How to build State Capacity

The last few posts have argued that -

- few (if any) societies can any longer claim to be democratic

- we need, very loudly, to be exposing such claims as the falsehoods they are

- a new vision of a democratic society needs to be articulated

- pressure groups should coalesce around the demand for citizen juries

- political parties no longer serve any useful purpose

- we should be insisting that governments start focusing on the big issues which are currently kicked into the long grass

- governments, in other words, should govern

At this point I remember the reaction of The Candidate played by Robert Redford as he realises he has won his fight for a Senate seat – “what the hell am I supposed to do now?”.

It’s bad enough that Ministers have time only to deal with immediate crises – how therefore can we also expect them to find time to deal with long-term issues? Basically by shuffling them onto someone else… But Tony Blair was ridiculed for appointing the ex-head of the BBC to be his “Blue skies thinker”.

At least between 1971 and 1983 there was a body called CPRS (Central Policy Review Staff) which not only undertook strategic thinking but was able to publish its reports quite openly. This could – and did – create problems for government and was soon judged not to be necessary by ideologue Margaret Thatcher…..Its spirit needs to be resurrected!

Arguably the EC’s technocrats have, in this instance at least, been a positive force – creating for member states strategic guidelines which have been used in a multiplicity of fields to give benchmarks and inspire laggards to action….

The tools are at hand. Making a positive case for government interventions may not have been easy in the past 40 years but a few people dared to do so – and to keep developing the necessary tools. I thought Henry Mintzberg was the first Canary in the mine, as it were, with his 1996 Harvard Business Review piece on “Managing Government” which argued that we had gone too far in our rejection of the State. But John Bryson and Barbara Crosby had published Leadership for the Common Good – tackling public problems in a shared power world  a few years earlier – in 1992 (it can be accessed in full by clicking the title). This was also the year “Discovering Common Ground” by W Weisbord was published - a series of case-studies of localities and companies coming together to explore how they might best respond to the challenges they faced. The history of the “search conference” is nicely summarised here.

Mark Moore famously used his position at Harvard’s School of Government to work with senior Public Servants to develop in 1995 his influential notion of Public Value which influenced those working with British civil servants such as John Stewart and John Benington.

Moore and Bryson can be seen as the inspiration for European academics such as Paul t’Hart, de Jong and Mariana Mazzucato who have, more recently, all emphasised the importance of strategic governing. Other trainers such as Matt Andrews have also managed to make the notion of strategic governing acceptable even in places such as The World Bank.

So, for those leaders who genuinely want to know how to go about making their governments more strategic, here are some texts to consider – starting with Bryson and Crosby in 1992. I was, frankly, astounded to find there were so many!!

 

Title	Comment
Leadership for the Common Good – tackling public problems in a shared power world J Bryson and B Crosby (1992)	Exhaustive exploration of the issues involved in any attempt to bring people together to confront major problems they face as a society or group
Creating Public Value; Mark Moore (1995)	What was originally a series of inspiring profiles has morphed into a confusing academic industry which is well assessed in the link in the title
The capacity to govern Y Dror (2001).	A masterclass from someone who advised governments throughout the world
The Art of Public Strategy – mobilising power and knowledge for the common good; Geoff Mulgan (2008)	The ex-Head of the UK Cabinet Office wrote this a few years after he finished his service with Tony Bliar
Future Search – getting the whole system in the room for vision,  commitment, action; M Wesibord and S Janoff (2010)	The third edition of a detailed manual – full of examples from around the world
Understanding policy success – rethinking public policy; Alan McConnell (2010)	Most academics focus on how things went wrong. This was a rare book which tried to identify the lessons of success
Agents of Change – strategy and tactics for social innovation ; S Cels, Jorrit de Jong and F Nauta   (2012)	A Dutch group inspired by Mark Moore
Recognising Public Value Mark Moore (2013)	An update of his 1995 book
The Entrepreneurial State; Mariana Mazzucato (2013)	The first of a trilogy of books from this Italian-British economist who strongly argues the interventionist case
Dealing with Dysfunction – problem solving in the public sector; Jarrit de Jong (2014)	Not the most inspiring of titles for what is a great read from someone who ran a group entitled “The Kafka Brigade”
How to Run a Government so that Citizens Benefit and Taxpayers don’t go Crazy ; Michael Barber (2015).	A clearly written and useful book about the approach taken by Tony Bliar’s favourite consultant
Creating Public Value in Practice – advancing the common good in a ….noone in charge world J Bryson and Crosby (2015)	The update of their 1992 book
“The 21st Century Manager”; Z van der Wal (2017)	An interesting-looking book written by another Dutch academic and consultant who has spent the past  7 years as a Prof at the University of Singapore
Radical Help – how we can remake the relationship between us and revolutionise the Welfare State Hilary Cottam (2018)	an inspiring example of experimental work
“Great Policy Successes” Paul t’Hart (2019)	presents 15 in-depth case studies of policy successes from around the world - each containing a detailed narrative of the policy processes and assessing the extent to which the policies pursued can be regarded as successful.
Successful Policy Lessons from Australia and NZ; ed J Luentjens, M Mintrom and P t’Hart (2019)	The “successful public governance” website at Utrecht University is now running a series of case studies “pour encourager les autres”
"Strategies for Governing - reinventing public administration for a dangerous century"  Al Roberts (2019)	Ideal for politicians – not just because it’s short (140 pages) but because it covers the central issues so clearly
The Good Ancestor – a radical prescription for long-term thinking; Ronan Krznaric (2020)	I’ve included this highly original book – even although its focus is the individual – rather than government
“Mission economy – a moonshot guide to changing capitalism”; Mariana Mazzucato (2021)	Mazzucatto’s latest
Guardians of Public Value – how public organization become and remain institutions (2021) ed A Boi, L Harty and P t’Hart	Another series of case-studies from the Utrecht unit of excellent public organisations and the secrets of their success
Public Value Management – governance and reform in Britain ; John Connolly et al (2021)	Rather too academic. Exclusive focus on UK – no references to Netherlands eg de Jong

First, a confession….I certainly haven’t read them all. Indeed I can claim close familiarity only with Barber, Bryson, Cottam, Moore and Roberts. Each is very different – some being voyeuristic case-studies – others reflecting intense personal experience (Dror and Mulgan) or passionate commitment (Cottam and Mazzucato). But all are worth looking at….