Managerialism and the Public Services

Résumé du livre

Managerialism and the Public Services shows how, during the 1980s, a new orthodoxy was imposed on many American and British public services. In health care, education and the civil/federal service 'new right' governments attempted to rebuild the welfare state according to their own organizational and political principles. In this second edition, Christopher Pollitt carefully analyses the ideas and practices that went into this would-be revolution. He identifies strengths and weaknesses in the ideas themselves, and charts the extensive resistance offered by many of those who worked in the services concerned.
Pollitt also reviews the main alternatives to the new orthodoxy and considers how, from the late 1980s, an important new emphasis on cultural change and quality improvement has appeared. In conclusion, he reflects on the difficulty of achieving quality services in a climate of expenditure restraint.