The new public management : improving research and policy dialogue / Michael Barzelay.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Barzelay, Michael.

Series:

Aaron Wildavsky forum for public policy ; 3.

The Aaron Wildavsky forum for public policy ; 3

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Public administration.

Physical Description:

xx, 218 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press ; New York : Russell Sage Foundation, [2001]

Summary:

How policy makers should guide, manage, and oversee public bureaucracies is a question that lies at the heart of contemporary debates about government and public administration. These perennial issues are now being addressed with renewed vigor in country after country. In their search for better systems of public management, reformers have looked beyond their own borders, with the spotlight shining in particular on the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. These countries are exemplars of the New Public Management (NPM), a term used to describe distinctive new themes, styles, and patterns of public service management. This valuable book consolidates recent work on NPM and provides a basis for improving research and policy debate on managing public bureaucracies.

The volume's substantive focus is on what the author calls "public management policies." These policies are institutional rules that guide, motivate, and control public service organizations. The analytic focus is twofold: explaining change in public management policies through case analysis of policy making -- primarily of the best-known exemplars of NPM -- and providing a basis for critical discussion of policy issues. Michael Barzelay demonstrates that the methods of policy research illustrated in this book provide an important strategy for moving forward in these two directions.

This book complements Barzelay's now classic study Breaking Through Bureaucracy and formulates a clear agenda for public management designed to build a closer relationship between theory and practice. Calling for public management to become a vibrant field of public policy, this accessibly written book will be essential reading for policy makers as well as those interested in public management, executive government, and institutional reform in public policy.

Contents:

1. Studying the New Public Management 1

2. Case Studies on Public Management Policy-Making 14

3. Comparative Analysis of Public Management Policy-Making 51

4. How to Argue about the New Public Management 99

5. Controversy and Cumulation in NPM Argumentation 134.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 191-204) and indexes.

ISBN:

0520224434

OCLC:

44405936