The Changing Role of Government The Reform of Public Services in Developing Countries

by Batley, Richard; Larbi, George A.

• ISBN13: 9780333736173
• ISBN10: 0333736176
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-09-04
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Batley and Larbi examine how governments of developing countries are organized to deliver public services. The book is based on comparative international studies of four service sectors: healthcare, urban water, business promotion and agricultural marketing. Governments everywhere are being driven to adopt an "indirect" approach--managing, contracting and regulating public agencies or private partners, rather than providing services directly. It questions how governments are responding and whether this approach is appropriate to the capacities of developing countries.

Author Biography

Richard Batley is Professor of Development Administration in the International Development Department of the School of Public Policy, University of Birmingham. George Larbi is Senior Lecturer in Public Sector Management and Governance in the International Development Department at the University of Birmingham.

Table of Contents

List of Tables	viii
List of Figure and Boxes	ix
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations	x
Preface	xi
About the Authors	xiii
Changing Views of the Role of the Government	1	(30)
Introduction	1	(1)
The role of government in development	2	(5)
The background to public service reform in developing countries	7	(8)
Capacity to perform the `new' roles of government	15	(5)
An overview of the study	20	(8)
Conclusion	28	(3)
Changing Approaches to Public Sector Management	31	(23)
Introduction	31	(1)
Theoretical basis of new approaches to public management	31	(7)
Pragmatic rationales for public sector reforms	38	(1)
From old public administration to new public management	39	(1)
The era of new public management	40	(4)
A review of new public management in practice	44	(8)
Conclusion	52	(2)
The Politics of Service Reform	54	(27)
Introduction	54	(2)
Political stakes in the reform of public management	56	(2)
Principals and agents in public service reform	58	(1)
External bodies -- agents or principals?	58	(4)
The principal-agency characteristics of services	62	(3)
The `principals' -- citizens and political leaders	65	(6)
The `agents' -- public service administrators, professionals and workers	71	(5)
Emerging constituencies for change	76	(2)
Conclusion	78	(3)
Decentralizing Organizational Arrangements for Service Delivery	81	(25)
Introduction	81	(1)
Pre-reform organizational arrangements	81	(4)
Types of organizational arrangements	85	(3)
Reform of organizational arrangements	88	(10)
Have reforms improved performance?	98	(4)
Institutional and capacity issues	102	(2)
Conclusion	104	(2)
The Experience of Charging for Public Services	106	(19)
Introduction	106	(1)
Explaining user charges	106	(4)
Charging -- what and how?	110	(6)
Charging: performance and impact	116	(7)
Conclusion	123	(2)
Working with Private Partners	125	(19)
The case for privatizing management	125	(3)
Organizational arrangements for service provision	128	(5)
The application of public-private arrangements for service delivery	133	(3)
Matching organizational arrangements to capacity	136	(6)
Conclusion	142	(2)
The Experience of Contracting	144	(36)
Introduction	144	(1)
The use of contractual arrangements	145	(13)
Assessment of the experience of contracting	158	(9)
Capacity to contract	167	(10)
Conclusion	177	(3)
Regulating and Enabling the Private Sector	180	(39)
Introduction	180	(1)
Forms of regulation	181	(3)
De-regulation and support to market development	184	(1)
Re-regulation under the new management	185	(1)
Economic regulation of urban water supply	186	(9)
The social regulation of health services	195	(8)
Enablement of private providers -- business support services	203	(12)
A comparison of the experience of regulation and enabling	215	(4)
Conclusion	219	(19)
Introduction	219	(1)
Summary	220	(4)
Performance and capacity constraints in specific reforms	224	(8)
Implications for capacity development	232	(3)
Conclusion	235	(3)
Notes	238	(2)
Bibliography	240	(13)
Index	253