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IPMN Newsletter 2005

Number 2

PUBLIC MANAGEMENT REFORM
The Newsletter of the International Public Management Network

IPMN NEWSLETTER No. 2 2005

In this Issue:

· Call for Papers for Special Issue of the International Public Management Review on Public Management in the EU
· IPMN Vancouver Workshop 2005
· New Public Management in Switzerland: Alive and Well
· Special Issue of the International Public Management Review on National Defense
? Update on IPMN Membership and Benefits

Special Issue of IPMR: Call for Papers

In the course of the enlargement of the European Union, a whole series of measures have been taken by new member countries to adapt to the requirements of the EU (aquis communeautaire). Among them were also measures in the area of public management and public governance. This has been described by organizations within the EU itself, but also the OECD, and others. Nevertheless, there is a lack of scholarly work in this field.

Therefore, we have decided to put together a special edition of the International Public Management Review (IPMR is our IPMN online journal at www.ipmr.net) on the following topic: "The impact of the European enlargement on public management and governance (and reform) in new and future European Union (EU) member countries."

We are inviting papers of IPMN members and others that deal with questions including:

- what measures in public management and governance have been taken by new member countries in the course of the enlargement process, and with which outcomes?
- what was the relationship between the EU and the new member countries in the definition of reform measures in public management and governance, and with which outcomes?
- which institutions and/or organizational capacities were built or changed in the enlargement process, and what types of outcomes have resulted from the reforms?

Potential contributors, please let the rest of us know more about what you know in this area!

Paper proposals should be sent by 31 August, 2005 directly to Kuno Schedler at the University of St.Gallen at kuno.schedler@unisg.ch

IPMN Vancouver Workshop 2005

The 2005 International Public Management Network (see www.inpuma.net) workshop will be held at the Peter Wall Institute conference center of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, August 15-17, 2005. The workshop topic is: "Communicable Crises: Prevention, Management and Resolution in an Era of Globalization." (Please see topic discussion below). Selected participants who have worked in this area have been invited to participate because of their expertise in the field along with members of the editorial board of the International Public Management Journal. Participation will be limited to 30 scholars drawn from the IPMJ editorial board, plus invited guests. The workshop format will involve a transcripted discussion of five papers distributed to the participants in advance of the workshop, with one or more of the participants reporting on the proceedings. The papers to be presented are:

Stimulus and Response: The European Food Safety Crisis, Chris Ansell, University of California, Berkeley

Sudden and Urgent: Interorganizational Coordination in Response to the Sumatran Earthquake and Tsunami, Louise Comfort, University of Pittsburgh

Rude Surprises and Transborder Crisis Management, Todd R. LaPorte, University of California, Berkeley

The Uses Of Terror: Overload, Crisis and the Unshackled State, Alasdair Roberts, Syracuse University

Managing International Crises: Lessons from the Spread and Control of Contagions, Ilan Vertinsky, University of British Columbia

Rapporteurs:
Michael Barzelay, London School of Economics and Political
Science (LSE)
Ian Mitroff, University of Southern California

Workshop Theme Description:
Communicable Crises: Prevention, Management and Resolution in an Era of Globalization

A crisis is a situation in which decision time is short and error disastrous. It is frequently alleged that globalization magnifies the mistakes and errors made by national governments in crisis situations. Moreover, by raising crisis to a higher level and reducing the efficacy of boundaries to control the spread of contagion -- defined broadly as the transmission of an effect from one individual to another, globalization has supposedly eroded the capacity of the nation state to prevent, manage, or resolve crisis. This leaves only a flaccid and ineffective system of largely voluntary international cooperation agents to muddle through, usually to fail, often disastrously. Strengthening public management institutions and developing specialized international crisis prevention and management units are the remedies typically demanded by those offering this diagnosis.

An alternative point of view is that traditional institutional arrangements, especially those associated with the nation state, are, in fact, less effective at dealing with crises than are deconstructed adaptive systems -- self-organizing aggregations of autonomous agent that lack a singular entity deliberately managing or controlling them. The efficacy of self-organization is shown in the ability of networks, informal alliances, and international clubs to prevent and manage crises, especially those resulting from increases in trade and travel, and the rapid expansion of new and existing communications and financial linkages.

Others allege that globalization has actually transformed the kind of crises we experience. Once, crises of contagion (epidemics, banking crises) had real agents and vectors. Management and resolution usually followed the onset of harm and, more often than not, failed. Now, crises typically result from the alarm that precedes a harmful condition. Consequently, serious harm is often forestalled precisely because of globalization. Rapid and open communication facilitates diagnosis and the development of appropriate responses, the concentration of resources where they can do the most good, and the elaboration of sound measures of self-help on the part of threatened populations.

Which if any of these perspectives is correct? To address this question and other related public management questions, especially those having to do with the defense of individual rights during a crisis or public efforts to prevent one, we will bring experts on crisis management, epidemiology, and financial contagion together with members of the International Public Management Network. The workshop organizers are Professors Fred
Thompson, Willamette University and Ilan Vertinsky, University of British Columbia.

New Public Management in Switzerland: Evolutionary Implementation Still in Progress

Last weekend, the people in the Canton of Aargau, Switzerland voted in favor of a comprehensive implementation of a new control model following the principles of the new public management (outcome-based public management in this case). According to the new regulation, all government agencies will be running on the basis of an integrated performance contract and one-line performance budget. The cantonal parliament will approve a budget that shows net resource consumption (one line) per output group. Some months ago, the people in the Canton of Solothurn, Switzerland voted in favor of an amendment of the Cantonal constitution to approve a law for outcome-based control of the administration. They introduced a new regulation that allows for referenda against performance contracts. This is the first government, to my knowledge, that is implementing direct democratic instruments under a new public management regime. Practical experience with these reforms will be interesting to observe. (Kuno Schedler, University of St. Gallen, Switzeralnd)

Special Issue of the International Public Management Review on National Defense

A special issue of IPMR (www.ipmr.net) will appear this fall on the topic of national defense business transformation in the U.S. Department of Defense. The editor of the issue is Professor Richard Dawe, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA, USA: rdawe@nps.edu. The publication of this issue of IPMR is directed at the leadership and staffs of ministries of defense worldwide in that these practitioners are always interested in recent developments in the U.S. DOD, in part because DOD is the largest enterprise of its kind in the world with expenditures of more that $400 billion (US $) annually. The special issue also should be of interest to academics who conduct research in this policy area. The issue will contain articles on management, acquisition, budgeting and financial management, logistics and other reforms in the U.S. DOD that have taken place in the past four years. No papers on U.S. defense policy will be included in the special issue. Military affairs aspects of national defense in the U.S. will be addressed only as they pertain to the "business" management of DOD.

Update on IPMN Membership and Bemefits

IPMN now has approximately 950 members from 87 nations at last count. IPMN is free and very easy to join at www.inpuma.net under Members. IPMN colleagues are provided free access to the IPMN listserver and to the online journal the International Public Management Review edited by Professors L. R. Jones and Kuno Schedler (www.ipmr.net). Members also have the opportunity to subscribe at a reduced price to the highly successful IPMN hardcopy journal, the International Public Management Journal now edited by Professor Steven J. Kelman at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. To subscribe to IPMJ at the reduced IPMN member price, send an email request to IPMJ@infoagepub.com. Please submit manuscripts for review for IPMR to IPMNet@aol.com, and manuscripts for IPMJ review to steve_kelman@harvard.edu.

9 June 2005

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Copyright ©1997 IPMN. All Rights Reserved.
Last Modified: June 13, 2005
Cindy Bond
Web Development Team

IPMN Newsletter 2005 Number 2
PUBLIC MANAGEMENT REFORM The Newsletter of the International Public Management Network IPMN NEWSLETTER No. 2 2005 In this Issue: · Call for Papers for Special Issue of the International Public Management Review on Public Management in the EU · IPMN Vancouver Workshop 2005 · New Public Management in Switzerland: Alive and Well · Special Issue of the International Public Management Review on National Defense ? Update on IPMN Membership and Benefits Special Issue of IPMR: Call for Papers In the course of the enlargement of the European Union, a whole series of measures have been taken by new member countries to adapt to the requirements of the EU (aquis communeautaire). Among them were also measures in the area of public management and public governance. This has been described by organizations within the EU itself, but also the OECD, and others. Nevertheless, there is a lack of scholarly work in this field. Therefore, we have decided to put together a special edition of the International Public Management Review (IPMR is our IPMN online journal at www.ipmr.net) on the following topic: "The impact of the European enlargement on public management and governance (and reform) in new and future European Union (EU) member countries." We are inviting papers of IPMN members and others that deal with questions including: - what measures in public management and governance have been taken by new member countries in the course of the enlargement process, and with which outcomes? - what was the relationship between the EU and the new member countries in the definition of reform measures in public management and governance, and with which outcomes? - which institutions and/or organizational capacities were built or changed in the enlargement process, and what types of outcomes have resulted from the reforms? Potential contributors, please let the rest of us know more about what you know in this area! Paper proposals should be sent by 31 August, 2005 directly to Kuno Schedler at the University of St.Gallen at kuno.schedler@unisg.ch IPMN Vancouver Workshop 2005 The 2005 International Public Management Network (see www.inpuma.net) workshop will be held at the Peter Wall Institute conference center of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, August 15-17, 2005. The workshop topic is: "Communicable Crises: Prevention, Management and Resolution in an Era of Globalization." (Please see topic discussion below). Selected participants who have worked in this area have been invited to participate because of their expertise in the field along with members of the editorial board of the International Public Management Journal. Participation will be limited to 30 scholars drawn from the IPMJ editorial board, plus invited guests. The workshop format will involve a transcripted discussion of five papers distributed to the participants in advance of the workshop, with one or more of the participants reporting on the proceedings. The papers to be presented are: Stimulus and Response: The European Food Safety Crisis, Chris Ansell, University of California, Berkeley Sudden and Urgent: Interorganizational Coordination in Response to the Sumatran Earthquake and Tsunami, Louise Comfort, University of Pittsburgh Rude Surprises and Transborder Crisis Management, Todd R. LaPorte, University of California, Berkeley The Uses Of Terror: Overload, Crisis and the Unshackled State, Alasdair Roberts, Syracuse University Managing International Crises: Lessons from the Spread and Control of Contagions, Ilan Vertinsky, University of British Columbia Rapporteurs: Michael Barzelay, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Ian Mitroff, University of Southern California Workshop Theme Description: Communicable Crises: Prevention, Management and Resolution in an Era of Globalization A crisis is a situation in which decision time is short and error disastrous. It is frequently alleged that globalization magnifies the mistakes and errors made by national governments in crisis situations. Moreover, by raising crisis to a higher level and reducing the efficacy of boundaries to control the spread of contagion -- defined broadly as the transmission of an effect from one individual to another, globalization has supposedly eroded the capacity of the nation state to prevent, manage, or resolve crisis. This leaves only a flaccid and ineffective system of largely voluntary international cooperation agents to muddle through, usually to fail, often disastrously. Strengthening public management institutions and developing specialized international crisis prevention and management units are the remedies typically demanded by those offering this diagnosis. An alternative point of view is that traditional institutional arrangements, especially those associated with the nation state, are, in fact, less effective at dealing with crises than are deconstructed adaptive systems -- self-organizing aggregations of autonomous agent that lack a singular entity deliberately managing or controlling them. The efficacy of self-organization is shown in the ability of networks, informal alliances, and international clubs to prevent and manage crises, especially those resulting from increases in trade and travel, and the rapid expansion of new and existing communications and financial linkages. Others allege that globalization has actually transformed the kind of crises we experience. Once, crises of contagion (epidemics, banking crises) had real agents and vectors. Management and resolution usually followed the onset of harm and, more often than not, failed. Now, crises typically result from the alarm that precedes a harmful condition. Consequently, serious harm is often forestalled precisely because of globalization. Rapid and open communication facilitates diagnosis and the development of appropriate responses, the concentration of resources where they can do the most good, and the elaboration of sound measures of self-help on the part of threatened populations. Which if any of these perspectives is correct? To address this question and other related public management questions, especially those having to do with the defense of individual rights during a crisis or public efforts to prevent one, we will bring experts on crisis management, epidemiology, and financial contagion together with members of the International Public Management Network. The workshop organizers are Professors Fred Thompson, Willamette University and Ilan Vertinsky, University of British Columbia. New Public Management in Switzerland: Evolutionary Implementation Still in Progress Last weekend, the people in the Canton of Aargau, Switzerland voted in favor of a comprehensive implementation of a new control model following the principles of the new public management (outcome-based public management in this case). According to the new regulation, all government agencies will be running on the basis of an integrated performance contract and one-line performance budget. The cantonal parliament will approve a budget that shows net resource consumption (one line) per output group. Some months ago, the people in the Canton of Solothurn, Switzerland voted in favor of an amendment of the Cantonal constitution to approve a law for outcome-based control of the administration. They introduced a new regulation that allows for referenda against performance contracts. This is the first government, to my knowledge, that is implementing direct democratic instruments under a new public management regime. Practical experience with these reforms will be interesting to observe. (Kuno Schedler, University of St. Gallen, Switzeralnd) Special Issue of the International Public Management Review on National Defense A special issue of IPMR (www.ipmr.net) will appear this fall on the topic of national defense business transformation in the U.S. Department of Defense. The editor of the issue is Professor Richard Dawe, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA, USA: rdawe@nps.edu. The publication of this issue of IPMR is directed at the leadership and staffs of ministries of defense worldwide in that these practitioners are always interested in recent developments in the U.S. DOD, in part because DOD is the largest enterprise of its kind in the world with expenditures of more that $400 billion (US $) annually. The special issue also should be of interest to academics who conduct research in this policy area. The issue will contain articles on management, acquisition, budgeting and financial management, logistics and other reforms in the U.S. DOD that have taken place in the past four years. No papers on U.S. defense policy will be included in the special issue. Military affairs aspects of national defense in the U.S. will be addressed only as they pertain to the "business" management of DOD. Update on IPMN Membership and Bemefits IPMN now has approximately 950 members from 87 nations at last count. IPMN is free and very easy to join at www.inpuma.net under Members. IPMN colleagues are provided free access to the IPMN listserver and to the online journal the International Public Management Review edited by Professors L. R. Jones and Kuno Schedler (www.ipmr.net). Members also have the opportunity to subscribe at a reduced price to the highly successful IPMN hardcopy journal, the International Public Management Journal now edited by Professor Steven J. Kelman at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. To subscribe to IPMJ at the reduced IPMN member price, send an email request to IPMJ@infoagepub.com. Please submit manuscripts for review for IPMR to IPMNet@aol.com, and manuscripts for IPMJ review to steve_kelman@harvard.edu. 9 June 2005
\| Home \| About IPMN \| Members \| IPM Journal \| IPM Review \| Research \| News & Events \| Contacting IPMN \|

Copyright ©1997 IPMN. All Rights Reserved. Last Modified: June 13, 2005	Cindy Bond Web Development Team