Article2007

Strategic political steering

18 citations0/0 files storedInternational Review of Administrative Sciences

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Public Policy and Administration Research Public Administration and Governance Public Administration and Political Analysis

Abstract

This article explores strategic political steering after New Public Management reforms, focusing on the new role assigned to government ministers. The NPM model of strategic steering and the problems embedded in it are addressed. The primary empirical data concern the practices of strategic political steering in Finland. The Finnish experience is contrasted with existing evidence from the UK and Australia and from Nordic local politics. The empirical conclusion is that management reforms aiming at introducing the strategic role of politicians have not been a success. Theoretically, this is not a surprise as politics does not follow the logic of rational managerial models. Politicians are not eager to define goals and to set priorities, nor are they motivated to consider issues that are not realized in the immediate future. In addition, they tend to focus on specific issues and to intervene in details. Consequently, it may not be relevant to ask whether ministers are able to adopt the strategic role but to consider the possibility that they do not, and will not, have incentives to do so, making it quite frustrating to develop rational managerial models as tools for politicians.

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References

2004Public Management Reform 1996Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations: a guide to strengthening and sustaining organizational achievement 2001Origin and theoretical basis of new public management 1985Strategic Management in Public and Private Organizations: Implications of Distinctive Contexts and Constraints 1985Strategic Management in Public and Private Organizations: Implications of Distinctive Contexts and Constraints 2001Politicians, Bureaucrats and Administrative Reform 1999The Paradox of Managerialism 2003New Public Management: The Transformation of Ideas and Practice

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2014Do Local Government Reforms Result in Higher Levels of Trust in Local Politicians?2017Government Programme as a Strategy—The Finnish Experience 2016Introduction : La gestion stratégique des administrations publiques. Une approche de la stratégie par les résultats de la gestion publique

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