PIA 3090

Comparative Public Management

and Policy

PIA 3090

Bureaucracies, Budgets and Decision-Making

The Main EventI. Golden Oldies

II. Literary Map

III. Grand Synthesis

Decision-Making and Budgets

Themes and Definitions

Themesa. Budget: Recurrent vs. Capital (Development) Budgets

b. Financial Management- Incrementalism and Satisficing vs. Zero Based Budgeting (Planning Systems)

c. Accounting- Cost and Benefit vs. profit and loss

Themesd. Auditing vs. Accountability-

Quantitative vs. Qualitative

e. Evaluating- Assessment vs. Judgement

f. Budgeting: Two themes- Reforming and Decision-making

Decision-Making and Financial Management

A Review of Themes

Decision-Making and Financial Management (Review)

1. Savas-Privatization and Contracting Out- Commercialization and intra-governmental competition

2. Johnson- Economic Bureaucracy, Public Sector Management: A Japanese Model?

3. Harris- End of the Third World? End of Development Budgets

Decision-Making and Financial Management

4. Heady- Imbalance- Political vs. Bureaucratic Development in the role of financial management (The Corruption Problem)

5. Armstrong- Values, money and Development Management

6. Nelson- International Organizations, NGOs and Development (Contracts vs. Grants)

Decision-Making and Financial Management

8. Turner and Hulme- Private Sector Development vs. Development Management: The role of public sector financial management (Oversight)

9. Peters and Barzelay-Public Sector Reform

10. Caiden and Wildavsky- Planning vs. Budgeting

11. Janis- Is Budgeting and financial management impacted by Group Think?

Planning, Financial and Budgetary Management Systems in Poor Counties

Five historical periods-

Read Caiden and Wildavsky

Best Book on realities of Public Budgeting and Development

Historical Periods: Famous Fivei. Until the 1950s- recurrent budgets- law and order.

ii. 1950s-1960s- growth. Domestic development Funds with bilateral technical assistance

=Recurrent vs. Development budgets

iii. 1960s-1970s: Distribution and basic needs. World Bank and Poorest of the poor

iv. Mid-1970s to mid-1980s: Planning vs. Budgets Planning demanded by technical assistance

Technical assistance- both grants and loans (no private loans to Africa

Project planning "wins" over national planning and budgeting systems

v. 1980s- Structural Adjustment1980s-End of century- Structural Adjustment "non-budgetary" allocations vs. incremental budgeting (define)

=donor monies drive the system in the degenerated state

=Goal: Back to the Future

Reforming Government Budgeting

1. Baker and Schroeder- reforming public finance vs. privatization or devolution

2. Naomi Caiden- Planning vs. Budgeting- Incrementalism vs. Performance budgets

3. Steve Arnold and Phil Morgan- Programs, plans and projects (sustainability and the Sustainability Issue)

Reforming Government Budgeting4. Guy Peters- The nature of budgetary decision-making- beyond politics? Should it be?

5. Barzelay- What financial paradigms are cliental oriented?

6. Heady- Bureaucracy, Managing Budgets vs. Political Development and Imbalance

7. Hummel and Miewald- the importance (and legitimacy) of criticism?

The Current State of Financial Management

(Since 2001)- Structural Adjustment vs. Social Crisis

The Current State of Financial Management

1. IMF Stabilization- currency reform, auctions and trade liberalization

2. Decentralized Budgeting- Part of Governance Debate

3. World Bank and UNDP "Management" - Opposing views to SAPs

The Current State of Financial Management

4. Continued Absence of recurrent budgets and loss of control in Crisis: especially re. “Terror Prone,” Collapsed and Fragile States

5. Activity (economy) driven by technical assistance projects - the only game in town

6. Bridging and sectoral loans and grants- major source of international involvement

Conditionality- What is the future? 1. Privatization of the economy

a. divestiture

b. contracting out

c. liquidation

d. sell off public private partnership shares

What is the Future?2. Privatization (Commercialization) of the bureaucracy

IN-SOURCING

Commercialization- Negativesa. Individuals work with investments and the service/commercial sector

b. Departments sell their services- eg. statistics in Zaire/DRC

c. Sub-economic salaries- offices and telephones- buying soap and selling chickens

Commercialization- Negativesd. International conditions for "good" bureaucrats, eg. World Bank in Uganda- special salaries for those on contract with the project

e. Goal: Return to the recurrent budgeting process of the 1950s

Back to the Future?

New Framework:

Subsidiarity and decentralized budgeting?