Public Policy and Administration

Publisher:: Sage Publications, Inc.
Publication date:: 2021-09-06

ISBN:: 0952-0767

Issue Number

Latest documents

Geoffrey Kingdon Fry and the British road to public sector reform
To mark the 2023 death of GK Fry this note focuses attention on the approach to public sector reform in Britain discussed in his many works. Starting with his criticism of the 1968 Fulton Committee Report, his work developed a view of reform that foreshadowed debates that later went under the label of ‘new public management’ by at least 20 years. This note explains how he argued that a ‘positive state’ or Fabian approach dominated thinking about public administration for so long and largely accounted for the failure of most of the reforms of the postwar period until the 1980s. Fry’s background and interests to some degree help explain how he reached this perspective and how he set it out, so this note begins and ends with some outline of his life, career and outlook.
Collegiality and efficiency in bureaucracy
This article addresses the relation between the design of regulatory agencies and efficiency, arguing that authority concentrated to a single individual outperforms more collegial decision-making when the regulated firms’ interests are aligned. The tentative explanation is that concentrated leadership reduces the risk for capture. This argument is developed from an empirical case on the markets for mobile and fixed broadband. In the mobile market, the regulated firms are similarly positioned, whereas in the fixed broadband market, the firms typically have adversarial positions, with an incumbent being challenged by entrants. A statistical analysis of regulatory agencies in 33 European countries lends support to the argument that regulation of mobile broadband benefits from having a single decision-maker whereas a bureaucratic regulation with more collegiality functions as well for the fixed broadband.
Problematizing partner selection: Collaborative choices and decision-making uncertainty
Although networked collaboration is often linked to positive outcomes, choosing suitable partners for collaboration can be difficult. Actors often only have limited information about the preferences, capabilities, and trustworthiness of prospective collaborators, meaning that considerable uncertainty may underlie collaborative choices. This article analyses the decision-making uncertainty associated with collaborative choices and assesses factors that potentially mitigate such uncertainty. Based on qualitative research, it presents a conceptual model that brings together and specifies mitigating factors at the network-, organizational, and individual-levels of analysis. The developed conceptual model provides a clearer theoretical understanding and presentation of the cross-level factors important to consider when studying collaborative behaviour. In addition, through its focus on uncertainty, it provides more consideration of the challenges that individual officials face when choosing collaborators in complex networked environments.
Public administration reform and political will in cases of political instability: Insights from the Israeli experience
How do public administration reforms develop in cases of political instability? Administrative reform has always been on the agenda of governments. Ample literature discusses its necessity and the factors that are associated with both its successes and failures worldwide. Nevertheless, only a few studies discuss the impact of political instability on public administration reform. Focusing on the Israeli experience, we explore public administration reform in the context of political instability. Using content analysis and in-depth interviews, we highlight how political instability adds more costs to politicians’ cost-benefit calculations about actively promoting public administration reform, as well as how it blocks their desire to engage in mundane work when large, visible reforms have been proposed. Our findings indicate that the problems of non-governability and political instability that create the need for administrative reform also create powerful barriers to it—particularly the lack of political will.
Adoption is not enough: Institutionalization of e-participation initiatives
This study investigates the institutionalization of e-participation initiatives in six European countries—Estonia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Scotland, and Spain—using a multiple case study. The following research questions are addressed: How have recently established e-participation initiatives been institutionalized in public administrations? What are the formal and informal aspects of their institutionalization? It is concluded that the adoption of a digital solution does not in itself trigger a change in the policy-making process because the institutionalization of e-participation is not a linear process. The formal institutionalization increases the sustainability, transparency, and throughput legitimacy of e-participation and allows citizen proposals to be handled in a standardized way. Although the formal institutionalization of e-participation is key for an institutional change towards deliberative democracy, it needs to be accompanied by informal institutionalization through the supporting ideas, values, and preferences of politicians and public officials who have the power to change public institutions.
Politicians’ involvement in street-level policy implementation: Implications for social equity
The study explores whether elected officials’ involvement in the way street-level bureaucrats implement policy affects social equity. This question is addressed empirically through interviews and focus groups with 84 Israeli educators and social workers. Findings indicate that elected officials involve themselves directly and indirectly in street-level bureaucrats’ policy implementation and their involvement reduces social equity in the provision of services. The study contributes to the literature on policy implementation by enabling a deeper understanding of the factors that shape the decision-making process of street-level bureaucrats when providing services and their ultimate impact on policy outcomes.
Implementing digitalization in the public sector. Technologies, agency, and governance
Technological transformations are currently reshaping the structure and strategies of public administrations and are expected to foster efficiency and policy integration. However, the literature on digital government has demonstrated that the introduction of technology is far from a smooth process, as it is often associated with conflict and negative feedback. This paper departs from James Thompson’s notion of technology, understood as one of the most effective devices for organizational integration to conceptualise the context of digital innovations in the public sphere. ICTs are not all the same; they differ in their impact on intra- and inter-organizational interdependencies that are required for them to work properly in their domain. This paper introduces a typology of ICT-driven governance structures and advances hypotheses regarding the causal mechanisms underpinning successful implementation. Each type of governance structure is exemplified by an original case study of a programme of e-government reform in the Italian public sector. The empirical evidence is used to explore some implications concerning the strategies by which the programmes have been implemented and their transferability to other contexts.
Implementing digitalization in the public sector. Technologies, agency, and governance
Technological transformations are currently reshaping the structure and strategies of public administrations and are expected to foster efficiency and policy integration. However, the literature on digital government has demonstrated that the introduction of technology is far from a smooth process, as it is often associated with conflict and negative feedback. This paper departs from James Thompson’s notion of technology, understood as one of the most effective devices for organizational integration to conceptualise the context of digital innovations in the public sphere. ICTs are not all the same; they differ in their impact on intra- and inter-organizational interdependencies that are required for them to work properly in their domain. This paper introduces a typology of ICT-driven governance structures and advances hypotheses regarding the causal mechanisms underpinning successful implementation. Each type of governance structure is exemplified by an original case study of a programme of e-government reform in the Italian public sector. The empirical evidence is used to explore some implications concerning the strategies by which the programmes have been implemented and their transferability to other contexts.
Electoral administration and the problem of poll worker recruitment: Who volunteers, and why?
Elections depend on the thousands of people who give up their time to administer this crucial public service. They staff polling stations and ensure votes are issued, cast and counted. Poll workers are effectively ‘stipended volunteers’, receiving some limited financial compensation, but working for the broader public good. It is important to understand why people choose to give up their time to provide this fundamental public service to their fellow citizens. Using original data from a poll worker survey conducted in the 2015 British general election, this article investigates the motivations and incentives for poll workers volunteering to administer major elections in an important advanced democracy. Exploratory expectations are set out about the motivations of poll workers, and the relationship to their socio-economic characteristics, and levels of social capital and satisfaction with democracy. Contrary to expectations, the findings note that, earning some extra money is important to many, although motivations are more broadly structured around solidary, purposive and material motivations. The article establishes a range of relationships between each set of incentives, and poll workers’ socio-economic, social capital and satisfaction profiles.
Electoral administration and the problem of poll worker recruitment: Who volunteers, and why?
Elections depend on the thousands of people who give up their time to administer this crucial public service. They staff polling stations and ensure votes are issued, cast and counted. Poll workers are effectively ‘stipended volunteers’, receiving some limited financial compensation, but working for the broader public good. It is important to understand why people choose to give up their time to provide this fundamental public service to their fellow citizens. Using original data from a poll worker survey conducted in the 2015 British general election, this article investigates the motivations and incentives for poll workers volunteering to administer major elections in an important advanced democracy. Exploratory expectations are set out about the motivations of poll workers, and the relationship to their socio-economic characteristics, and levels of social capital and satisfaction with democracy. Contrary to expectations, the findings note that, earning some extra money is important to many, although motivations are more broadly structured around solidary, purposive and material motivations. The article establishes a range of relationships between each set of incentives, and poll workers’ socio-economic, social capital and satisfaction profiles.