Charles Polidano
Biographic Data
| ID | 4128934 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Charles Polidano |
| GIVEN NAMES | Charles |
| FAMILY NAME | Polidano |
| SIGNATURE | POLIDANO C |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Manchester |
| ORCID | 0009-0000-8611-5674 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 70 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 10 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1995 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Towards better results from the World Bank
This article briefly reviews the World Bank document The World Bank Approach to Public Sector Management 2011–2020: Better Results from Public Sector Institutions. The document proposes an eclectic, experimental, contingent approach to reform – ‘what works’ – as opposed to doctrinaire, ‘best practice’ orthodoxies. However, the document is frank in discussing the obstacles to realizing this vision, including among other things the incentives to wh…
An Exocet in a Red Box
In the UK, it is commonly proposed that the accountability gap resulting from ministers' reluctance to accept responsibility for departmental failures could be closed by giving parliamentary select committees stronger investigative powers. In the Sandline affair the Foreign Affairs Committee sought to take on such a role, notwithstanding that a separate external inquiry was already under way. This paper compares the two mechanisms of accountabili…
Why Civil Service Reforms Fail
Tactical choices in the design and implementation of civil service reform can determine whether it succeeds or fails. Yet researchers have paid scant attention to tactical issues in recent years. This article considers three such issues: the scope of reform, the role of aid donors, and the leadership of reform. In each area it considers what sort of approach is likely to maximize the chances of success. However, the article seeks to go beyond pre…
Don't Discard State Autonomy
Rapid East Asian economic growth was commonly credited to the existence of strong, autonomous developmental states. Subsequently a new ‘institutionalist’ school of thought emerged which argued that an effective state must be connected to civil society, not autonomous from it, and which reinterpreted East Asian development in these terms. This paper is a critical reappraisal of the institutionalist school. The evidence of state autonomy (seen in r…
Measuring Public Sector Capacity
The Bureaucrats Who Almost Fell Under a Bus
The Bureaucrat Who Fell Under a Bus
Various concerns have been raised about the practicability of Next Steps and the adequacy of accountability mechanisms in Britain, particularly after the dismissal of Derek Lewis as chief executive of the Prison Service. This article critically reviews these concerns. It argues that the agency model is viable notwithstanding doubts about the practicability of the policy–operations distinction; that Next Steps is not the cause of defective account…
Why bureaucrats can't always do what Ministers want
Politicians and public servants are commonly depicted as being in a unilinear power relationship. However, senior officials are subject to accountability relationships with various central government authorities in addition to ministers. Multiple accountabilities can work at cross-purposes and prevent bureaucrats from complying with ministerial directions, however legitimate those directions may be. One aim of recent public management reform has …
Public Service Reform in Malta, 1988‐95
Malta's latest round of administrative reform has produced mixed results. While it has achieved more than any previous initiative, vital elements of the reform program have not been carried out and results have fallen short of initial expectations.The reform initiative yields a number of lessons, some of which have already been brought to light—the need to keep the reform agenda small, the need for sustained political backing—and others which are…
Should Administrative Reform Commissions Be Decommissioned
This article compares two approaches to administrative reform. The first, the traditional approach, relies on the generation of a reform blueprint by an autonomous commission made up of non‐bureaucrats. The second and more recent approach relies instead on a small unit often staffed by civil servants and reporting directly to the highest political authorities. The new approach offers reformers the flexibility needed to circumvent opposition yet a…
Measuring Public Sector Capacity
Why Civil Service Reforms Fail
Tactical choices in the design and implementation of civil service reform can determine whether it succeeds or fails. Yet researchers have paid scant attention to tactical issues in recent years. This article considers three such issues: the scope of reform, the role of aid donors, and the leadership of reform. In each area it considers what sort of approach is likely to maximize the chances of success. However, the article seeks to go beyond pre…
Don't Discard State Autonomy
Rapid East Asian economic growth was commonly credited to the existence of strong, autonomous developmental states. Subsequently a new ‘institutionalist’ school of thought emerged which argued that an effective state must be connected to civil society, not autonomous from it, and which reinterpreted East Asian development in these terms. This paper is a critical reappraisal of the institutionalist school. The evidence of state autonomy (seen in r…
The Bureaucrat Who Fell Under a Bus
Various concerns have been raised about the practicability of Next Steps and the adequacy of accountability mechanisms in Britain, particularly after the dismissal of Derek Lewis as chief executive of the Prison Service. This article critically reviews these concerns. It argues that the agency model is viable notwithstanding doubts about the practicability of the policy–operations distinction; that Next Steps is not the cause of defective account…
Public Service Reform in Malta, 1988‐95
Malta's latest round of administrative reform has produced mixed results. While it has achieved more than any previous initiative, vital elements of the reform program have not been carried out and results have fallen short of initial expectations.The reform initiative yields a number of lessons, some of which have already been brought to light—the need to keep the reform agenda small, the need for sustained political backing—and others which are…
An Exocet in a Red Box
In the UK, it is commonly proposed that the accountability gap resulting from ministers' reluctance to accept responsibility for departmental failures could be closed by giving parliamentary select committees stronger investigative powers. In the Sandline affair the Foreign Affairs Committee sought to take on such a role, notwithstanding that a separate external inquiry was already under way. This paper compares the two mechanisms of accountabili…
Should Administrative Reform Commissions Be Decommissioned
This article compares two approaches to administrative reform. The first, the traditional approach, relies on the generation of a reform blueprint by an autonomous commission made up of non‐bureaucrats. The second and more recent approach relies instead on a small unit often staffed by civil servants and reporting directly to the highest political authorities. The new approach offers reformers the flexibility needed to circumvent opposition yet a…
Should Administrative Reform Commissions Be Decommissioned
This article compares two approaches to administrative reform. The first, the traditional approach, relies on the generation of a reform blueprint by an autonomous commission made up of non‐bureaucrats. The second and more recent approach relies instead on a small unit often staffed by civil servants and reporting directly to the highest political authorities. The new approach offers reformers the flexibility needed to circumvent opposition yet a…
Public Service Reform in Malta, 1988‐95
Malta's latest round of administrative reform has produced mixed results. While it has achieved more than any previous initiative, vital elements of the reform program have not been carried out and results have fallen short of initial expectations.The reform initiative yields a number of lessons, some of which have already been brought to light—the need to keep the reform agenda small, the need for sustained political backing—and others which are…
Why bureaucrats can't always do what Ministers want
Politicians and public servants are commonly depicted as being in a unilinear power relationship. However, senior officials are subject to accountability relationships with various central government authorities in addition to ministers. Multiple accountabilities can work at cross-purposes and prevent bureaucrats from complying with ministerial directions, however legitimate those directions may be. One aim of recent public management reform has …
The Bureaucrat Who Fell Under a Bus
Various concerns have been raised about the practicability of Next Steps and the adequacy of accountability mechanisms in Britain, particularly after the dismissal of Derek Lewis as chief executive of the Prison Service. This article critically reviews these concerns. It argues that the agency model is viable notwithstanding doubts about the practicability of the policy–operations distinction; that Next Steps is not the cause of defective account…
Measuring Public Sector Capacity
The Bureaucrats Who Almost Fell Under a Bus
An Exocet in a Red Box
In the UK, it is commonly proposed that the accountability gap resulting from ministers' reluctance to accept responsibility for departmental failures could be closed by giving parliamentary select committees stronger investigative powers. In the Sandline affair the Foreign Affairs Committee sought to take on such a role, notwithstanding that a separate external inquiry was already under way. This paper compares the two mechanisms of accountabili…
Why Civil Service Reforms Fail
Tactical choices in the design and implementation of civil service reform can determine whether it succeeds or fails. Yet researchers have paid scant attention to tactical issues in recent years. This article considers three such issues: the scope of reform, the role of aid donors, and the leadership of reform. In each area it considers what sort of approach is likely to maximize the chances of success. However, the article seeks to go beyond pre…
Don't Discard State Autonomy
Rapid East Asian economic growth was commonly credited to the existence of strong, autonomous developmental states. Subsequently a new ‘institutionalist’ school of thought emerged which argued that an effective state must be connected to civil society, not autonomous from it, and which reinterpreted East Asian development in these terms. This paper is a critical reappraisal of the institutionalist school. The evidence of state autonomy (seen in r…
Towards better results from the World Bank
This article briefly reviews the World Bank document The World Bank Approach to Public Sector Management 2011–2020: Better Results from Public Sector Institutions. The document proposes an eclectic, experimental, contingent approach to reform – ‘what works’ – as opposed to doctrinaire, ‘best practice’ orthodoxies. However, the document is frank in discussing the obstacles to realizing this vision, including among other things the incentives to wh…
Political science (9 works) · Law (8 works) · Economics (7 works) · Law (7 works) · Public Administration (7 works) · Politics (6 works) · Public Administration (6 works) · Public Policy and Administration Research (6 works) · Accountability (3 works) · Business (3 works)