Agencies
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Agencies How Governments do Things Through Semi-Autonomous Organizations Christopher Pollitt Professor of Public Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Scientific Director of the Netherlands Institute of Government Colin Talbot Professor of Public Policy, University of Nottingham and Director, Nottingham Policy Centre, UK Janice Caulfield Research Assistant Professor, Hong Kong University and Amanda Smullen Researcher, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Christopher Pollitt, Colin Talbot, Janice Caulfield and Amanda Smullen 2005 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2005 978-1-4039-3322-5 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2005 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world. PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-51656-8 ISBN 978-0-230-50486-8 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9780230504868 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Agencies : how governments do things through semi-autonomous organizations / Christopher Pollitt [et al.] p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Administrative agencies. I. Pollitt, Christopher. JF1601.A36 2004 352.2 9 dc22 2004052090 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05
To the many long-suffering public servants, in nine countries and three continents, who helped us so much with our research
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Contents List of Tables and Figures Notes on the Authors Acknowledgements viii ix x Part I Setting the Scene 1 1 Agencies: The Context 3 2 Modern Agencies The Ideal Type 30 Part II Agencies in Four Countries: A Comparison 47 3 Finland 49 4 The Netherlands 63 5 Sweden 79 6 The United Kingdom 97 Part III Comparing Tasks 115 7 Prisons 117 8 Meteorology 147 9 Forestry 183 10 Social Security 216 Part IV Conclusions 243 11 Conclusions 245 Appendix: The EUROPAIR Research Project 267 Notes 270 References 271 Index 286 vii
List of Tables and Figures Tables 1.1 Cultural differences 27 2.1 Agency-relevant administrative doctrines 35 3.1 Six country comparison of selected cultural dimensions 51 3.2 Numbers of central administrative units under the direction of the Council of State, Finland 59 4.1 Trust in institutions (2000) 65 4.2 Dutch agencies to 2000 72 8.1 Basic organizational arrangements for Meteorology at time of research (2000 01) 158 9.1 Basic background on four forestry agencies 186 9.2 Organizational arrangements for forestry 190 10.1 Financial and staff resources of selected social security agencies (2000) 222 10.2 Social security agency governance arrangements (2002) 227 11.1 Categories of organizational theory 248 Figures 1.1 Nomenclature 11 1.2 Types of agency by task/work characteristics 26 3.1 State structure and the nature of executive government 50 7.1 Prisoner numbers per 100 000 population 121 7.2 Diversity in prison populations 122 viii
Notes on the Authors Christopher Pollitt Professor of Public Management at Erasmus University Rotterdam, and Scientific Director, Netherlands Institute of Government. Author of many books and articles on public management issues. Former editor Public Administration and former President, European Evaluation Society. Has worked as consultant and adviser for the European Commission, the OECD, the World Bank, the Finnish Ministry of Finance, the Danish Top Executives Forum and the UK National Audit Office. Colin Talbot Professor of Public Policy, University of Nottingham and Director, Nottingham Policy Center. He has written widely on public management reform policies and has acted in advisory roles to UK government departments, the National Audit Office and the World bank. Adviser to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Public Administration. Member of the Editorial Boards of Public Administration Review, Public Money and Management and the International Journal of Public Management. Janice Caulfield Research Assistant Professor, University of Hong Kong. Previously Senior Research Fellow at the University of Glamorgan. Current research interests in performance and accountability in both developing and developed countries. Co-editor with Helge O. Larsen of Local Government at the Crossroads, 2002, Leske and Budrich. Amanda Smullen Researcher at the Center for Public Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam. Currently completing her doctoral thesis on the rhetoric of agency reform, a comparative analysis of Australia, the Netherlands and Sweden. Her research interests include public management, discourse analysis and the new institutionalism. ix
Acknowledgements In the writing of this book and more specifically in the EUROPAIR project our debts to the public servants working in the various organizations in the four countries are huge. Many of them not merely submitted to interview (we carried out more than 90) but also responded generously to subsequent e-mail enquiries and telephone calls beyond number. We cannot name them here partly because we guaranteed anonymity, but also because the list would simply be too long. Nevertheless, our gratitude is profound. Perhaps the most practical way of signifying our acknowledgement of this extensive, freely offered assistance is simply to list the organizations for whom all these helpful individuals worked: Finland The Ministry of Finance The Ministry of Transport The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry The Ministry of Justice The State Audit Office (Valtiontalouden Tarkastusvirasto VTV) The Finnish Meterological Institute (Ilmatieteen Laitos FMI) The Forest Research Institute (METLA) The Forest and Park Service (Metsähallitus) The Social Security Office (KELA) The Criminal Sanctions Agency (Rikosseuraamusvirasto) The Netherlands The Ministry of Land, Natural Resources and Fisheries (LNV) The Ministry of Justice The National Audit Office (Algemene Rekenkamer) The Board of Forestry (Staatsbosbeheer) The Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute (Koninklijk Nederlands Meteorologisch Instituue KNMI) The Dutch Prisons Agency (Dienst Justitiële Inrichtingen DJI) The Dutch Social Insurance Bank (SVB) The Board of Supervision of Social Security (CTSV) x
Acknowledgements xi Sweden The Ministry of Finance The Ministry of Justice The Ministry of Environment The Ministry of Industry, Employment and Communications The Agency for Administrative Development (Statskontoret) The Swedish Social Security Agency (ABM Arbeidsmarknadsstyrelssen) The Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (Sveriges Meteorologiska och Hydrologiska Institut SMHI) The Swedish Forestry Board (Skogsstyrelssen) The Swedish Prison Administration (Kriminalvard Styrelsen KVV) The United Kingdom The Cabinet Office The Treasury The Home Office The Ministry for Social Security The Ministry of Defence The Benefits Agency The Forestry Commission Forest Enterprise Forest Research The Meteorological Office H.M. Prison Service (HMPS) Academic acknowledgements The breadth and depth of our academic debts should be clear from our list of references. However, there were also some individuals who gave freely of their time to discuss or comment on various aspects of our work. Our thanks in this regard go to Geert Bouckaert, Cesca Gains, Oliver James and Sandra Van Thiel. Finally, we should acknowledge the excellent editing work undertaken by Mark Freestone of the University of Nottingham. He saved us hours of hard labour.