Bureaucracies, Budgets and Decision-Making
I. Golden Oldies
II. Literary Map
III. Grand Synthesis
IV. Decision-Making and Budgets- Themes and Definitions of
a. Budget: Recurrent vs. Capital (Development) Budgets
b. Financial Management- Incrementalism and Satisficing vs. Zero Based Budgeting (Planning Systems)
c. Accounting- Cost and Benefit vs. profit and loss
d. Auditing- Quantitative vs. Qualitative
e. Evaluating- Assessment vs. Judgement
f. Budgeting: Two themes- Reforming and Decision-making
V. Reforming Government Budgeting
1. Baker and Schroeder- reforming public finance vs. privatization or devolution
2. Naomi Caiden- Planning vs. Budgeting- Incrementalism vs. Performance budgets
3. Steve Arnold and Phil Morgan- Programs, plans and projects (sustainability and the Sustainability Issue)
4. Guy Peters- The nature of budgetary decision-making- beyond politics? Should it be?
5. Barzelay- What financial paradigms are cliental oriented?
6. Heady- Bureaucracy, Managing Budgets vs. Political Development and Imbalance
7. Hummel and Miewald- the importance of criticism?
VI. Decision-Making and Financial Management- A Review of Themes
1. Savas-Privatization and Contracting Out- Commercialization and intra-governmental competition
2. Johnson-Economic Bureaucracy, Public Sector Management: A Japanese Model?
3. Harris- End of the Third World? End of
Development Budgets
4. Heady-Imbalance- Political vs. Bureaucratic Development in the role of financial management (The Corruption Problem)
5. Armstrong-Values, money and Development Management
6. Nelson- International Organizations, NGOs and Development (Contracts vs. Grants)
8. Turner
and Hulme-Private Sector Development vs. Development Management: The role of public sector financial management
9. Peters and
BarzelayPublic Sector Reform
10. Caiden and
Wildavsky Planning vs. Budgeting
11. Janis-Is Budgeting and financial management impacted by Group Think?
VII. Planning, Financial and Budgetary Management Systems in Poor Counties: Five historical periods- (See Caiden and Wildavsky)
i. Until the 1950s- recurrent budgets- law and order.
ii. 1950s-1960s- growth. Domestic development Funds with bilateral technical assistance
Recurrent vs. Development budgets
iii. 1960s-1970s: Distribution and basic needs. World Bank and Poorest of the poor
iv. Mid-1970s-mid1980s- Planning vs. Budgets
= planning demanded by technical assistance
= Technical assistance- both grants and loans (no private loans to Africa
= project planning "wins" over national planning and budgeting systems
v.1980s-End of century- Structural Adjustment "non-budgetary" allocations vs. incremental budgeting (define)
=donor monies drive the system in the degenerated state
=Goal: Back to the Future
VII. The CurrentState of Financial Management (Since 2001)- Structural Adjustment vs. Social Crisis
1. IMF Stabilization- currency reform, auctions and trade liberalization
2. Decentralized Budgeting- Part of Governance Debate
3. World Bank and UNDP "Management" - Opposing views to SAPs
3. Continued Absence of recurrent budgets and loss of control in Crisis: especially re. “Terror Prone” States
4. Activity (economy) driven by technical assistance projects - the only game in town
5. Bridging and sectoral loans and grants- major source of international involvement
6. Conditionality- What is the future?
i. Privatization of the economy
a. divestiture
b. contracting out
c. liquidation
d. sell off public private partnership shares
ii. Privatization (Commercialization) of the bureaucracy
a. Individuals work with investments and the service/commercial sector
b. Departments sell their services- eg. statistics in Zaire/DRC
c. Sub-economic salaries- offices and telephones- buying soap and selling chickens
d. International conditions for "good" bureaucrats, eg. World Bank in Uganda- special salaries for those on contract with the project
e. Goal: Return to the recurrent budgeting process of the 1950s
iii. New Framework: Subsidiarity and
decentralized budgeting?
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