Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- Notes on contributors
- one Introduction: administering welfare reform
- two Welfare reform as governance reform: the prospects of a governmentality perspective
- Part One Participants: reforming the agents of welfare delivery
- Part Two Practices: the welfare governance of street-level practices
- Part Three Processes: the changing spaces of welfare governance
- Index
- Also available from The Policy Press
nine - Administering global welfare: public management, governance and the new role of INGOs
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 January 2022
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- Notes on contributors
- one Introduction: administering welfare reform
- two Welfare reform as governance reform: the prospects of a governmentality perspective
- Part One Participants: reforming the agents of welfare delivery
- Part Two Practices: the welfare governance of street-level practices
- Part Three Processes: the changing spaces of welfare governance
- Index
- Also available from The Policy Press
Summary
Global governance institutions and scholars of global civil society are acutely aware of the importance of international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) to transnational welfare arrangements (UN, 2004). Yet within these arrangements the role of INGO organisational management principles in determining the effectiveness of transnational welfare is less well understood. Coming to terms with the significance of management calls for a renewed understanding of New Public Management (NPM) and its place within global governance.
The impact of NPM on national-level non-governmental organisations (NGOs), particularly service-based NGOs, has been subject to significant scrutiny (for example, Ryan, 1999; Alexander, 2000; Considine, 2001; Ramia and Carney, 2003). As part of the NPM agenda, many national governments, particularly those of the Anglo-Saxon countries, have contracted out and put up for competitive tender the majority of welfare functions traditionally carried out in a non-competitive environment by organisations in the public and non-profit sectors. Today, services can be and are delivered not only by public sector and non-profit organisations, but also by profit-seekers. Non-profits have accordingly been forced to be ‘competitive’ in their outlook, often emulating the strategic management techniques of their for-profit counterparts. These trends have been examined cross-nationally (Polidano, 1999; Pollitt and Bouckaert, 2000; Considine, 2001; Pollitt and Talbot, 2003), but the adaptation of NPM changes to the global sphere has not attracted a great deal of attention in governance debates.
This is not surprising. At least from one view, governmental change can be deemed nebulous as a global concept, given the lack of a global ‘government’. In contrast to this view, however, this chapter argues that supranational governmental change is conceivable, and it is amenable to global governance analysis. This makes the search for ‘good governance’ more elusive and more complex than it has been in times past.
The adaptation of NPM principles to the global arena can be seen mainly in changes to multilateralism, particularly since the mid-1990s, which present those seeking global democracy with added complexities. In particular, multilateral governance patterns have partially disempowered nation states in their policy-making capacities, and, in so doing, they afford a more prominent part to be played by INGOs in governance processes; particularly in relation to consultation and hands-on input on governance alongside intergovernmental organisations (IGOs) such as the United Nations (UN) and the World Bank (Held, 1995; O’Brien et al, 2000; Ottaway, 2001; Baker, 2002; UN, 2004).
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- Administering Welfare ReformInternational Transformations in Welfare Governance, pp. 185 - 212Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2006