An Analysis of the Critical Arguments That We Are Able to Learn from Havikko Paavos Many Houses - Essay Example

An analysis of the Critical Arguments that we are able to Learn from Havikko Paavo’s Many houses: types of politico-administrative regime In his article, Paavo is seen to attempt to try and highlight a number of key features inherent in the existing politico-administrative regime that have the potential capability of exerting a considerable influence on both the overall feasibility of implementing certain types of reforms and the actual choice of reforms chosen. Paavo is seen to provide a credible argument by postulating that the very nature of a country’s central government, the current prevailing administrative culture, the diversity of the various different channels of advice and the established relationship between the mandarins and the ministers essentially all serve to determine exactly which idea eventually gets taken up by the administration and the extend of just how widely and vigorously the adopted idea is seen to be subsequently implemented by the government (Pollitt and Bouchaeat 49). 3.0 Politico-administrative systems: the key features According to Paavo, there are basically two different dimensions that are seen to be applicable in the determination of the state, the first of these two dimensions is seen to be the vertical dispersion of authority, which is an aspect that determines exactly how far authority within a certain given state is being shared at the various different levels of government. Some states are generally found to be rather highly centralized with excessive power being mostly concentrated at the very top level of the government as exemplified by the current condition in some unitary states such as the United Kingdom and New Zealand contrary to this, Federal government systems such as that seen in Germany and the United States are seen to be fairly decentralized with some of the power being distributed among the Lander or the States respectively (Paavo 51). Paavo gives the second dimension of structure as being the actual degree of horizontal coordination that is seen to essentially exist within the central government (Pollitt and Bouchaeat 49). This second dimension examines just how far a state’s central ministries are able to successfully ensure that all the other ministries end up taking the very same approach in regards to matters that happen to be of particular interest to them all. In some countries such as New Zealand, key ministries are responsible for the determination of the objectives to be followed and the other ministries naturally just fall in line. This was seen in New Zealand in 1984 and is currently being seen in the UK where the Treasury is found to normally be able to have its way in the event that it happens to be in agreement with the country’s Cabinet Office (Pollitt and Bouchaeat 53-54), in contrast to this Paavo points out that in some countries like France, ministerial structures are always seen to be in turmoil and the entire state system can widely be regarded as being fragmented (Pollitt and Bouchaeat 54). 3.1 The Nature of the Executive Government According to Paavo, regardless of the central government’s scope, the conventions and habits of the particular executive will be primarily responsible for shaping what exactly will go on within that given scope. Comparative political scientists have been able to develop a typology to be used to effectively assess these conventions, the key basic features of which are seen to include: Minimal-winning coalitions: This form of executive government is seen to occur in the event that two or more parties are able combine and hold an estimated over 50 percent of all the legislative seats. Single-Party or bare majority or minimal-winning: The marked characteristic of this type of executive government is that one particular party happens to hold more than 50 percent of the total number of seats in the legislature. Grand coalitions or Oversized executives: This scenario develops in the event that a number of additional parties happen to be included in a government’s executive beyond the actual number of parties that are essentially required to form a minimal winning coalition. Paavo emphasizes on the fact that each of these different types of topologies essentially tends to generate a different set of governing conventions and a country can often be able to change from one given type of executive to another after conducting an election (Pollitt and Bouchaeat 54). 3.2 Minister/Mandarin Relations Paavo stresses that the in most countries, the major management to be conducted are seen to usually involve the input of senior public servants and executive politicians. These are seen to be the main organs that work together to make crucial decisions pertaining to reform in a government. It should be noted that the existing relationship between these two groups is seen to vary quite considerably from once country to another which is the main characteristic that that leads to the question of exactly what kind of deal or bargain exists between the top civil servants and the top politicians (Pollitt and Bouchaeat 59). 3.3 The Philosophy and Culture of Governance Paavo indicates that a number of different writers have been instrumental in highlighting that most of the public administrative systems seen to be utilized by most governments are seen to either be guided by the Anglo Saxon model of securing the public interest or the Rechtsstaat model. Paavo further points out that the public interest model happens to accord a state a significantly reduced dominant role in society and it is widely perceived as being a necessary evil whose innate powers should essentially be limited and not allowed to be more than what is absolutely necessary. In this system, the government’s various officials and ministers are constantly seen to be held in pubic public account. Although the law is usually in the background in this system, the country’s citizens are seen to be under it and most of the senior civil servants nevertheless do not have any form of special training in its ministries as is commonly seen to be the case in the United Kingdom. In contrast to the public interest model, Paavo indicates that from the Rechtsstaat perspective, the central integrating force within a given society is essentially the state which is primarily seen to be concerned with the preparation, promulgation and subsequent enforcement of a country’s given laws. Most of the civil servants in this type of a system are generally seen to have some form of training in the law. For this system to work, the state essentially has to st up administrative courts such as the German Bundesverwaltungsgericht and the French Conseil d’Etat (Pollitt and Bouchaeat 61-62). 3.4 Sources of Policy Advice As suggested by Paavo, this factor relates to the general diversity of the key sources of advice that a States ministers happen to receive pertaining to reform issues. Ministers are able to receive advice from their own mandarins, political or policy think tanks, management consultants business corporations and from various academic specialists, of note however, is that since 1990, a number of international bodies have increasingly been playing a key role in advice giving. The main proposition in this factor is that the wider the range of the various customary sources of advice, the more the likelihood that a number of new ideas and especially so, from sources outside the public sector will be able to be received by the minister in a manner that is seen to be both influential and persuasive. 3.5 The Special Case of the European Commission From Paavo, we learn that the European commission happens to be a special case primarily as a result of the fact that it is not essentially a sovereign state but s super-national authority whose most of its business is essentially conducted within nation states. In respect to the European Union, Paavo argues that certain aspects of politico administrative systems such as the dominant administrative culture, the innate relationship between mandarins and political executives and the general diversity of the channels of advice available to ministers are seen to be applicable. However, certain features such as the established nature of the executive government at its central level and the state structure are found to not be particularly applicable. An analysis of the Critical Arguments Pertaining to Trajectories of Modernization and Reforms as Presented by Pollitt and Bouchaeat 4.0 Trajectories of Modernization and Reform Pollitt and Bouchaeat define trajectories as being more than mere trends, while trends are considered to simply be data patterns, trajectories are by contrast intentional patterns or routines that someone is essentially attempting to take. Trajectories are designed to lead from and initial point which is commonly dubbed as being the alpha to a desired state of affairs or place in future (an omega). It is thus seen that scenarios mainly consist of three basic elements which are mainly an initial state, a given course or trajectory and a future state (75). The Main components of Reform Pollitt and Bouchaeat categorize reform trajectories into a set of five main components, these are seen to be relating to finance, personnel, organization, performance measurement and transparency and open government. 4.1 Trajectories in Financial management Reform: Budget reforms have been rather widespread in a number of countries. However, they are mainly seen to be driven by the two external pressures of public expenditure for mainly macroeconomic reasons and the need for governments and states to try and increase effectiveness and efficiency. The advent of the global economic crisis in 2008 caused most governments to redouble their efforts towards the attainment of these two objectives. The need for governments to restrain their budgets is a factor that is seen to ever be fluctuating up and down both as a result of the weakness or strength of a given economy and the rather increasingly international economic cycle. Different countries have undertaken a number of different measures to try and save, these include attempts such as shifting towards a new public management (NPM) performance improvement model where more emphasis is essentially placed on efficiency and results, and cutting back on spending such as was seen in Finland in 1992 and in New Zealand in 1984. Another saving strategy in use is the adoption of block-or frame-budgeting that was practiced by countries such as Belgium, Finland and Sweden, in this approach, as was seen in Finland in 1994, central agencies switched from being heavily involved in the determination of local priorities a task that was now left to local politicians to decide on the distribution of the allocated budget between the various activities. The third approach involves a system of making of strategic cuts where in the event that Programs A and B are designated as being the top priorities, it therefore follows that cuts must of necessary fall on C and D. The strategy was implemented by Canada in its 1994 Program Review. 4.2 Trajectories in Personnel Management HRM Pollitt and Bouchaeat point out that the often widespread prevailing perception that civil service is essentially resistant to reform is of essence clearly wrong (Pollitt and Bouchaeat 87). A number of successful reforms have been taken in a number of the civil services branches of different countries (87). Many civil servants across most states were severely affected by the 2008 Global Economic crisis as they experienced salary cuts, retrenchments and the reduction of pension cuts. During the economic crisis, politicians were seen to want result oriented civil services that were fundamentally responsible, flexible more skillful and in the event that it was possible, less numerous. The Global Economic Crisis caused the this downward pressure to become quite acute and while civil servants understood the demands being made on them, they nevertheless sought to try and retain some of their existing protections and privileges. In some countries with strongly entrenched unions, civil servants were able to fight against any government actions affecting their jobs, however, the economic crisis eventually forced the scaling back of most privileges (Pollitt and Bouchaeat 89). Pollitt and Bouchaeat point out that the typical most distinguishing characteristics seen to be associated with the civil service were that a civil servant was assumed to: Be promoted primarily on the basis of seniority and qualification Enjoy a Tenured, career appointment- One’s appointment as a civil servant was seen to not be primarily dependent on the various whims exuded by the civil service supervisor or a transient politician. Be part of a well unified civil service, that was setup within a particular and distinct national frame work of employment conditions and terms that included a national pay scale (Pollitt and Bouchaeat 90). 4.3 Organizational Trajectories According to Pollitt and Bouchaeat, the general restructuring of organizations can be perceived to essentially a rather ubiquitous feature of reforms affecting public sector management. However, they point out a basic fourfold scheme that can be considered to be of a fairly mainstream nature in respect to classical organization theory and is namely: Specialization: Should institutions be developed to act as multi-purpose or single-purpose entities? Scale: What is the best possible size for a given organization? Decentralization / centralization: What government functions should be developed to be either decentralized or centralized and to which degree (96)? Generally, some countries such as New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom implemented a strategy that sought to try and promote specialization in their civil service departments form 1980 through to the mid-1990s. This was achieved by the use of such methods as the downsizing and breaking up of the large bureaucratic organizations. However, this trend was soon to change and especially so in those countries that happen to have undergone the most radical degree of fragmentation such as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and New Zealand that are now focused at better coordination (Pollitt and Bouchaeat 97). 4.4 The Measurement of Performance Although performance measurement is not a new concept and has been used in public administration over the years for the evaluation of the performance of teachers in various public schools across the United States and the United Kingdom, in recent times it has increasingly been used as a central feature of reforms targeted at enhancing public management in a number of different countries. 4.5 Transparency and Open Government Transparency and open government is a concept that has recently been embraced by a number of countries. Although the common rhetoric surrounding the concept of openness and transparency is perceived to essentially have been principally concerned with efforts at rendering politicians to become more accountable and visible, it is also seen to bear a number of considerable implications for public managers. Most of the traditional bureaucracies have often been associated with secrecy and the misconception that that the possession of power is essentially a form of power. Some of the leading countries that have successfully implemented transparency and openness in their systems are seen to be the United States and Sweden. Conclusion In general, Pollitt and Bouchaeat argue that although there have been numerous great diversity in the implementation of trajectories by government, many of these eventually turn out to be impartial or interrupted. There are also a number of questions as to whether these trajectories actually do work and if it is possible for the reformers attempting to implement these trajectories in their countries to be able to claim that they happen to have actually worked. The evaluation of the actual results of reform trajectories is rather complex and not quite straight forward (Pollitt and Bouchaeat 124-125). Works Cited Pollitt Christopher and Bouckaert Geert. Public Management Reform: A Comparative Analysis - New Public Management, Governance, and the Neo-Weberian State. Oxford University Press, 2011. Print. Read More