Suchergebnisse

Following the rise of the New Public Management (NPM) in the 1980s, policymakers increasingly mobilized management consultants from the private sector in the course of reforming their bureaucracies. To describe this situation some coined the term "consultocracy," assuming that the emergence of the NPM created a growing demand for business management expertise in government circles that allowed consultants to penetrate the state and become powerful policy actors. Rather than taking these matters as given, I ask how has it been possible for consultants to become (or not) influential players in the process of administrative reform. It is argued that Britain, and to a lesser extent Canada, have been more likely than France to give rise to a "consultocracy" when implementing NPM reforms in the 1980s because in these two countries, management consultancy emerged earlier and is more strongly developed than in France because of its historical link with accountancy. Whereas French consultants only began to enter public administration in the 1980s, British and Canadian consultants have been involved in the last 30 years in the construction of the state's management capacities. Through their participation in these institution‐building processes, they established networks of expertise with the state and acquired the experience of work in government. Over the years, this created opportunities for consultants to make their voices heard in the inner circles of decision‐making and made possible the exercise of influence that they are now said to have on policy.

Compares how management consultants and the state have interrelated in the bureaucratic reform policy process in the three countries following introduction of New Public Management (NPM) theories in the 1980s.

This important volume looks at conflicts of interest, codes of ethics, and the regulation of corruption in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the European Community. It finds that there is less corruption than ever before, but the gap between public expectations and perceptions has nevertheless widened. Moreover, it questions the dominant academic approach to applied ethics, with its emphasis on training, standards and procedures, and, ultimately, regulation. In contrast, the authors featured in this volume argue that governance is a social process.Ethical governing means attending to the relational aftermath of complex decisions - the ways in which decisions and their execution affect and sustain social relationships. Moreover, applied ethical reasoning in this context must not only confront certain stock issues, but must also lead to widespread participation in decision making processes. Viewed in this way, ethical governing means a respectful discourse involving widespread participation of legitimate viewpoints. Consequently, the authors suggest that the nearly universal dissatisfaction with the state of public ethics is a manifestation of something deeper and more profound. As one author explains, public perceptions won't look up so long as politics remains a spectator sport, dominated by 'sleaze ball tactics and shrinking sound bites'.

English
Social policy communities now often focus on 'new social risks'. Despite a clear preference for controlling state spending, they also consider that these risks call for 'social investments'. Concentration on investments, activation and the future is considered an optimal anchor for redesigning their welfare systems. Convergence around three ideas prompt us to speak of a shift towards a LEGOTM paradigm: learning over the life-course; a future orientation; and the collective benefits of an active society. Just as when Keynesianism was paradigmatic, however, we recognise that divergences exist in the ways that the paradigm is implemented.

This article calls into question the assumptions of leading welfare state theorists who rely on path dependency approaches and "permanent austerity" theses to inform their analyses. In contrast, drawing on public policy approaches that acknowledge paradigm shifts, and feminist state and social movement theorisation, we examine the state/civil society interrelations that have helped to bring about changes in state forms in Canada and Britain. We argue that state/civil society interaction explains the novel patterns that are taking shape in Canada and Britain with the materialisation of a "social investment perspective" and child welfare reform strategy. We examine not only new institutions and new policies, but also new meanings and new roles for different groups. (Original abstract)