la porta del palazzo avvenne un subitaneo incontro: le signore
Boris uscivano per la passeggiata mattutina. Dal giorno del loro
arrivo, Aurelio non le aveva più vedute, quantunque l’avola fosse già
entrata con esse in amichevoli rapporti. Flavia, assai leggiadra
nell’abito roseo, veniva prima, la testa alta, il seno proteso
nell’erezione leggermente arcuata della persona; a fianco l’una
dell’altra, susseguivan poi, in silenzio, la biondissima, un viso
esangue e capriccioso illuminato da due chiari occhi procaci, e la
madre, solenne e trionfante della sua pingue maturità e della sua
bellezza ostinata.
Si salutarono, passando. Donna Marta e il nipote entrarono sotto il
peristilio. Luciano, che pareva molto maravigliato di quelle presenze,
si fermò un attimo, involontariamente, su la porta per riguardare le
tre donne, mentre discendevano a passo lento gli scalini del rialto,
incerte ancora su la via da percorrere. Udì le due fanciulle che
mormoravan tra loro alcune parole e ridevano; le vide aprire al sole
gli ombrelli variopinti, e rivolgersi indietro verso la madre per
consultarla. Come i suoi sguardi s’incontraron con quelli di Flavia,
egli sùbito si ritrasse, un po’ confuso della distrazione, e raggiunse
gli ospiti i quali non s’eran peranco avveduti del suo breve indugio.
— Conduci l’amico tuo in camera. Egli avrà bisogno di ravviarsi un
poco, — disse donna Marta al nipote. — Ricordatevi: fra mezz’ora la
colazione è pronta.
Quando i due giovani furon soli su le scale, Luciano non potè più
contenere la sua maraviglia per la piacevole apparizione. Egli
inseguì Aurelio che lo precedeva, gli cinse con un braccio il fianco, lo
scosse con forza e gli susurrò all’orecchio scherzosamente:
— Ah, impostore! Tu chiami dunque un eremo, questo?! Ma questo
è il giardino d’Armida.... con la differenza che Armida era sola e qui è
bene accompagnata. Ah, ora capisco perchè non ti sei mai fatto vivo
in questo mese; ora capisco l’incanto delle viottole perdute nel
bosco; ora so bene a che sorgenti hai bevuto le pure essenze della
vita! Se non ti dà ombra la mia concorrenza, son pronto anch’io a
ritirarmi dal mondo per far l’eremita con te. Mi vuoi? Di’: mi vuoi?
Rideva pazzamente. E anche Aurelio rideva; ma gli scrosci giocondi
di Luciano contrastavano assai col suo ghigno fioco, un po’ beffardo.
Egli pensava: «Costui non vede la felicità che nei piaceri meno nobili
del senso e del sentimento; l’Idea per l’opposto lo lascia freddo,
stupefatto, tutt’al più curioso. E non può assolutamente capacitarsi
che alcuno, migliore di lui, abbia a trovare in Essa il più alto
godimento della vita! La donna, sempre la donna! Sopra ogni
pensiero pende nel suo cervello, come un torbido astro, l’imagine del
connubio immondo. Egli è lo schiavo sottomesso della sua carne: il
basso istinto della generazione lo domina tutto e ne inquina ogni
facoltà fisica e morale. Posso io dunque esser l’amico d’un uomo
simile?»
Giunsero nella camera destinata all’ospite, una camera, come tutte
le altre, spaziosa, squallida, forse un po’ più chiara perchè
prospiciente il lago. Aurelio sedette su una vecchia poltrona, e
Luciano, mezzo svestito, interruppe la sua celia per refrigerarsi il
capo e le mani in una tinozza piena d’acqua.
L’Imberido, che fin allora non aveva aperto bocca, si volse
d’improvviso al compagno e gli domandò:
— Tu credi dunque ch’io conosca quelle signore? Ebbene oggi è
stata la prima volta che le ho salutate.
Luciano levò il viso, che grondava da tutte le parti, e lo guardò con
un’espressione singolare d’incredulità.
— Veramente, — ribattè Aurelio sorridendo.
— Dopo oltre un mese di convivenza nella stessa casa?
— Se non dopo un mese, dopo dieci giorni da che sono arrivate.
— Ah, son soltanto dieci giorni.... La cosa è già men grave. Ma, in tal
caso, guàrdati: è l’avvenire che si presenta irto di pericoli, — insinuò
l’avvocato, fissando burlescamente l’amico.
Aurelio scosse la testa, e inarcò le labbra in atto sdegnoso.
— Non credo e non temo, — egli mormorò; — sarà questione di
temperamento, come tu m’hai detto tante volte; ma è così: le donne
mi tentano poco.
— Anche idealmente?
— Ancor meno. Come femmine, via, quando l’estro mi tortura, so
ben dove trovarle col minor dispendio di tempo e di pazienza. Ma,
come donne, che vuoi? io le stimo davvero troppo inferiori ed
estranee a me perchè me ne debba occupare.
— E pure son così divertenti! — esclamò Luciano, scoppiando in
una gran risata.
— Divertenti?... Forse. Ma gli è appunto perchè son tali che non
fanno al mio caso. Io non sento alcun bisogno di divertirmi; la vita
nostra è troppo breve per concedere uno svago a chi s’è prefisso
qualche scopo di là dalla vita stessa e all’infuori degli umili
sodisfacimenti corporali, che son comuni alle bestie come agli
uomini. E poi l’amore è un giuoco troppo assorbente e troppo
pericoloso. Si sa come comincia; non si può sapere come finisce!...
E quasi sempre finisce male.... molto male, quand’anche finisce!...
Parlava piano, gravemente, con una leggera intonazion malinconica.
Come ogni volta che l’anima gli si schiudeva a una confidenza, il suo
sguardo velato, in cui la luce esterna pareva rifrangersi, naufragava
mobilissimo nello spazio quasi cercando un ideal punto d’appoggio.
Anche l’amico, vinto dalla suggestione delle sue parole, erasi fatto
d’un tratto serio e meditabondo.
Tacquero.
Sopra di loro il tragico soffio della coscienza vitale passò. Liete o
tristi, legate al senso o all’idea, schiave degli impulsi elementari o
delle più squisite ansietà del pensiero, le vite loro e le altre tutte
avevano una medesima sorte, spezzavansi contro lo stesso
ostacolo, si dissolvevan come gocce nel gran fiume inarrestabile
dell’umanità. E, su quel tumultuar d’esistenze perdute, sospinte
verso una foce misteriosa, il torso della Sirena emergeva,
terribilmente bello, simbolo eterno di fecondità, lusinga ammonitrice
d’una Forza suprema che voleva la vita e contro la quale ogni
ribellione era follìa.
I due giovini ebbero insieme, durante il lungo silenzio, la confusa
visione di questa imagine, la torbida consapevolezza della vanità
d’ogni cosa per le loro individualità effimere, condannate a una breve
comparsa su la Terra, e poi, dopo aver procreato, a dileguarsi
fatalmente nel nulla. Il comune destino li affratellò; la vertigine del
tempo li spinse l’un verso l’altro, quasi per sorreggersi a vicenda su
l’orlo della tenebrosa voragine che avevano scandagliata.
Istintivamente si guardarono negli occhi con un’espressione
profonda di simpatia e d’incoraggiamento; sorrisero l’uno all’altro;
parvero attingere in quello sguardo e in quel sorriso il provvido oblio
dell’Abisso, la fiducia nelle proprie forze, il sacro desiderio di vivere,
di combattere o di godere.
Aurelio si levò in piedi di scatto, come si sottraesse a un incubo, e
disse a voce spiegata:
— Veramente si han troppe cose da fare....
Poi soggiunse, alzando il capo con quel suo atto d’orgoglio e quasi
di jattanza:
— Ma siamo giovini: le faremo. Non è vero?
— Oh tu, di certo, — rispose umilmente lo Zaldini; — io? Io farò quel
che potrò. E tutto sarà per il meglio, come sempre.
Discendendo le scale, Aurelio mise il suo braccio sotto il braccio
dell’amico, con familiarità insolita. Sentivano entrambi il bisogno di
parlar di cose leggere, futili, impersonali: a richiesta dell’Imberido,
Luciano spiegò i progressi notevoli fatti dalla Rivista in quegli ultimi
tempi, gli comunicò il numero delle copie che si stampavano, il
crescente afflusso d’abbonati in amministrazione, il reddito netto
dell’impresa che prometteva tra non molto di coprire il disavanzo
ridotto omai a una cifra lievissima. Durante la colazione, essendo poi
venuti a discorrer di Cerro, Aurelio narrò la storia della sua
fondazione, che risale soltanto al secolo XVII nell’anno memorabile
della più cruda pestilenza; anche, narrò la curiosa leggenda del
cimitero villàtico, sòrto — a quanto si dice — sopra il campicello
recinto dove un famoso bandito di nome Polidoro aveva sepolto i
resti delle sue vittime numerose.
Luciano l’ascoltava con un’espression forzata d’attenzione, gli occhi
incantati ne’ suoi, la testa un po’ inclinata dalla sua parte, quasi per
meglio afferrare il senso delle parole che gli sfuggiva; di quando in
quando però, senza volerlo, si distraeva, sembrava concentrarsi
profondamente in sè stesso, si rivolgeva con un moto improvviso a
donna Marta per lodare con qualche frase ammirativa il gusto di una
vivanda, la freschezza dell’acqua, l’eccellenza del vino paesano, un
vinetto limpido, leggero, un poco acidulo. Egli assumeva una specie
di solennità cogitabonda d’avanti a una mensa; assaporava
sapientemente, con una palese volontà di godere; pareva che
s’obbligasse a pensare ciò che sentiva, per una raffinata arte di
sensualità.
Quando assaggiò una gran pasta dolce, che donna Marta aveva
preannunciata come una squisita ghiottornia, egli non potè più
contenersi, e l’allegro entusiasmo scoppiò.
— Signora mia, — egli proruppe; — mi permetta di farle le mie più
vive congratulazioni: questa focaccia è un miracolo di bontà, è il
capolavoro delle focacce. Ella deve assolutamente insegnarmene la
ricetta; io poi la comunicherò a mia sorella Maria, la quale sta per
divenire, mercè mia, una cuciniera di prim’ordine. Perchè, signora, io
mi sono imposto un compito da padre previdente: non potendo fare
altro per essa, vado preparandole una dote di sapienza
gastronomica, che la renderà senza dubbio assai preziosa e
invidiata tra le ragazze da marito.
Rideva a tratti, in così dire; e anche donna Marta rideva, mentre lo
incitava a rifornire il piatto, rapidamente sgombro, del dolce
prelibato. E le targhe zuccherine succedevano alle targhe e
scomparivan tra le risa nella bocca vorace.
Udendolo, osservandolo, Aurelio pensava: «Ecco: egli è beato; ha
già dimenticato i nostri discorsi di poc’anzi, e senza serbarne la
minima traccia amara nello spirito. È bastata una semplice
sensazione gradevole per infondergli dentro la gioja di vivere; è
bastato un fatto organico inferiore per ridargli la piena sodisfazione
di sè medesimo. Ogni inquietudine cerebrale è stata vinta e dispersa
in lui dal piacer bruto di nutrirsi!...» Egli l’osservava, soggiacendo
contro l’amico all’invidia istintiva che ognuno prova al cospetto d’un
essere più felice; ma l’invidia era incosciente, assumendo dentro di
lui la fallace parvenza d’un sentimento neutro, quasi d’una fredda
curiosità scientifica. Avveniva assai di sovente ch’egli s’ingannasse
nell’interpretare i suoi moti interni; l’abitudine continua dell’astrazione
e lo sforzo di formular verbalmente i suoi pensieri distoglievano
facilmente la sua attenzione dalle intime cause psicologiche che
originavano il lavorío mentale. Per tal modo i suoi sentimenti
rimanevan quasi sempre oscuri, impenetrabili, sottratti a ogni freno e
a ogni vigilanza della volontà.
Finita la colazione, donna Marta, accusando un po’ di malessere, si
ritirò nella propria camera, e i due giovini vollero tentare una
passeggiata nei boschi circostanti. Ma l’ora non era propizia. Sul
lago, immoto e abbacinante, stagnava l’afa del meriggio; il sole, alto
nel cielo chiaro, lasciava cadere a perpendicolo i suoi raggi infocati,
che si slargavano in macchie rance su le praterie, correvano in
accese strisce lungo le viottole, s’immillavano come strali d’oro a
traverso il fogliame del castagneto, bollando d’innumerevoli cerchietti
tremuli la terra in ombra. Anche nel fitto del bosco la caldura, non
mitigata dal più lieve soffio d’aria, quasi inasprita dallo strepito
incessante delle cicale, era insoffribile. I due giovini furon costretti a
ritornar sùbito su i loro passi e rientrare in palazzo. Luciano,
oppresso dall’afa e dal travaglio della digestione un po’ faticosa,
andò a gittarsi sul letto e s’addormentò. Aurelio si chiuse nella sua
stanza, dove riprese tranquillamente i suoi studii, interrotti dall’arrivo
e dalla presenza dell’amico.
Non ne uscì che ai richiami iterati di Luciano dal giardino e a un
rabbioso squillo della campanella, dopo oltre cinque ore di continua
occupazione.
Entrando nella sala da pranzo, egli al primo sguardo s’avvide che la
nonna era di pessimo umore, probabilmente irritata contro di lui
perchè aveva lasciato solo l’ospite durante l’intero pomeriggio. Ella
non levò gli occhi dalla tavola quand’egli comparve, e rimase poi
lungamente muta, covando dentro lo sdegno che presto o tardi
avrebbe dovuto esplodere.
L’esca fu accesa innocentemente da Luciano, quando domandò
all’Imberido come avesse passato tutto quel tempo nella propria
camera. Alla risposta assai calma di questo:
— Ho lavorato, — la testa irosa della vecchia si rialzò con impeto
fulmineo. Un fiotto di parole aspre ruppe dalla sua bocca,
violentemente.
— Non potevi dunque aspettar domani?... Era proprio necessario
che tu continuassi oggi il tuo lavoro inutile e odioso?... L’amico tuo è
da tre ore che s’annoja, solo, aspettandoti! È venuto a cercarti: eri
chiuso a chiave, come se avessi avuto paura di farti sorprendere! Si
direbbe che tu abbia qualche mistero da nascondere in quelle tue
maledette stanze!... Io.... io, lo sai, mi sono ormai rassegnata: non ci
metto più piede, cascasse il mondo, e non te ne parlo più. Ma che tu
continui le tue abitudini d’orso, nascondendoti nella spelonca anche
quando abbiamo con noi un ospite venuto per te, questo poi no, non
lo sopporto e non lo sopporterò mai!...
Era l’antico rancore che le suggeriva le parole; quel rancore ch’ella
provava sopra tutto contro le occupazioni predilette del nipote, di cui
non riusciva a intender bene le mire e le ambizioni. Donna Marta,
uscita da una famiglia di borghesi intraprendenti, avrebbe voluto che
Aurelio, dappoichè non era più ricco, avesse esercitata una
professione lucrosa, approfittando della sua laurea in giurisprudenza
e delle sue attitudini oratorie. Gli studii e il lavoro di lui eranle per ciò
più intollerabili dell’ozio medesimo; e non poteva trascurare
un’occasione di rammentarglielo.
Mentre l’avola lo rimproverava, il giovine mangiava silenziosamente,
scambiando a intervalli un’occhiata con l’amico. E questi, un po’
confuso, cercava con una qualche uscita burlesca d’interrompere il
sermone o almeno di renderlo meno aspro e inquietante. Ella in vece
proseguiva così concitata, così convulsa che pareva dovesse da un
attimo all’altro rimanere senza respiro.
— Vede, Zaldini? — diceva ora rivolta all’ospite: — è sempre così. Io
vivo assolutamente sola. Non lo posso più vedere che a colazione e
a pranzo, e spesso debbo anche aspettarlo a tavola inutilmente!...
Come non bastassero le tristi figure che son costretta a fare
dovunque, per colpa sua!... Ella non crederà, Zaldini: io non sono
ancora riuscita a persuaderlo ch’egli è in dovere di presentarsi alle
signore nostre vicine. Esse, naturalmente, sanno che c’è;
desiderano di conoscerlo; m’hanno anzi pregata di condurlo meco in
casa loro, e non una sola volta han ripetuto la preghiera! Io, che
debbo dire? Che posso fare? È una vergogna! Una scortesia
incredibile e ingiustificabile!... Ma chi lo fa capire a un ostinato di
quella forza?...
— È verissimo! — interruppe d’un tratto lo Zaldini, parendogli questo
un buon appiglio per deviare il tema del discorso, e insieme per
mettere nell’impiccio lo schivo amico. — Perchè dunque t’ostini a
star lontano da quelle signore? Hai paura forse di perdere i tuoi
sonni tranquilli, conoscendole?
— No. Ho paura di perdere il mio tempo, che è ben peggio, —
mormorò sordamente Aurelio.
— Ma chè, ti pare? Non c’è bisogno di rimaner con loro da mattina a
sera e da sera a mattina. M’imagino ch’esse medesime non te lo
permetterebbero. Una mezz’ora al giorno in loro compagnia, credo
però che la potresti passare senza sacrificio.
Donna Marta, già un po’ più calma, intervenne.
— Io non chiedo tanto da lui, — ella disse. — Desidero solamente
ch’egli non scappi quando le incontra nel cortile o per via, e che
venga una sola volta con me a salutarle. Poi lo lascio libero di
rintanarsi dove e come gli piaccia.
— Dunque?! — esclamò Luciano, allargando comicamente le
braccia, e fissandolo con uno sguardo penetrante, pieno di sottintesi
maliziosi.
Aurelio, stretto dalle due parti, si difendeva debolmente; mormorava
seccato timide frasi, in cui il diniego si diluiva in giustificazioni, in
desiderii di lavoro, di libertà, di quieto vivere. Alla fine, come
l’angustiava maggiormente quel diverbio che non l’idea stessa
d’esser presentato alle signore Boris, acconsentì.
— Bene! — gridò trionfalmente lo Zaldini, quand’egli ebbe
pronunciato il «sì» strappatogli a forza dalla sua insistenza. — Allora
la solenne presentazione del monstrum avvenga questa sera
medesima. Così avrò anch’io la fortuna di conoscerle, ciò che
desidero con tutto il trasporto dell’anima mia.
Il ritrovo serale di donna Marta con le signore Boris era il piano del
rialto d’avanti alla porta del palazzo. Le ragazze usavano
accoccolarsi su l’erba molle del pendío, le due donne si facevan
portare le poltroncine dall’interno; e la conversazione si prolungava
finchè il tramonto era esausto e le tenebre occupavano intense la
valle del lago.
Quella sera, quando donna Marta apparve su la soglia col nipote e
con l’ospite, le vicine eransi già accampate e chiacchieravan
giocondamente tra loro, ridendo forte. Quelle risa fecero su Aurelio
un’impressione singolare: gli ricordarono vagamente voci
conosciute. Quali?
— L’avvocato Luciano Zaldini, — disse la vecchia; poi, accennando
Aurelio, soggiunse con un accento diverso, un po’ sarcastico: — E
questo è mio nipote, l’invisibile.
I due giovini s’inchinarono. Le donne abbassarono il capo con
grazioso sussiego: soltanto la bionda aperse la bocca a un
fuggevole sogghigno, che sembrò all’Imberido un’acuta puntura di
spillo. Dopo la presentazione, l’avola andò ad accomodarsi nella sua
poltroncina che era già pronta accanto alla signora Boris; Aurelio
s’abbandonò come stanco sul sedile di granito accosto al muro, e
Luciano rimase ritto in piedi d’innanzi alle due giovinette.
Il vespero non era perfettamente sereno: alcune masse plumbee di
vapore offuscavano l’occidente, anticipando la mezz’ombra del
crepuscolo. Su lo spiazzo, di solito deserto, ferveva un’animazione
quasi febbrile; molte femmine, su la riva, aspettavano ansiose le
barche delle filandaje, di ritorno per la festa del domani dagli opificii
d’Intra e di Pallanza: nel prato, tra i salici e i gattici sottili, quattro o
cinque bambine tutte bionde giocavan silenziosamente,
ammontando i ciottoli del greto.
I discorsi incominciaron sùbito vivacissimi tra le donne e lo Zaldini. Si
parlava, con grande volubilità, delle cose più varie e disparate: di
abitudini di campagna, del caldo in città, di comuni conoscenze, di
futili avvenimenti che parevan degni di memoria sol per il nome noto
delle persone che vi avevan preso parte. E i comenti, le
osservazioni, le sentenze spuntavano di quando in quando a mezzo
di quei discorsi — comenti ingenui, vane osservazioni, sentenze
plateali a base di luoghi comuni e di frasi fatte. Aurelio, rimasto fuori
del crocchio ciarliero delle donne che gli volgevan le spalle, taceva e
osservava in preda a un tedio schiacciante. Quella conversazione gli
sembrava intollerabile; non poteva capacitarsi come l’amico suo vi si
frammescolasse con tanta spontaneità di piacere. Certi scatti
subitanei d’ilarità giungevano a lui più ingrati che il soffio d’un lezzo
nauseoso; certe uscite, che l’obbligavan per poco all’attenzione,
riempivano il suo spirito d’insofferenza, sì ch’egli doveva far forza
contro sè stesso per non allontanarsi da quel posto di tortura.
— Gli uomini son leggeri come farfalle, — udì sentenziare la bionda,
fissando i suoi chiari e cupidi occhi in quelli di Luciano.
— Io, se per caso prendo marito, voglio che....
— Ma se è sempre così: l’uomo si stanca presto della sua casa,
della moglie, dei bambini, e allora...
— No, no, credi a me, Luisa; io lo dico sempre: è assai meglio
rimaner zitelle fin che si può.... Si è sempre in tempo per fare il salto
nel bujo!....
Luciano, difendendo il suo sesso dalle accuse femminili, rispondeva
gravemente, discuteva con calore gli argomenti più sciupati,
accusava a sua volta la donna di leggerezza e di crudeltà;
solamente a intervalli si permetteva qualche facezia arguta e sottile
che sollevava d’improvviso le proteste di tutto il crocchio.
In tanto Aurelio, infastidito da quelle ciarle insulse, erasi distratto a
poco a poco nella ottusa contemplazione della scena. Le barche,
che avevano tragittate le filandaje, giungevano ora confusamente,
ondeggiando, presso il lido. Sul riflesso livido dell’acqua i cerchii,
spogli delle tende, si disegnavan neri e lugubri, come costole
d’immani scheletri ribaltati; e i profili indecisi delle fanciulle, strette e
pigiate tra quei cerchii, avevano una mobilità informe, che pareva un
brulichìo. Cantavano alcune un canto malinconico, all’unisono,
seguendo il ritmo grave dei remi nell’acqua. Quando giungevano a
una cadenza, le altre tutte sposavano le loro voci a quelle poche, e
un lungo grido saliva per l’aria, simile a un appello desolato di
naufraghi. Poi susseguiva una pausa, qualche riso incontenuto, un
ululo impaziente di salutazione alle donne che aspettavano, e il
canto incominciava di nuovo, flebile e basso.
Le barche approdarono. Accorsero in torno le femmine, chiamando,
interrogando, stendendo le avide mani verso le figliuole, che
sapevan fornite del gruzzolo, con un trasporto folle di cupidigia. Si
formò un gruppo compatto, multicolore, strepitante d’avanti alle prue
cariche come d’un denso grappolo vivo. Le filandaje, il capo avvolto
negli scialletti chiari, un canestro appeso al braccio, si contrastavano
il passo, si sospingevan con i gomiti, cadevano a una a una nelle
braccia delle aspettanti, con la bocca aperta a un vacuo sorriso di
trionfo. Le prime discese dalle barche, vogliose d’uscire, avevan
determinato nella ressa una corrente; alcune compagnie si dirigevan
già a passo sollecito, disperdendosi, verso il villaggio. A poco a poco
il gruppo s’assottigliò: lo spiazzo arsiccio si macchiò per qualche
istante di capannelle silenziose che s’affrettavano al povero desco
familiare. E la solitudine consueta riprese il suo dominio severo,
nella lenta mestizia del crepuscolo.
Aurelio seguì con un pietoso sguardo, finchè disparvero, le
miserabili, che la vicina festa e il riposo d’un giorno bastavano a
esilarare. Splendeva su quelle anime semplici e inconsapevoli il
raggio dell’eterna Consolazione: le loro vite, condannate a un
perenne sacrificio, attingevan certo a una qualche miracolosa
sorgente la forza di resistere alle fatiche diuturne, alla monotonia
accasciante delle abitudini, alle umiliazioni, alle privazioni, agli stenti,
agli strazii. E la sorgente del miracolo non poteva esser se non
l’Amore, la sacra febbre di tutti i nati, quella che perpetuava la loro
razza di bruti dolorosi, su le campagne frustate dal sole, nelle
fabbriche attossicate dal fumo, negli squallidi ricoveri del gelo e della
fame! «Perchè? Perchè?» si domandò il giovine, angosciosamente.
Una voce prossima lo trasse d’improvviso dalla sua meditazione.
— Conte, — disse Flavia, piegando indietro il viso verso lui; — ci
scusi se le volgiamo poco amabilmente le spalle. La colpa non è
nostra: è lei che ha scelto quel posto....
Soggiunse poi con un sorriso a pena accennato, socchiudendo le
palpebre alla maniera dei miopi:
— Se lei volesse avvicinarsi un poco a noi.... Io e Luisa invochiamo
la sua autorevole protezione contro gli attacchi ingenerosi dell’amico
suo.
— Eccomi, — rispose Aurelio, alzandosi, fulminato da un’occhiata
imperativa dell’avola.
Lo Zaldini, dimentico omai d’ogni sussiego urbano, s’era disteso su
l’erba del pendìo accanto a Luisa, e le parlava a mezza voce,
concitatamente, mentre la fanciulla, tutta scossa dal riso,
arrovesciava indietro la testina capricciosa, scoprendo la gola liscia
d’un candor d’alabastro, e protendendo le delizie dei seni rigidi e forti
in una pulsazione inebriante. Quand’ella rideva, il giovine per un
minuto ammutoliva, intesi l’occhio e l’animo a raccogliere il dolce
frutto della sua malizia.
Aurelio s’avanzò, come un automa spinto da una volontà esteriore, e
venne a sedersi presso la signorina Boris.
— Ah, così va bene! — gridò allegramente Luciano, vedendolo
accostarsi; — ti giuro che non è cosa agevole tener testa da solo
contro due avversarie gentili, belle ma spietate. Io stava per
arrendermi, ed era una triste e umiliante necessità per un uomo di
battaglia com’io sono. Ora, viribus unitis, spero che le sorti della
tenzone muteranno.
Si volse di nuovo a Luisa, e riprese sùbito il suo discorso interrotto, a
bassa voce. Flavia, con un cenno cortese e incoraggiante del capo,
domandò all’Imberido:
— Ella lavora molto, non è vero?
— Molto, — rispose Aurelio gravemente.
— Troppo, forse...?
— No, non mai troppo. Io vengo in campagna soltanto per lavorare.
Le distrazioni della città mi rendono affatto incapace
d’un’occupazione continuata e severa.
— Le distrazioni della città...?
— Sì. Ho tante conoscenze a Milano; e queste, non lo crederà, mi
fanno perder tempo in discussioni e in ritrovi. Sopra tutto, gli amici.
— Proprio gli amici...? — chiese Flavia, con un’intonazione
insinuante e così modulata che pareva l’inizio d’una melodia.
Aurelio la fissò stupito negli occhi, e corrugò la fronte.
— Non capisco, — egli disse, dopo una breve pausa di
raccoglimento.
Ella ripetè con la stessa voce:
— Proprio gli amici, o non piuttosto...... le amiche?
— Ah, — esclamò il giovine, inarcando le labbra a un’espressione
amara, quasi di sdegno; — m’avvedo che sarà bene per entrambi
che faccia sùbito una dichiarazione aperta e leale, quantunque non
molto gentile: io sono misogine.
— Misogine?.... — fece Flavia, che a sua volta non comprese. —
Che cosa vuol dunque dire: misogine?
— Ohimè, signorina: la parola può essere oscura, ma il significato
n’è fin troppo chiaro! Vuol dire: nemico delle donne.
Nel proferire queste parole, egli non ebbe un’inflession carezzevole
di voce; parlò come un maestro che spieghi la lezione a un allievo
indifferente. S’aspettava un mutamento subitaneo di contegno in lei:
ch’ella s’offendesse e cessasse d’interrogarlo, o almeno che,
rinunciando a ogni inchiesta sentimentale, passasse con la
leggerezza propria delle femmine a tutt’altro discorso. Ella in vece
s’accontentò di guardarlo attentamente, e parve a lui di sorprendere
in quello sguardo anche un lampo di simpatia.
— L’han dunque fatto molto patire le donne per renderselo così
avverso? — ella chiese, scrutandolo sempre negli occhi.
— Affatto.
— Ella non ha mai amato, forse?
— Mai, signorina.
— Proprio: mai?
— Mai, le dico.
— Lei beato! — esclamò Flavia, e abbassò gli sguardi come
oppressa da un assalto di memorie tristi.
Successe un silenzio.
Il dì moriva assai dolcemente: rampollavan le stelle a una a una
dalla cupola del cielo, e le luci dalle ombre ugualmente fosche delle
pendici; l’ultimo chiaror tramontano agonizzava al sommo delle
vette, e il suo riflesso, attraversando il lago, giungeva a illividire il
prospetto roseo del palazzo e i volti degli astanti. Un gregge
attardato passava su la riva. I belati rompevan lamentevoli la calma
della sera.
Maravigliato dall’esclamazione dolente della fanciulla, Aurelio
incominciava a esser morso da una sottile curiosità. Egli fu primo a
parlare.
— Me beato, ha detto..... E perchè?
— Perchè la invidio.
— M’invidia perchè..... non ho mai amato?
— Sì. E non soltanto l’invidio, ma anche sinceramente l’ammiro, e
faccio voti per lei ché possa sempre dire così.
Una strana commozione suscitavan nel giovine le parole e
l’atteggiamento inaspettati di Flavia. Blandito nella sua vanità
d’uomo puro, egli piegava a poco a poco verso lei, in un languido
abbandono di gratitudine e di compassione. La coscienza della sua
incorruttibilità sembrava trarre da quell’elogio e da quell’augurio una
conferma misteriosamente persuasiva, come da un sortilegio; ed egli
si concedeva fiducioso e docile alla lusinga, assaporandone il
venefico succo con la improntitudine d’un fanciullo goloso.
— E, dica, signorina, — riprese Aurelio a voce più fioca: — ella
dunque ha molto sofferto per invidiare con tanto ardore un passato
arido e freddo come il mio?
— Oh, molto sofferto! — assentì Flavia, abbassando le palpebre su
gli occhi scintillanti. E, a frasi sommesse e concitate, recitò il suo
lamento, il viso contratto, gli sguardi smarriti nel vuoto, come
parlasse a sè medesima: — Io fui molto, molto disgraziata!... Se
sapesse che triste esperienza ho già fatta io della vita!... Tutte le mie
belle illusioni furon distrutte!... I miei più puri sentimenti, calpestati e
infranti!... Ah, bisogna nascere senza il cuore per esser felici! O
almeno averlo perduto per sempre.... L’amore è una menzogna...
Aurelio l’ascoltava con lo stesso piacere che si prova ascoltando una
musica. Delle frasi sconsolate di Flavia egli non percepiva che il
suono, un suono dolce, vellutato, a cadenze malinconiche verso le
note gravi. E in tanto la guardava fisso, attratto per la prima volta
dalle mirabili fattezze di quel viso impallidato da un acre ricordo e
dalla luce crepuscolare.
Era un viso ovale, forse un poco esiguo per quel corpo troppo snello
e troppo allungato. I lineamenti, d’una irregolarità gustosa a pena
sensibile a un qualche osservatore paziente, avevano
quell’espressione complessa di fragilità e insieme di resistenza
morale, che rivela bene spesso l’indole femminilmente decisa ed
equilibrata. Un’ombra tenera, leggerissimamente violetta, le
circondava gli occhi che volgevano un’iride grigia, profonda,
cerchiata di nero; maravigliosi occhi, a cui l’anima pareva affacciarsi,
ora triste, ora gioconda, ora calma, ora agitata, con una singolare
mobilità. La bocca, piuttosto larga e sinuosa, era d’una chiarezza
affascinante: mentre ella parlava, di tra le labbra un po’ smorte e la
chiostra dei denti, appariva a scatti la punta umida della lingua,
come un bagliore. E nulla superava la dovizia della sua chioma,
densa e castagna, disposta su la finissima testa a guisa d’un
caschetto di lucido rame.
Donna Marta e la signora Boris conversavano animatamente tra
loro; la voce di Luciano era divenuta un bisbiglio indistinto, e le risa
della bionda s’eran fatte più rade e gutturali, quasi spasmodiche.
Flavia continuava:
— Ora son guarita. Guarita come si può essere da una ferita
indelebile! Ho fatto una mala esperienza e questa mi servirà per
l’avvenire; è l’unico vantaggio che n’ho avuto, e naturalmente non
voglio perderlo. Chi batterà di nuovo alla porta del mio cuore, la
troverà irreparabilmente chiusa, anzi murata. Tanto peggio per colui!
— Ella vuol dunque, con un sistema penale di nuovo genere,
infliggere al secondo la punizione dovuta al primo, non è vero? —
domandò celiando l’Imberido.
— No, conte. Ho perdonato a lui; imagini se voglio vendicarmi su un
altro!... Del resto gli uomini son tutti uguali: essi, creda, non soffrono
che nella loro vanità. Quando sanno di non esser posposti a
nessuno, accettano indifferenti qualunque ripulsa.... Io sarò sorda e
muta per essi: ecco tutto. E, chi sa? Forse così potrò ancora esser
felice, — ella soggiunse con un debole sorriso.
— Io glie lo auguro di tutto cuore, signorina.
La notte era discesa. D’innanzi, lo spiazzo giaceva oscuro
nell’abbandono. I gattici e i salici presso il ruscello stormivano
dolcemente al soffio continuo della valle. A Stresa alcuni razzi
colorati salivan nelle tenebre, vi si spegnevano con certi rombi cupi,
che gli echi ripercotevano qua e là lungamente. E il villaggio lontano
appariva a ogni accensione, come devastato da fantastici fuochi.
— Ragazzi, fa fresco. Rientriamo, — ammonì donna Marta,
levandosi in piedi.
III.
I fantasmi e le idee.
Dopo avere accompagnato l’amico alla stazione, Aurelio Imberido

ritornava solo, a passi solleciti, verso casa lungo la viottola alpestre,
che costeggiando il lago s’inerpica su per i dirupi scoscesi, quasi
impercettibile tra le fittissime macchie dei noccioli e dei castagni. La
mattina era monda, soffusa di luce, dominata dal silenzio. Su i
giovini rami le foglie scintillavano al sole, ancor madide di rugiada. Di
tratto in tratto un merlo si levava strepitando da una frasca, passava
come una freccia nera a traverso il sentiero, scompariva sùbito nel
verde. Poco appresso lo si udiva gittare un fischio da lontano, come
un saluto di scherno.
Tra i prestigi mattutini Aurelio percorreva la via solitaria, chiuso e
indifferente al maraviglioso paesaggio che gli si spiegava d’innanzi.
Com’era solito nelle sue passeggiate meditative, egli avrebbe voluto
concentrarsi tutto per riafferrare il corso delle sue idee, interrotto da
quella serata e da quella mattinata d’ozio obbligatorio; egli avrebbe
voluto raccogliere la mente sul tema del suo lavoro, per poterlo
riprendere dove l’aveva lasciato il giorno innanzi, appena di ritorno a
casa. Ma ogni sforzo di volontà era inutile; l’imagine dell’amico, i
ricordi dell’incontro con le signore Boris, i discorsi fatti con Flavia gli
s’imponevano con insistenza, rievocati dall’ultimo colloquio con lo
Zaldini.
Questi, durante l’intero tragitto in barca e nella lunga aspettazione
della partenza a Laveno, non gli aveva parlato se non della bionda
Luisa, comunicandogli il suo dialogo sommesso della sera prima,
confidandogli le speranze ch’egli nudriva d’un prossimo accordo
sentimentale con lei. E si sarebbe detto dall’espressione del suo
volto che la Felicità gli avesse sorriso dagli occhi di quella fanciulla,
una felicità piena e senza fine alla quale egli correva incontro come
a una madre. Ancora dal finestrino della carrozza, quando il treno
era già in moto, egli aveva voluto sporgere un’altra volta il capo per
ripetere all’amico d’aspettarlo presto, ché non avrebbe tardato a farsi
rivedere in Cerro, dove omai tendevano ansiosamente tutti i suoi
desiderii.
Ripensando ora a quelle parole e all’espressione con cui erano state
proferite, Aurelio provava un senso di turbamento, d’inquietudine e
quasi di rancore al quale invano cercava di sottrarsi. — Lo Zaldini,
quella mattina, non si era mostrato più gajo e più vivace del giorno
precedente; soltanto, una nuova cagion d’esultanza aveva preso il
posto d’onore dentro all’animo suo, ed egli, nella perpetua vicenda di
illusioni gradevoli cui fatalmente propendeva, l’aveva accolta come
l’unica, come la precipua origine del suo benessere ostinato. Per tal
modo egli ora credeva d’amare, sperava d’esser riamato, edificava
su le basi di questo amore imaginario un ipotetico avvenire di gioja;
e in siffatto sogno trovava l’energia salutare che lo avrebbe sorretto
fino all’aurora d’un altro sogno. Con ogni probabilità il sogno
presente sarebbe stato effimero; egli non sarebbe più ritornato a
Cerro; avrebbe tra poco dimenticato e la bionda Luisa e la casa
ospitale. Non importa: nella sua sostanza era radicato il prisco senso
gaudioso della vita; e tutte le realità come tutte le illusioni dovevansi
offrire a servigio della sua letizia.
Così Aurelio giudicava l’amico con limpidezza e rigorosa equità
mentali; e pure sentiva in fondo a sè un gorgoglio di pensieri ingiusti,
un movimento cieco d’antipatia contro di lui, che a tratti interrompeva
o deviava lo stesso filo delle sue considerazioni. Avveniva nel suo
spirito, come sempre nei momenti di debolezza, un dissidio aperto
tra le idee e i sentimenti; le idee che objettivamente cercavano
d’analizzare un dato fenomeno per ricollegarlo allo schema delle sue
teorie generali; i sentimenti che s’appigliavano in vece agli effetti
immediati del fenomeno, degenerando in commozioni piacevoli o
ben più spesso dolorose, nel raffronto spontaneo delle altrui con le
sue proprie condizioni d’animo.
Già il giorno prima, durante la colazione, egli aveva provato un
movimento consimile d’antipatia per lo Zaldini; ma, più assorto nel
suo ragionamento, non l’aveva avvertito. Questa volta l’impulso fu
più vivo e definito poi ch’egli sùbito se ne accorse, e fu dall’intima
scoperta profondamente turbato e contristato.
Egli pensò, accelerando il passo: «Io non sono a bastanza forte se
mi lascio sorprendere da un sentimento così indegno di me! Invidiare
costui?! E perchè?... Forse ch’io sarei felice come lui se anche mi
sorridesse l’amor verace d’una donna?... L’Amore, sempre l’Amore,»
egli disse a voce bassa, sogghignando, «l’eterno inganno,
l’incantesimo della Natura bruta per conservar la razza, l’umiliante
connubio di due corpi che l’animalità più inconscia infiamma e fa
delirare!» Pensò: «Io ho rinunciato alle consolazioni dell’Amore, ho
rinunciato alle torbide gioje della folla, alle basse ebrietà del senso!
Debbo potere assisterne allo spettacolo senza rimpianti e anche
senza sdegni.»
Era giunto Aurelio alla estrema punta del golfo, dove il pendìo d’un
tratto s’addolcisce e si spiana in ombrosi boschi di querce e in
fresche praterie, assiepate da bassi roghi, declinanti con lenta
ondulazione verso le rovine del Fortino. S’arrestò, udendo un
approssimarsi di voci femminili dalla parte di Cerro.
Alla svolta della strada un cane irsuto e nero s’avanzò primo,
scodinzolando, incontro a lui; poi, lentamente, seguirono una dietro
l’altra tre vacche corpulente, brucando sul terreno, fiutando a
intervalli l’aria, sbirciando in torno con i grandi occhi oscuri; poi,
improvvisamente, apparvero le due fanciulle che guidavan la piccola
mandria al pascolo. Usciron queste dal folto, ridendo forte e
rincorrendosi per il prato, inconsapevoli d’esser vedute: biondicce
entrambe, esili di forme, con le impronte delle privazioni sul viso
magro e pallido, ma così agili nelle movenze, così liete e spensierate
che ricordarono al giovine il giocondo mito pagano delle Driadi.

Constructing The Craft of Public Administration Perspectives From Australia 1St Edition Christine Shearer Full Chapter

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Constructing The Craft of Public Administration Perspectives From Australia 1St Edition Christine Shearer Full Chapter

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Constructing the Craft of Public

Administration: Perspectives from

“Constructing the Craft of Public Administration is a sophisticated, comprehensive,

“Christine Shearer’s book is an important contribution to understanding the ‘pur-

By thinking about public administration as a craft, learned through practice,

Constructing the Craft

ISBN 978-3-030-81895-1 ISBN 978-3-030-81896-8 (eBook)

servant’s remonstrances, the authority insists on the order. Without this

extensive canvass of the literature on the major English-language polities,

Ultimo, NSW, Australia Stewart Clegg

My appreciation and gratitude are offered to my principal supervisor

FRSN Chancellor of Western Sydney University and formerly Secretary of

All of the content and views expressed in my publications and presenta-

1 Public Administration and the Reform ­Agenda 3

2 Contemporary Management Ideas and Public Sector

Part II The Macro Level: Policy Contexts and Environments 89

3 The Environments in Which Departmental Secretaries

4 The Impact of Contemporary Management Ideas: Their

Part III Exploring the Everyday Work Life of the Most

5 Departmental Secretaries: The Public Actors Who

6 Roles, Responsibilities and Boundary Riding211

Part IV Discussion, Implications and Conclusions 249

7 Discussion, Conceptual Model, Contributions and

AAOs Administrative Arrangements Orders

MBO Management by Objectives

Table 1.1 The essence of new public management as proposed by Pollitt 6

Public Administration and the Reform

‘Public and private management are fundamentally alike in all unimportant

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 3

account, rather than one constrained by narrower functionalist and posi-

1.1 Why Does Public Administration Matter?

1991). Public sector management is of significant consequence, albeit

Our economic, political and social well-being is dependent on the pub-

normative reconceptualization of public administration consisting of several

form well; and, appreciative of the virtues of competition, maintaining of an

Dinsdale (1997, p. 372) proposes that the elements of NPM include

Table 1.1 The essence of new public management as proposed by Pollitt

Source: Pollitt (1995, p. 134)

rather than administration, is what is expected of public sector bureaucrats

management, different from the pursuit of better bureaucratic public

are considered as exemplary. Hence the characteristics of the bureau,

associated with bureaucracy will be incurred (du Gay, 2000, p. 107).

1.2 The Influence of Economic Rationalism

Pusey (1991) argued that Australian management and public sector

rationalism that wreaked largely negative consequences on society. Most

administration implementation and viewing government as akin to a ‘busi-

A conflict of interest arose between consultants, whose intellectual

The consequences for public administration were that such ‘manage-

from within Treasury, whose focus was on theoretical economic argu-

in central government agencies, became enamoured with and drove public

policy demarcations, greater levels of individualism, a plurality of cultures

1.3.1 Use of Qualitative Interviews

• The researcher had to facilitate ‘transformative, interactive, and dia-

• The researcher/interviewer acknowledged and communicated the

1. Who are the Departmental Secretaries who practise public

1.3.3 Research Design Framework

1.3.5 Gaining Access and Rapport Building

gatekeepers; obtaining permission/consent from the participants to

1.3.6 Data Collection and Analysis

A system of codes7 was developed to facilitate the analysis. Miles and

1.4 Departmental Secretary Demographics

construct the craft of public administration. The twenty-five participants

Table 1.2 Current Departmental Secretaries’ demographic details

1 Public Administration and the Reform Agenda 3

2 Contemporary Management Ideas and Public Sector

Part II The Macro Level: Policy Contexts and Environments 89

3 The Environments in Which Departmental Secretaries

4 The Impact of Contemporary Management Ideas: Their

Part III Exploring the Everyday Work Life of the Most

5 Departmental Secretaries: The Public Actors Who

6 Roles, Responsibilities and Boundary Riding211

Part IV Discussion, Implications and Conclusions 249

7 Discussion, Conceptual Model, Contributions and

Table 1.1 The essence of new public management as proposed by Pollitt 6

E M 50–59 Anglo- Bachelor Economics/Law Sydney

M F 60–69 Anglo- Bachelor Arts/Bachelor Canberra