RESEARCHING THE INFLUENCE OF MANAGEMENT REFORMS ON CROATIAN STATE ADMINISTRATION

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RESEARCHING THE INFLUENCE OF MANAGEMENT REFORMS
ON CROATIAN STATE ADMINISTRATION

• Ivona Mende
• Faculty of Political Science, Zagreb

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APPROACHES TO ADMINISTRATION

• Public administration (early 20th century - )
• (New) Public management (1980s - )
• Public policy (1990s - )
• Good governance (2000s - )

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PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

• A classic, Weberian approach to administration
  (used by continental European countries)
  characteristic of a modern administration
• Croatian state administration is lacking in this
  regard
• Bureaucratic disfunction is common
• Problem of corruption and a non-functioning
  judiciary

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(NEW) PUBLIC MANAGEMENT

• Managerialism originates in USA in late 19th
  century
• Demand conducting administrative activities as
  business activities (3Es)
• (New) Public management (last 25-30 years)
  consequence of economic crises on the world
  market
• Goal
• to maintain the functions of the public sector
  (e.g. the Swedish model)
• to reduce public expenditure and budget deficit
  through drastic public sector reforms (e.g. the
  British model)

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RESEARCH QUESTIONS

• What is the state of Croatian public
  administration and management today?
• To which degree is (new) public management
  present in Croatian administration?
• Which elements of reform were used most often?
• Are these attempts at reform thought-out,
  strategic and rational, or rather singular, ad
  hoc occurences, excercizing a bits and pieces
  approach to systemmic change?
• What effect did these reforms have on the
  effectiveness and efficiency of the public
  administration's performance?

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ASSUMPTIONS

• Croatia introduced elements of (new) public
  management into its administrative system
• Reform attempts were not part of a strategic
  plan, nor a consequence of a specific political
  ideology they were mostly ad hoc and sometimes
  dependant on outside pressure
• The effects on efficiency and effectiveness are
  ambiguous

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RESEARCH SUBJECT
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APPROACH TO RESEARCH

• Comparison with other countries approach to
  reform
• Analysis of legal framework, and Croatian
  strategic and other reform-oriented documents
• Analysis of other existing literature (e.g. other
  research on budget issues, privatization, etc.)
• Structured interview with relevant public
  servants and officials

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DISCUSSION

• THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!
• QUESTIONS, COMMENTS...