Description
Book SynopsisCivil services in Western liberal democracies have undergone significant changes since the early 1980s, so much so that many of the traditional assumptions underpinning their role and operating practices have been fundamentally questioned. This volume explores a number of themes inherent in this transformation process and the significant problems encountered in modernizing civil services.
The commitment to modernizing public services has been a constant trend of Western governments and has encompassed many approaches under a variety of labels, such as new public management and reinventing government. As a result of such developments, the public services of many countries have been transformed, with civil services being singled out for particular attention. This book critically examines the application of the modernization agenda in the old Commonwealth, the USA and Western Europe, including the institutions of the EU. Particular attention is given to developments in the British civil service, including the implications of devolved government, human rights legislation, and the Blair government's attempts to improve the policy process.
For students and academics of public administration, public policy and comparative politics, this book will provide unrivalled coverage of one of the most critical issues in contemporary public management and policy.
Trade Review'The chapters in Modernizing Civil Services
, read collectively, provide an interesting overview of some of the major themes in public administration today. . . Modernizing Civil Services
will be of interest to a wide range of students of public administration in booth the practitioner and academic domains.' -- Phil Charko, Canadian Public Administration
'This is an excellent collection of papers examining the dimensions of change in contemporary civil service systems. It is especially valuable in linking changes in the civil service with other changes in governing.' -- B. Guy Peters, University of Pittsburgh, US
Table of ContentsContents: Preface 1. Modernizing Civil Services: An Era of Reform 2. Localism and Exceptionalism: Comparing Public Sector Reforms in European and Westminster Systems 3. Protecting Liberty and Benefiting Society: Can Market-based Administrative Reforms and Market-based Political Institutions Effectively Co-exist in the US? 4. Modernization as Europeanization: The Impact of the European Union on Public Administration 5. Executive Agencies and ‘Modernizing Government’ 6. Devolution, Integration and Modernization in the United Kingdom Civil Service 7. Modernization and Civil Service Accountability: The Case of Scottish Devolution 8. Implementation of the Human Rights Act 1998 in the Lord Chancellor’s Department 9. Modernizing Policy-making for the Twenty-first Century: The Professional Model 10. Civil Society, Virtue, Trust: Implications for the Public Service Ethos in the Age of Modernity References Index
