Rory Shand

From the classics to the cuts Valuing teaching public administration as a public good

This article intends to raise a number of issues regarding teaching public administration in the higher education sector and the value it has for individuals and society. The article explores the issue of value with reference to the teaching and learning of Public Administration as a discipline in the wider societal context. The article argues that the provision of public administration is a vital contributor to societal good, in terms of public service professions and the moral values that underpin the notion of public service. To this end, the article focuses on how we can apply classical theory to the concept of value in the teaching of public administration, linked to recent discussions of the discipline and its role in both theory and practice.

Assessing governance and learning lessons

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of tiers of governance and discuss the findings from research into a crime policys implementation focusing on resourcing, community engagement, accountability and leadership. The paper examines the shift from partnership delivery to the Big Society. Design/methodology/approach – 18 in-depth semi-structured interviews with partnership managers from a range of organisations combined with non-participant semi-structured of ten partnership meetings and documentary analysis were undertaken, in tandem with the policy networks framework. Findings – Despite the expectations placed on crime partnerships by New Labour, governance has continued to be driven by professionals and dominated by the large public sector organisations, rather than the community they serve or their service users, and with little involvement from the business sector in delivery. The focus upon voluntarism, enterprise and business in the Big Society vision will mean rapid adaptation ...

The Role of Ethics and Targets in Environmental Governance and the Enduring Importance of New Public Management

This article examines the importance of new public management in environmental governance. In order to explain what makes new public management such a robust framework for environmental governance, the article draws on the key themes of individual and collective responsibility in responding to climate change, examining the role of new public management in response to ecological and environmental change, resource scarcity, focus on global energy sources and politics. The article discusses the role of three aspects of environmental governance in turn: the theoretical understandings relating to individuals and society in response to climate change, the politics of these responses and governance arrangements, and how these are formed by the hastening paucity of certain energy resources. The article then moves on to examine these themes in the context of new public management, arguing that the responses we see to climate change in environmental governance are driven by measurement and targets, as these can be universally set and communicated. This shows the enduring nature of new public management in political and policy responses to the challenges of climate change. Bradshaw B (2014) Global Energy Dilemmas. Cambridge: Polity Press. Christensen C and Lægreid P (eds) (2011) The Ashgate Research Companion to New Public Management. Surrey: Ashgate. Cripps E (2013) Climate Change and the Moral Agent: Individual Duties in an Interdependent World. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Death C (ed.) (2014) Critical Environmental Politics. Abingdon: Routledge.

Liberty, Equality, or Fraternity? A “Liberal” Approach to the Design of Pensions?

Unlike much of the pensions’ literature, we regard the design of retirement systems as a matter of justice, as articulated by political philosophers. Characteristically, scholars of social policy endorse the deployment of state power to realise a particular conception of “the good”, emphasising the importance of social solidarity and altruism. But liberalism endorses “institutional neutrality”, a principle that rules out the possibility of such action. The nature of “the good” should be regarded as a private matter, subject only to each agent’s sovereign preferences. Rather than endorsing social solidarity, justice requires the state to uphold the primacy of liberty, including the possibility of individual choice around matters of work and retirement. Several variants of this general argument are explored here.

Retirement, Pensions and Justice

Unlike much of the pensions’ literature, we regard the design of retirement systems as a matter of justice, as articulated by political philosophers. Characteristically, scholars of social policy endorse the deployment of state power to realise a particular conception of “the good”, emphasising the importance of social solidarity and altruism. But liberalism endorses “institutional neutrality”, a principle that rules out the possibility of such action. The nature of “the good” should be regarded as a private matter, subject only to each agent’s sovereign preferences. Rather than endorsing social solidarity, justice requires the state to uphold the primacy of liberty, including the possibility of individual choice around matters of work and retirement. Several variants of this general argument are explored here.

Desert and Just Pension Design

Inevitably, there has been considerable disagreement around the substance of the laws and institutional arrangements that are compatible with desert. To the limited extent that they endorse the desert principle, classical liberals insist that voluntary exchange is sufficient to ensure that market actors are appropriately remunerated for their contribution to production. Egalitarian liberals reject this assertion, insisting that the market is suffused with asymmetries of power and opportunity that diminish individual capacities to be deserving. Acting on this perception, our analysis evaluates several models for the design of the second pillar pension arrangement. Only defined benefit pensions have the capacity to ensure a consistent relationship between work and savings effort, and flows of retirement income.

Need and Just Pension Design

Inevitably, there has been considerable disagreement around the means by which unsatisfied need should be addressed. Classical liberals insist that such action should be voluntary, confined only to philanthropic and charitable effort. But egalitarian liberals are highly tolerant of state involvement in directing ameliorative transfers to those at the bottom of society. Accepting the principle of compulsory collective responsibility for the worst-off, our analysis evaluates several models for the design of the first pillar retirement income safety-net. Selective social security programmes target financial assistance on the poor, but are blighted by low take-up and parsimonious benefit entitlements. While they appear to waste scarce resources, universal first pillar pensions maximise the flow and generosity of transfers to the least advantaged.

Citizenship and Just Pension Design

As a principle of justice, Citizenship designates the universal rights and obligations that are required to protect liberty. While all liberals assert the importance of individual sovereignty, there has been substantial disagreement around the legitimate scope and substance of citizenship. Classical liberals maintain that liberty is optimised only where governmental action is directed towards the possibility of coercive intrusion by other people. While accepting the requirement for an appropriate regime of negative rights, egalitarian liberals insist that liberty requires access to external resources, such as those made possible by redistributive income transfers. Considered only in terms of citizenship, a just retirement system must address the reality of financial insecurity, as well as the possibility of coercion.

Can Enterprise Be a Vocation, or Is It the End of Public Service?

Abstract Purpose Is public entrepreneurship an oxymoron? Why and how is enterprise/entrepreneurship important for public service delivery? The growing role of enterprise within the public sector has been the subject of much recent debate and policy focus, surrounding issues such as public value, meeting targets, and the need for innovation across public services by policy makers and managers given rapid reduction of budgets in this sector. This chapter reflects on these developments and examines the effects that an enterprise focus in the public services has in terms of vocation. Drawing on the Weberian notion of vocation (1941) in politics and the sciences, what does enterprise mean for the notion of public service? Certainly, historically the public services have enjoyed a strong vocational drive from its workforce, resulting in employee loyalty, and links with communities as well as higher levels of public trust than politicians or bankers, for example. The chapter draws on examples from education, public services and localism, all of which have seen to some degree the parachuting of managers in from the private sector or the aping of these behaviours and cultures in search of more entrepreneurial delivery. Drawing on the Weberian framework of bureaucracy and vocation, the chapter examines the changing role of public service and notions of community and duty, arguably damaged by failures of the Big Society agenda (Shand & Higman, 2014; Smith, 2010) and examines if and how enterprise can maintain the ethos of public service and vocational areas of the public sector in the enduring and pressurised new public management environment of meeting targets and value metrics. Methodology/approach The chapter adopts a Weberian approach in terms of vocation, and applies this concept to the notion of enterprise across the public services. The vocation approach in the public services, drawing upon Weber’s discussion of politics and science, underpins our discussion in this chapter as we argue that the role of innovation needs to be more widely applied and appreciated in the public services. Findings The chapter finds that examples of innovative behaviour and delivery are evident across the public services, but these need to be understood within the context of culture, values and ethos. These underpinning goals, across several frontline and first respondent public services particularly, are driven by dedication to duty and having to respond to rapid changes in targets, ‘customer’ service, and most recently, austerity. These responses need to be seen as innovative traits, linked to leadership and the Weberian notion of vocation. Practical implications The chapter raises several issues driven by failures or mistrust in the practical delivery and underpinning ethos of the public services. The focus on ethos has direct implications for both leadership within the public services and how these leaders’ roles and actions are interpreted by sections of wider society such as the media or the public. Notions of public trust are touched upon in the chapter, which highlight the role of key public services as different from the activities of politicians and bankers, areas which have become central to growing attitudes of mistrust among the public. The notion of vocation in the chapter is applicable to the practical arena as the role of innovation in public service needs to be reconsidered. The chapter suggests that, to date, the idea of innovation in public services has been driven by private sector innovation, and this has led to far too narrow an appreciation of what we term innovation within and across the public services. Originality/value This chapter unites debates around trust and innovation in the public and private sectors with the Weberian ideal of vocation, drawing upon key public services and their leadership and delivery to argue that we need to understand the drivers and motivating ethos behind the public services when we consider the role of innovation and indeed how we understand and apply this term within public service delivery.

Leadership and culture in the Welsh Assembly: investigating path-dependency

ABSTRACT This study of the developing Welsh Assembly (WA) provides a unique opportunity to comprehend how the values and public statements of a democratic institutions initial and ongoing leadership develop its structure and culture. We track the evolution of a new democratic institution and investigate relationships between leadership, path-dependency and cultural development. In this paper, Welsh Assembly Member (AM) leadership is analysed in relation to sources of path-dependency in the WA. Two sets of interviews and surveys provide AM perspectives of the Assembly in relation to the evolving leadership capability and institutional culture.