Abstract
The machinery of government and its organization stems from the division of labour and specialization between its units and the coordination between them. Based on a multiple-country study on specialization and coordination in the public sector, this chapter develops three arguments on the effect of specialization and coordination on the policy capacity of governments. First, a comparative static analysis based on empirical observations of three countries shows that the new public management-based specialization and fragmentation of the governmental apparatus during the 1980s and early 1990s was followed and complemented by the introduction of new or revised coordination instruments. These coordination mechanisms may be classified as hierarchy-type mechanisms, market-type mechanisms or network-type mechanisms.
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© 2005 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Verhoest, K., Bouckaert, G. (2005). Machinery of Government and Policy Capacity: The Effects of Specialization and Coordination. In: Painter, M., Pierre, J. (eds) Challenges to State Policy Capacity. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230524194_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230524194_6
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