Government Value Paradigms—Bureaucracy, New Public Management, and E-Government

There are different interpretations of which core values e-government build on and promote. Some scholars see e-government as a direct follower to New Public Management (NPM), and as such supporting and promoting values and principles from the business sector. Others see e-government as a promoter of bureaucratic values supporting and promoting the values of traditional weberian ideal bureaucracy. The main issue in this paper is management strategy for public administration. Three examples of such management strategies are examined and compared: traditional bureaucracy, New Public Management and e-government. When investigating these strategies it is necessary to distinguish between strategy as idea and strategy in action. Core values of the management strategies are reconstructed and used as a lens through which a case study of e-government is analyzed. The implemented e-government-solution comprise values from both NPM and bureaucracy. Neither bureaucracy nor NPM alone supply the core values for e-government as a practical management strategy. The paper concludes with a dialectical structure where Bureaucracy is the thesis, NPM the anti-thesis and e-government the practical synthesis

The Enlightenment of Administrative Law: Looking Inside the Agency for Legitimacy

This article’s investigation into the “agency for legitimacy” proceeds in five steps: Part I introduces the concept of “administrative constitutionalism,” which encompasses the debate over what should be the role and nature of public administration to ensure its legitimacy. It then lays out the elements of the rational-instrumental and deliberative-constitutive paradigms and explains how they contribute to administrative constitutionalism respectively from the outside-in and inside-out. Part II provides a brief history of administrative constitutionalism, which reveals there have been ongoing tensions between two paradigms—and thus between outside in and inside out accountability—since the 1880s. Part III elaborates on the authors’ argument that the current emphasis on the rational-instrumental model has been administrative constitutionalism unsustainable. Part IV argues that acknowledging and developing the deliberative-constitutive paradigm will strengthen administrative constitutionalism by admitting the existence of agency discretion and by looking for realistic ways to make it accountable. Finally, Part V offers a case study in how the deliberative-constitutive paradigm can contribute to administrative constitutionalism.The Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Energy, Law, and Busines

Policy, paradigms, and partnership potential: rethinking the governance of learning networks

**IP Unitl May 3**This paper engages with the idea of ‘joining-up’ as an increasingly common policy response by governments internationally in the face of so-called ‘wicked problems’ (Rittel and Webber 1973). In particular, the paper concerns the problem of young people in transition from a primary role in engaging with and progressing through the levels of formal education to a sustainable engagement in the increasingly fragmented labor markets that are the motor of individualized risk in the context of the risk society (Beck 1992). Drawing on seminal organizational theory, the paper takes up a a metaphorical lens to critique the governance arrangements that have evolved in concert with such policy responses. The paper proceeds in the following stages. Firstly, the problem of youth transition and its interface with socio-economic factors will be framed. Secondly, the policy response introduced in the research context ¬¬— the state of Victoria in Australia — will be sketched. Finally, the metaphorical underpinnings of the governance arrangements that were implemented as part of the policy will be critiqued. The paper closes with some thoughts for reflection

Liberal theory, uneven development and institutional reform: responding to the crisis in weak states

The liberal paradigm responds to the failures of neo-mercantilism by attempting to create reform market-based institutions. This agenda demands such radical changes in institutions, culture, and knowledge systems, that it is hardly surprising that it is faltering in countries where the gap between actually existing and new institutions is so wide. This being so, it is time for a serious reconsideration of a programme that is manifestly failing to achieve its own objectives. This paper looks for explanations for this failure by examining the factors that led to the demise of the post-colonial interventionist programmes, and the problems now associated with their liberal successors. It does this by attempting to validate three propositions: 1) that modern institutions may be failing in crisis states, but still provide the only long-term alternative that offers people freedom, security and prosperity; 2) that reforms must generate antagonistic conflict between new and old institutions and value systems; and 3) that this means that new structures and theoretical paradigms must be adapted to deal with the contradictory realities of the political conflicts that they must inevitably generate during the transition to modernity

Co-governance or meta-bureaucracy? Perspectives of local governance 'partnership' in England and Scotland

This article assesses the nature of partnerships through the research site of local governance in England and Scotland, engaging a range of debates and literature around governance and meta-governance. The research used secondary data of local authority partnership working in England and Scotland as well as primary qualitative data from participant observation and interviews with senior officials of local authorities and partner organisations. There is little to suggest that English and Scottish practices are significantly at variance and the article advances an argument of meta-bureaucracy to describe partnerships' activities: that is to say, partnerships do not represent a growth of autonomous networks and governance arrangements but rather an extension of bureaucratic controls. State actors remain pre-eminent within increasingly formalised systems of 'partnership'

Thoughts about recent education reform in India: Is there a tendency towards privatisation in elementary education?

The debate in India about the Right to Education Bill 2005 is an example for the basic question in education reform: Is education to be provided by the state or by private actors? With this bill the Government of India (GoI) suggests it\u27s programme to implement the "right to education", which has become the 86th amendment to the constitution in 2002. It guarantees free and compulsory education for all children in the age of 6-14. There is a rapid increase in private initiative in order to fill insufficient government provision of quality education. But is the state enforcing privatisation of education? The debate about the Right to Education Bill shows an ambivalent attitude of the GoI towards private schools: They are seen as a means to achieve Education for All through a reservation policy for children from low socio-economic strata on the one hand and tries to control them more in order to decrease the number of unrecognised schools. Critics of the current education policy accuse the GoI of a lack of strength to create a common school system, in their view the only way to make the constitutional right a reality. On this backdrop the article discusses statements in favour and against an increasing role of private actors in education and concludes that the noble idea of a right to education as amended to the constitution can not be fulfilled if the state does not take its primary responsibility for the provision of quality education to every child serious. (DIPF/Orig.)Die Debatte in Indien anlässlich der "Right to Education Bill 2005" ist ein Beispiel für eine Auseinandersetzung über eine grundlegende Frage der Bildungsreform: Ist es der Staat oder sind es private Akteure die für Bildung verantwortlich sind? Die neue Gesetzesvorlage skizziert das Programm zur Umsetzung des Rechts auf Bildung. Dieses Recht wurde 2002 in die Verfassung aufgenommen und garantiert jedem Kind im Alter von 6-14 Jahren frei zugängliche Bildung unter einer allgemeinen Schulpflicht. Gleichzeitig wächst die Zahl der privaten Schulen immer weiter, vor allem dort wo der Staat keine qualitativ hochwertige Bildung anbietet. Heißt das, dass der Staat sich in die Richtung einer Privatisierung der Bildung bewegt? Die Debatte zeigt, dass der indische Staat eine ambivalente Haltung gegenüber den privaten Schulen einnimmt: Auf der einen Seite werden sie als ein Weg gesehen "Education For All" zu erreichen. Das zeigt die angedachte Regelung der Reservierung von Plätzen in Privatschulen für Kinder aus ärmeren Familien. Auf der anderen Seite sieht der Entwurf eine stärkere Kontrolle über die privaten Träger vor, um die Zahl der Privatschulen, die ohne staatliche Anerkennung arbeiten, zu verringern. KritikerInnen dieser Pläne der Regierung fordern die Einführung eines allgemeinen Schulsystems zur Überwindung der Stratifikation, die durch die verschiedenen Schulen verstärkt wird. Vor diesem Hintergrund zeigt der Artikel das Für und Wider einer Aktivität von Privatschulen auf und kommt zu dem Schluss, dass die noble Idee eines "Rechts auf Bildung" nur umgesetzt werden kann, wenn der Staat seine eigentliche Verantwortung für Bildung ernst nimmt. (DIPF/Orig.

The internet and public bureaucracies: towards balancing competing values

Innovation in public administration is one of the central aspects of public sector reforms. Given the procedural nature of government tasks, the adoption of the Internet and related information and communication technologies (ICT) has become critical for government organisations. The aim of this paper is to discuss the implications of the diffusion Internet led innovations in the public sector on balancing public values. Rather than diminishing their benefits, we aim at highlighting challenges and dilemmas that can emerge from ICT implementation in the public sector. The paper starts by reviewing the main trends of e-government research and show a dominant view towards managerial and private sector values embedded in the literature. To propose an alternative approach, we then draw on an empirical example from Mexico, that of the Federal Transparency and Access to Government Information Law. Using Mexico’s available statistics and secondary data, the case explores how a quicker ICT-mediated interaction between citizens and government can result in social and political dilemmas. We propose to bring into play the public value paradigm to highlight these issues. Conclusions follow