Contesting Public Sector Reforms: Critical Perspectives, International Debates

This edited volume provides a critical and international analysis of the public sector through theoretical debates, empirical issues and regional studies. It begins by reassessing the public choice theoretical paradigm, the implications of New Public Management, the current crisis of democracy and ways of mediating market pressures. It then investigates recent developments in ethics, service provision, industrial relations and the nature of work, before examining critical issues in countries and regions from both the developed and developing world, and reflecting on the way forward. BRUCE BAKER Post-doctoral Research Fellow in the African Studies Centre at Coventry University, UK PATRICK BOND Political Economist and Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand Graduate School of Public and Development Management in Johannesburg, South Africa ROBERT GREGORY Associate Professor of Public Policy and Administration in the School of Government, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand JENNY HARROW Professor of Voluntary Sector Management, Cass Business School, City University PAUL HIGGINS Lecturer in Public Sector Management and Employee Relations at Middlesex University Business School, UK J. ROGERS HOLLINGSWORTH Professor of Sociology and History at the University of Wisconsin, USA JONTHAN LIU Professor of Chinese Management at Middlesex University Business School, UK ZSUZSANNA LONTI Senior Lecturer in Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand RONALDO MUNCK Professor of Poli tical Sociology and Director of the Globalization and Social Exclusion Unit at the University of Liverpool, UK ANIL VERMA Professor of Industrial Relations and Human Resource Management at the University of Toronto, Canada AXEL VAN DEN BERG Professor of Sociology at McGill University, Canada MALCOLM WALLIS Professor of Public Administration at the Durban Institute for Technology, South Africa JANE WANG Senior Administrator for the Study Tours Programme at Middlesex University Business School, UK

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Public Sector Management and the Neo-Liberal Hegemony; P.Dibben, I.Roper & G.Wood PART ONE: PUBLIC SECTOR REFORM: THEORETICAL DEBATES Public Choice, the Public Sector and the Market: The Sound of One Hand Clapping?; A.Van den Berg New Public Management: Marketization, Managerialism and Consumerism; P.Dibben & P.Higgins Uneasy Partners: Democratization and New Public Management in Developing Countries; B.Baker Taming the Market: Co-ordination of Economic Activity at Multiple Spatial Levels; J.Rogers Hollingsworth PART TWO: PUBLIC SECTOR REFORMS: ISSUES AND PRACTICES Ethics and the New Public Management: Challenges and Alternatives; G.Wood Mechanisms and Values in the Delivery of a Patchwork of Public Services; J.Harrow Industrial Relations in the Public Sector: Collective Bargaining Reform and the Issue of Convergence; P.James Managing Quality in Public Services: Some Distinct Implications for the Reorganization of Work; I.Roper PART THREEE: PUBLIC SECTOR MANAGEMENT: REGIONAL AND NATIONAL STUDIES Canadian Public Management Developments; Z.Lonti & A.Verma Hollowing and Hardening New Zealand's Homely State; R.Gregory New Public Management and Europeanization: Convergence or Nestedness?; G.Wood Recruiting and Training the New Cadre: Reform of the Civil Service in the People's Republic of China; J.Liu & J.Wang Contradictions Confronting New Public Management in Johannesburg: The Rise and Fall of Municipal Water Commercialization; P.Bond Latin America: Globalization Democracy and State Reform; R.Munck Public Administration and the Management of Socio-Economic Development in Developing Countries: Some Trends and Comparisons; M.Wallis Conclusion: Towards the Revitalization of the Public?; G.Wood & I.Roper

About the Author :
BRUCE BAKER Post-doctoral Research Fellow in the African Studies Centre at Coventry University, UK PATRICK BOND Political Economist and Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand Graduate School of Public and Development Management in Johannesburg, South Africa ROBERT GREGORY Associate Professor of Public Policy and Administration in the School of Government, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand JENNY HARROW Professor of Voluntary Sector Management, Cass Business School, City University PAUL HIGGINS Lecturer in Public Sector Management and Employee Relations at Middlesex University Business School, UK J. ROGERS HOLLINGSWORTH Professor of Sociology and History at the University of Wisconsin, USA JONTHAN LIU Professor of Chinese Management at Middlesex University Business School, UK ZSUZSANNA LONTI Senior Lecturer in Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand RONALDO MUNCK Professor of Political Sociology and Director of the Globalization and Social Exclusion Unit at the University of Liverpool, UK ANIL VERMA Professor of Industrial Relations and Human Resource Management at the University of Toronto, Canada AXEL VAN DEN BERG Professor of Sociology at McGill University, Canada MALCOLM WALLIS Professor of Public Administration at the Durban Institute for Technology, South Africa JANE WANG Senior Administrator for the Study Tours Programme at Middlesex University Business School, UK