Government agencies: Practices and lessons from 30 countries
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While these reforms have altered the structure and operation of public administration in both developing and industrial-world contexts, their implications for adaptation to climate change have not been explored. Indeed, much of the research on adaptation governance has been relatively theoretical rather than empirical in focus Yohe and Tol ; Tompkins and Adger ; Smit and Wandel We aim to address this shortcoming by analyzing the potential tensions between NPM and adaptive-capacity building.
We have looked at ways that NPM has affected governance and adaptive capacity and the institutional fit between the objectives of NPM and the requirements for managing evolving climate-change risks. Although the political, economic and geographic contexts of these cases are fundamentally different, they illustrate certain similar implications for adaptation to climate change following the adoption of NPM reforms, providing us with important lessons about the implications of public administration ideology for adaptive capacity.
We start with a conceptual discussion of adaptive capacity and specific aspects of governance that have been shown to be important for such capacity. Next, we explore the literature on NPM reforms and implications for governance structures more generally. After presenting the two case studies, we discuss the similarities and differences across the two geographic and sector contexts to draw conclusions on how NPM has enabled or constrained adaptive capacity.
Central to the discussion of governance and climate change adaptation is the question of whether institutions and agencies are conducive to the creation, dissemination and processing of knowledge learning , and whether decision-makers have the legitimacy and accountability needed to take leadership in matters affecting such adaptation Adger and others Lessons from natural-resource management, applied to conditions of climate change, illustrate that flexible institutions that allow decision-makers to revise and reformulate policy as new information emerges tend to be more effective in face of uncertainty Tompkins and Adger Institutions influence the technical and financial capacity of implementing organizations, affecting their ability to plan and implement adaptation actions Ivey and others Institutional organization may structure access to power and resources that facilitate or constrain adaptation for specific sets of actors, as shown for example by Eakin Thus the rules, norms and modes of decision-making affect how a society organizes its resources and knowledge to protect itself against harm from climate change Nelson and others While adaptive capacity or adaptability is not equivalent to the concept of resilience, it is a fundamental characteristic of a resilient system Walker and others Adaptive capacity is the ability of particular actors or components of a system to influence institutional structures and the resilience of the system of which they are a part Berkes ; Walker and others Recent work on the linkages between institutions, adaptive capacity and system resilience has recognized the failures of top-down, rigid and centralized processes to respond to environmental change, suggesting that polycentric, multilevel and participatory governance structures may be more conducive to building resilience in face of stressors such as climate change Ostrom This research theorizes that the latter governance structures enable learning, provide the basis for social memory, increase the diversity and quality of knowledge available for adaptation, and provide the best basis for trust and collaboration in problem solving Pahl-Wostl and others ; Plummer and Armitage Tompkins describes inter-agency and cross-scale planning leadership by the National Hurricane Committee in the Cayman Islands that proved instrumental in mobilizing public participation and collaboration in hurricane preparedness.
This and other research illustrate the role of citizen participation, decentralized planning and the inclusion of diverse knowledge sources in mitigating environmental risks. Nevertheless, other empirical research has shown that in practice, decentralizing and democratizing the decision-making process on key concerns associated with planning and climate-change adaptation can be problematic Engle and Lemos A case study of coastal management found that financial constraints, access to information, mandate limitations and the time horizons of public-sector decision processes affected local capacities to make strategic decisions about anticipated sea level rise Few and others While public—private partnerships hold considerable promise in mobilizing resources for adaptation Adger and others , devolving control over technology and knowledge formation to the private sector may not adequately address the needs of the most vulnerable Eakin and Lemos Although more research is needed, the evidence suggests that participation in decision-making, access to knowledge and other resources, and the responsibility of decision-makers to constituencies are issues of particular salience to adaptation.
Nevertheless, relatively few empirical studies have questioned how new trends in public governance, occurring independently of accumulating knowledge about adaptation, affect societal adaptive capacity. To what extent are reforms in public administration, completed or underway, compatible with a polycentric, multilevel and participatory governance style?
In the current policy environment, responses to climate change are likely to emerge from experience rather than theory. It is important, therefore, for close investigations at a sector or practical level to determine whether shifts in governance and public administration—reforms in technical and financial capacity; learning, institutional memory and knowledge; and participation, empowerment and accountability—are improving or constraining key facets of adaptive capacity.
New Public Management emerged under the Thatcher and Reagan Governments in the United Kingdom and United States respectively as part of a broader neoliberal focus on policy and public administration taken place all over the world. Despite national variation in the scope and depth changes, NPM reforms originate in similar economic theories and normative values, placing economic efficiency and budgetary control as priorities for government. The often-stated aims of these reforms are to enhance the responsiveness of government to citizens, to stretch the effectiveness of scarce public resources and to move decision-making closer to the constituents of the public sector.
Devolution of responsibility and power to lower levels of government, a core feature in NPM programs. With this devolution of responsibility the discretionary power of managers becomes stronger and subordinate governmental levels and agencies act with more autonomy through a the separation of political and administrative functions e.
By transferring power to managers and splitting agencies into specialised single-purpose organizations, NPM reforms aim to streamline functions and reduce redundancy and waste. For activities considered best implemented directly by the private sector, outsourcing has emerged as a core policy goal: Achieving greater efficiency in public-service provision and administration has brought about some unintended and unanticipated consequences, many now well-documented in the literature.
Particularly salient in a discussion of governance for adaptation to climate change are the implications of NPM for participatory and democratic decision-making: True political decentralisation to democratically elected lower-level representatives or civil society stakeholders has seldom been a priority weighed against the contrary goal of increased decision-making efficiency. The consequence of this refocus has reduced public-sector attention on the achievement of complex goals in favor of greater emphasis on realizing more measurable one-dimensional outcomes Dunleavy ; Davis ; Weller and others ; Painter ; Terry Terry argues that NPM has resulted in thinner and more fragile government agencies with reduced regulatory capacities, diminished abilities to reinforce social norms and values, and weaker skills in interpreting, adapting to and guiding social change.
The decline in accountability appears to be a result of streamlining decision-making processes, which in turn diminishes the role of debate and dissent in the policy process e. New incentive structures put in place by private sector agents that take over outsourced tasks have also had adverse effects on accountability.
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In many cases contractual terms are primarily self-serving for the private actor, thus by-passing and undermining the NPM motivating principals of greater efficiency Hood ; Painter Increased vertical and horizontal specialization and fragmentation associated with NPM reforms have been linked to disjointed access to resources and services and an increased potential for conflicts among policy objectives and goals. In contrast to the economic logic, which dominated the initial NPM reforms, these new reforms apply a more holistic strategy, using insights from the other social sciences Bogdanor It is important to acknowledge that similarities in the direction and characteristics of administrative reforms adopted during the s and s define NPM better than by any well-defined doctrine or suite of adoption administrative tools.
While generalizations about the policy reforms associated with NPM are possible, their adoption always reflects local institutional histories, cultures and policy goals. Key areas of potential influence of NPM reforms on the adaptive capacity of sectors and actors. In the next section we present two very different case studies of risk management and adaptation to environmental change in the context of New Public Management.
In each case, we first examine the public sector reforms carried out at the national level and ways in which they represent a shift away from governance conditions conducive for adaptation. Next we investigate how key facets of adaptive capacity—of the building sector in Norway and the water sector in Mexico—have been directly or indirectly affected by NPM reforms. Presenting a case of NPM reforms from an emerging economy and new democracy Mexico together with a case from a country with a long history of democratic process and political stability Norway highlights the commonalities of intent and structure that define NPM reforms in both contexts.
Although these two studies initially were neither designed for comparison nor shared a common research approach, identification of similarities through comparative analysis of two diverse geographic contexts is particularly fruitful for eliciting generalizable lessons rather than case-specific results. Our concern is not whether the NPM reforms were effective in achieving their stated goals, but rather how the process of implementing NPM reforms may have affected adaptive capacity and vulnerability to present and future environmental change in the specific geographic contexts in which the reforms were adopted.
The initiative to restructure public-sector administration and management in Norway began in the early s, emerging from a National Commission report Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Administration Changes in technology, values, and ideology, including new attention to tenets of neoliberalism and individual choice and responsibilities, provided further motivation. Sectoral reforms followed the Commission report in the early s, initially incorporating the energy sector and then expanding to telecommunications and postal services. Revised in , the Norwegian Planning and Building Act NPBA sought to clarify liability and responsibility of different actors in the building sector in order to reduce the number of building defects originating in planning, design and construction Eriksen and others Before the reform, municipal authorities responsible for approving applications for building permits played an active role in controlling the technical standards of various building projects.
After the reform, responsibility for both building design and enforcing construction standards clearly fell to the private sector. The NPBA-mandated shift in construction planning responsibilities and functions from the public to private sectors is particularly relevant for adaptive capacity in a country of extremely varied, but almost uniformly harsh climatic conditions. The variability in these conditions and attendant risks across the country demands a comparable diversity of locally adapted solutions. While some southern and coastal areas have a temperate climate mild winters , the rest of the country has either polar- or sub-arctic climate characteristics.
Heavy precipitation combined with strong winds presents a particular challenge to infrastructure and buildings along the western and northern coast in Norway. Local effects of future global warming are likely to vary greatly. The average temperature is projected to rise between 2. The anticipated climate trends are likely to exacerbate existing harsh climatic conditions and increase the risk of such natural disasters as heavy precipitation and wind events. In addition, freezing, thawing and large snowfalls are challenges that may intensify with climate change in southeastern parts of the country.
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Many defects in residential housing, such as the penetration of moisture, are due to exposure to particular climate stresses over time and are not covered by hazard insurance. As a result of the NPBA reforms, decisions regarding building design and structure are not only now relegated to the private sector rather than municipalities and local governments but also increasingly concentrated within the private sector with large national or regional companies or commercial investors, rather than local builders. The new responsibilities and administrative functions assigned to private sector actors have required increased administrative and financial capacity.
Consequently, small companies are merging with larger companies or joining national chains and franchises in order to survive in the construction industry Eriksen and others For this case, we draw from the findings of a study that investigated decision-making, information flow and practical adaptation actions in the housing sector in Norway, further described in Eriksen and others , The study was carried out as a qualitative case study in the pre-fab housing industry of Norway, coupled with an analysis based on a theoretical study of publications focused on climate change, NPM and building processes in Norway.
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The study involved 36 interviews, carried out in —, incorporating public officials in municipal offices from six municipalities, active in planning and building services, property administration, urban development and environmental administration, and managers and craftsmen from four different manufacturers of prefabricated housing for further details, see Eriksen and others , The manufacturers and municipalities were located in different climate zones in Norway see Fig. Climatic variations and study sites, Norway case Eriksen and others The transfer of responsibilities to the private sector resulted in a reduction of technical personnel in local administrations, which in turn contributed to a loss of accumulated experience and knowledge of building sector needs, vulnerabilities, and successful experiences with adaptation.
Their responsibilities were reduced to routine administrative functions, for which paperwork has considerably increased creating an additional burden on personnel. Local employees are no longer involved in the learning processes regarding how to address present and future risks to housing from climate variability and change.
In contrast, it is not clear whether the private-sector building companies themselves have lost or gained technical and financial capacities per se through this reform. However, these capacities do not necessarily incorporate existing or new local adaptation knowledge; instead, it appears that expertise regarding national legal and technical requirements may have been strengthened at the expense of differentiated knowledge of specific local geographic and social conditions.
The merging of small firms within larger companies has created a new bias towards centralized building designs and standards. In the past, both builders and municipal authorities had expertise in building solutions well-adapted to local conditions, and their knowledge served to enhance outcomes synergistically during building projects. This synergism has largely been lost through the reform, and local adaptation is now more dependent on the expertise of the building companies. Although we have limited data on change in the financial capacities of building companies since the reforms, there is some initial evidence that the larger companies with greater financial capacity and presence are now dominating the sector Eriksen and others , Prior to the building sector reforms, standards and approaches to construction design such as shape of the roof or the siting of the building in accordance with the prevailing wind direction to withstand local climatic conditions developed into local building styles and traditions.
This accumulated knowledge was institutionalized in local governments that were responsible for contracting builders and approving construction projects. Such local knowledge is critical for adaptation to climate variability and change because formal regulations alone, even if they are regionally differentiated, cannot sufficiently capture the local differences and changes in climatic conditions Eriksen and others Formal regulations can nevertheless contribute to retaining local knowledge by making climate change adaptation and geographically differentiated solutions a focus area and by ensuring that such considerations are required in any planning.
Other focus areas, such as fire safety and Universal Design accessibility considerations have, however, so far taken priority. In theory, NPM type reforms of the late s should increase use of local knowledge and provide greater flexibility in standards to suit local conditions through decentralization. In this case, however, the devolution of decision-making and the centralizing trend within the building sector have led building companies to become more dependent on information from sources other than the municipalities and local authorities. Eriksen and others observed large variations in knowledge about climate adaptation among local builders that are part of larger companies.
Larger firms may have good access to new technology and information that can be used to strengthen local building solutions. Where the distance is great, information flow tends to be top-down, and knowledge of centralised designs and procedures becomes more important than knowledge of local climate conditions and building solutions, inhibiting adaptive capacity. The shift in accountability from the municipal administration to the manufacturers has ostensibly clarified responsibilities, but has simultaneously introduced new problems.
Private actors are legally responsible for building according to existing regulations, but raising climate considerations with the customer is now only a matter of ethics. Most citizen-consumers have little insight into the most appropriate locally-adapted construction solutions and trust the builder to provide any necessary local adjustments. Individual consumers have tended to focus instead on aesthetic aspects such as the decoration of kitchen and bathrooms.
Without advocacy by municipalities and citizen groups, it is unlikely there will be a higher prioritization of locally adapted climate solutions in building design and construction.
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In practice, the NPM reforms have meant that the market is now indirectly driving building solutions and design. The emphasis on efficiency has led to a focus on the economics of building manufacture rather than social and public concerns associated with risk and adaptation to climate change. In some cases local carpenters are making unauthorized and undocumented adaptations to changing climate conditions that may well lead to better adapted housing, but which could also produce faults and defects that may be difficult to identify at a later stage.
Without a transparent and accountable process for addressing climate risk to housing in particular localities, local knowledge and experience may be lost, and any local adjustments are likely to be made in an ad hoc and unregulated manner, introducing new problems of accountability should such adjustments fail.
The Fox Administration — took up the baton of administrative reform, begun in the previous Zedillo Administration, calling for a more streamlined, transparent and efficient public service Cedujo Over the last two decades and in various contexts—ranging from civil protection to public utilities to poverty alleviation—diverse administrative and operational functions have been transferred to lower level governments, state agencies and municipal authorities.
Efforts to enhance transparency and access to information has also become a priority for Mexican public agencies Cedujo , and most government agencies at the state and federal levels now have elaborate internet sites designed to facilitate the provision of necessary services and information to citizen-clients Klingner Features of the NPM paradigm have emerged as key characteristics of the s policies and reform programs implemented in the water sector, and, by extension, in flood-risk management.
Until the early s, flood management was primarily the responsibility of the Secretary of Agriculture and Hydrological Resources SARH , a highly centralized, technocratic and powerful federal agency. This new law was designed to improve water access and supply by recuperating more of the costs of water administration, and, importantly, by granting concessions for water-supply administration to municipal governments and quasi-private agencies Wilder and Romero Lankao Congruent with national water reforms, state water management policy aimed to be self-sustaining, using fees to generate financial resources, increase investment in water infrastructure, promote greater participation of the private sector in the construction of public works and eliminate the financial burden for water management on the state and municipios a political unit roughly equivalent to a U.
The findings of a study of flood management of the Upper Lerma Valley see Fig.
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