Search results

Official organ of the Civil Service Reform Association of Maryland. ; Mode of access: Internet. ; Merged with: The Civil service record, ISSN 0190-4159, to form: Good government.

Local government has been subject to intensive change and extensive legislation since the 1970s and the government of Mrs Thatcher intended to reduce public expenditure. Since the election of the new Labour government in 1997, modernization and reform continues in the development of public services in local government. Recent reform of local government has been complicated by the introduction, since 1998, of devolution to the London Assembly with an elected mayor, assemblies in Northern Ireland, Wales and the Scottish Parliament. There are complicated financial relations between local government and the different varieties of devolved government. The United Kingdom remains a unitary rather than a federal state but devolution delivers a level of decentralization. Central government retains control through legal and economic instruments and provides local government with limited autonomy. The elected element in local government contributes to local democracy. Local government provides an important element in the delivery and management of public services but complicated by the fact that privatization has changed the way public services are delivered. There are a plethora of statutes, regulations, guidance and audit systems that provide a comprehensive framework for local government in the provision of education, social services, planning public health and licensing regulation. The courts have exercised an oversight of local government through judicial review of disputes between local and central government. As local government must act within its legal powers the legality of its decisions must be in accordance with the law. Local government is expected to become more responsive to local needs and citizenship panels exist to provide input from the local community. Local authorities have contributed to the development of judicial review through a number of landmark decisions and in common with other publicbodies, local authorities are expected to conform to the Human Rights Act 1998. The latest Local Government Bill 2002 proposes to identify excellent local authorities who will be rewarded with freedom to act outside the controls of central government.

This article attempts to define and highlight the concept and context of administrative reform efforts in Malaysia. It describes changes and reforms in the civil service that are on‐going processes along with the search for efficiency, effectiveness, economy and accountability that never ends. Reform efforts in Malaysia can be grouped into two phases: the period of rapid economic growth in the 1960s and 1970s which required development administration and institution building, and the period from 1985 to the present which necessitates the consolidation and qualitative upgrading of the machinery of government. The administrative reform experiences are uniquely Malaysian efforts to respond to the Malaysian socio‐political environment and needs.

The traditional portrait of civil servants in Italy, as well as in most other countries, has always been one of not particularly efficient employees yet have the benefit of a secure job and can look forward to a comfortable retirement package. In order to change this image, public management reforms have largely focused on civil servants since the 1990s. However, many academics and practitioners claim some inertia in the reform implementation. In this article we aim to identify the determinants of such inertia in Italy's civil service reforms and we analyze data from 885 Italian municipalities expected to adopt the pay system reform for senior officials, as required by national legislature. Our findings stress the importance of accrued legitimacy, external public endorsement, and the influence of key internal stakeholders (like administrative leaders) as major vehicles to promote or slow down the implementation of administrative reforms in the public sector. Adapted from the source document.

The article contains an analytical survey of key reforms in public administration in Russia: administrative reform and reform of public service. All reform tools are analyzed from the point of view of "technological" approach, encouragement of public institutions development and traditional for Russia way of control of heads and authorities of executive bodies. Perspectives and success of reforms are examined through four strategies: "Inertia", "Mobilization", "Rentier" and "Modernization".