Original scientific paper
Changing Approaches to Public Sector Reform in an Anglophone Country: The Australian Case in a Comparative Perspective
John Halligan
; ANZSOG Institute for Governance, University of Canberra, Australia
Abstract
For Anglophone countries, the reform era featured bold
agendas that were comprehensive and systemic. The reputations
of the central governments were based on managerialist
and New Public Management (NPM) reforms that
other countries had difficulty in emulating. Three decades
on post-NPM agendas focused on countering the limitations
of reforms driven by conviction and ideology, but sustaining
the results of first generation reforms and defining
and implementing coherent new directions have proved to
be problematic. A new round of major reform inquiries has
now occurred in Anglophone countries in an international
context of fiscal instability and complex environmental
pressures. How is a comprehensive reform managed under
these circumstances? There is also the question of how to frame and give meaning to expectations for a public service
system that is citizen-centric, horizontally aligned, governance
focused and able to support central direction. Can
the existing platform be simply refined and extended or
is a paradigm change required? Without the right preconditions
for reform, implementation becomes problematic.
The reform approach of Australia is examined with reference
to the comparable reviews of New Zealand and the
United Kingdom.
Keywords
public sector reform – Australia; managerialism; New Public Management; post-NPM reforms; integrated governance; reform generations
Hrčak ID:
129858
URI
Publication date:
3.12.2012.
Visits: 1.637 *