Public Management and Administration - Owen E.hughes

266 Public Management and Administration
To follow the logic of critics, such as Hood or Pollitt, the differences in
reforms, their timing and strategies in various countries around the world,
mean that there is no global movement. There seems to be an argument that
reforms need to be identical and to occur at the same time for there to be any
claim that there is underlying similarity. Some particular criticisms were overtaken
by events. Hood’s description of China as illustrating a return to bureaucratic
principles has been overtaken by events as China deregulates and starts
adopting its own reform movement, albeit later than when his article was written.
Hood also argues ‘the Australian Commonwealth government resisted
‘agentification’ of its structure, on the grounds that it was dangerous to separate
policy from execution, while New Zealand and the UK took exactly the
opposite course’ (1995, p. 109). The problem with this argument is that it too
was overtaken by events, as in 1996 the Australian government did adopt some
UK-style agencies, most notably that of Centrelink. In both these cases the
reforms were just happening later.
What tended to happen in a number of countries is well-illustrated by the
Canadian reforms described by Glor (2001, p. 128):
NPM … has been widely adopted in Canada. There was variation in application and timing:
Alberta, Ontario, Manitoba and the federal government took up NPM most fully. The
results in government restructuring, management and downsizing are comparable to
those of the primary exponents of NPM – Britain and New Zealand. Negative consequences
have been lower value from the public sector, programmes under-resourced and
some emerging problems addressed inadequately. Positive improvements in service have
been achieved. A more disillusioned public and public service have been the costs of an
acrimonious debate and government that initially assumed untenable debt, dealt with the
problem slowly, then introduced solutions rapidly. Canada has managed to retain some
but not all of its welfare-state programmes – they are under pressure.
This is a familiar story in a number of countries. Changes were often introduced
in difficult economic times, against opposition, but were carried through.
The particular points may have been different, the timing was certainly different,
but the direction of change and its underlying theory are closer than conceded
by critics.
Convergence of theory
Where convergence is most evident across a number of countries is in underlying
theory. It is argued here that the reforms in different countries may have
varied in their details but have been in the same direction and this has been
driven by the exchange of ideas and theories.
In an attempt to systematize the arguments over an international movement,
Pollitt argues there are four stages of convergence in public management
(2001, pp. 477–8):