Review article

Public Service Reform in Serbia

Snežana Đorđević orcid.org/0000-0001-7574-8089 ; Faculty of Political Science, University of Belgrade, Serbia

Abstract

During the 1980s, the public sector in many democratic countries in the world was reformed (transformation from the welfare to entrepreneurial state). Three main models have been developed: American, Westminster and Scandinavian model. Each of them has a specific scope of intervention, the manner of implementation,
and various results in different countries. The reform of local public
sector is especially interesting and indicative part of these processes. The article analyzes these processes in Serbia as a transitional and one of the former Yugoslav countries. The analysis is focused on all the challenges, problems and the roots of the resistance towards and the boundaries of this important reform, which demands democratization as well as modernization and upgrading the
quality of management in the whole system. The study has shown that general political and economic environment, political climate, democratic values and citizens` participation are important factors of (poor) public (and especially local) service sector reform. The base for this study is a number of studies on different reform aspects, and extensive empirical research, such as the Research on Capacities of Local Government in Serbia, 2009, and the Research on Local
Public Enterprises in Belgrade, 2009. The final part of the article is a case study on public enterprises in Belgrade. It is especially indicative because Belgrade is a metropolitan region and the capital of Serbia with two million inhabitants. It also has good economic, political, educational, and managerial potentials and should be the forerunner in the public sector reform. The case study shows poor quality of reform in this filed, analyzing all the important reform aspects, such
as general legal and economic environment, organizational and managerial capacities of public enterprises, the way of functioning (professional vs. political criteria), the method of public service provision, focusing on citizens’ needs, and the quality of public services.

Keywords

public sector reform – Serbia; local public services; public enterprises; competition; price; quality; efficiency

Hrčak ID:

131849

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/131849

Publication date:

1.12.2011.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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