Reshaping the State in the Age of Fiasco: Fifty Years of Public Management Reform in the United Kingdom

Reshaping the State in the Age of Fiasco meticulously analyses fifty years of structural innovation in UK public management reform. Rather than ascribing policymaking blunders to the ascendency of New Public Management, it focuses on how the rise of managerialism led to pathologies and contradictions arising from the traditions and culture of British government. In the post-war era, the myth prevailed that UK institutions, policies and solutions offered a model for the rest of the world, while there was little meaningful that could be learnt from elsewhere. Yet recent governing crises, notably fiscal austerity, Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic underlined that despite decades of reform, the performance of the British state and public services remained glaringly inadequate. There has been far less improvement in efficiency, economy and effectiveness than was promised. This book asks why that is so, and what can be done.