I realise I’ve been muttering all these months about the importance of public services – but have been very frugal on references.
The most valuable source for me on privatization was the Public Services International Research Unit at the University of Greenwich which, very sadly, now appears to be closed? Their last publications seems to be this report on benefits, costs and processes of Public ownership of the UK Energy System – in 2016
The other important briefing source has been the Transnational Institute which, in
2017, produced a superb 250 page report Reclaiming
Public Services - analyzing the way that 1500 cities
throughout the world have managed to get rid of the privatized bodies which had
made a mess of things.
In 2009 the same body had helped publish Hilary Wainwright’s
Public
Sector Reform – but not as we know it - which remains one of the very few clearly-written
documents on the subject (see “recommended reading” below)
Unusually, the United Nations has now added its voice to the critique of privatization with a
major report recently which details
the appalling effects on poorer countries of the privatisation model which
the World Bank and IMF continue to peddle. The report is 25 pages long and the English version can be read here.
Last summer I offered a crisp summary
of my thinking about administrative reform – a summary which has, I think,
withstood the test of time…..
-
In 1989 “the state” crumbled – at least in eastern
europe… 30 years on. how do we assess
the “huge efforts” to make its operations more “effective”??
-
15 question offer a key to the most interesting
writing on the matter.
-
Different parts of the world have their own very
different approaches and ways of talking about reform. English language material
has tended to dominate the literature; but
-
Scandinavians, Germans and French let alone South
Americans, Chinese and Indians have also developed important ideas and
experience - of which English-speakers tend to be blithely unaware.
-
Two very different “world views” have held us in
thrall over the past 50 years….a “third” and more balanced (eg the “new public
service”) has been trying to emerge
-
We seem to be overwhelmed by texts on reform
experience – but most written by academics. Where are the journalists who can
help the public make sense of it all ?
-
At least 8 very different groups have been active
in shaping our thinking about “reform” efforts
-
These are - academics, journalists, politicians,
think-tankers, global bodies, senior officials, consultants and an
indeterminate group
-
each uses very different language and ideas – with
academics being the most prolific (but tending to talk in jargon amongst
themselves; and therefore being ignored by the rest of us)
-
Some old hands have tried to summarise the
experience for us in short and clear terms. The lesson, they suggest, is that
little has changed…
-
What is sad is how few “social justice”
campaigners seem interesting in this issue. Hilary Wainwright being an
honourable exception…..
Of
course, the “huge efforts” were external (mainly EC) and financial – the “local
elites” have had their own “exploitative” agendas and lack a single gram of
altruism in their bodies…
Good Reads
Readable generalist books – the last 25 years have seen
astonishingly few such books (in the English language)
Dismembered – the ideological attack on the state;
Polly Toynbee and D Walker (2017) a clear
analysis by two british journalists
How to Run a Government so that Citizens Benefit
and Taxpayers don’t go Crazy ; Michael
Barber (2015). A clearly written toolbook by Tony Blair’s favourite consultant
The Fourth Revolution – the global race to reinvent
the state; J Micklewaithe
and A Woolridge (2015) Editors of no less a journal than The Economist give us
a breathless neoliberal analysis
The Tragedy of the Private – the potential of the
public; Hilary Wainwright (PSI 2014) an important little
pamphlet
Public Sector Reform – but not as we know it; Hilary
Wainwright (Unison and TNI 2009) A rare readable case study of a bottom-up approach to reform
Democracy Inc – managed democracy and the specter
of inverted totalitarianism; SS Wolin
(2008) the doyen of American political science takes the American political
system apart!
The Essential Public Manager; Chris Pollitt (2003) A critical
analysis of the political and technical aspects of the search for effective public
services
The Captive State – the
corporate takeover of Britain; George Monbiot (2000) A powerful critique of the
nature and scale of corporate involvement in our public services
Change the World; Robert Quinn (2000) Simply the best
analysis of the process of social and organizational change
Reinventing Government; David Osborne and Graeber (1992) The
book which started the New Public Management revolution.
More specialist recommended reads
Supporting small steps – a rough guide for
developmental professionals (Manning; OECD
2015)
A Governance Practitioner’s Notebook – alternative
ideas and approaches (Whaites et al
OECD 2015)
Rethinking policy and politics – reflections on
contemporary debates in policy studies ed C Ayres (2014)
Reinventing Organisations; Frederic Laloux (2014)
People, Politics and Change -
building communications strategy for governance reform (World Bank 2011)
Governance Reform under Real-World Conditions – citizens,
stakeholders and Voice
(World Bank 2008)
Public service trade
unions
European Trade Unions
(ETUC)
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