Nispacee Journal of Public Administration and Policy 

About: Nispacee Journal of Public Administration and Policy is an academic journal published by De Gruyter Open. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Public sector & Government. It has an ISSN identifier of 1337-9038. It is also open access. Over the lifetime, 209 publications have been published receiving 1331 citations. The journal is also known as: Network of Institutes and Schools of Public Administration in Central and Eastern Europe journal of public administration and policy.

Public Administration and Management Reforms in CEE: Main Trajectories and Results

Abstract: The common feature of CEE systems is that they change drastically. Political systems change, e.g. from dictatorships to democracies, and their elites are removed. Democratic checks and balances are established. State structures are reshuffled, e.g. toward more decentralisation. The economic system changes its nature, e.g. from state monopolies to market systems with private firms. Societal and social systems with NGOs, not-for-profit organisations and citizen action groups are established and are designed for people to participate actively in the public debate and to become stakeholders of their society and their communities (Peters 1996).To achieve planned changes, CEE countries had to choose their strategies. In focusing on the administration and the management of public systems, five scopes of reform are possible, from very narrow and limited to a very widespread and broad span of reform (Pollitt and Bouckaert 2004). Choosing one of these models has tremendous practical implications for the content of a reform programme, for the choice of the reform projects, for the sequence and timing of the reform portfolio. It also requires different tactical choices to be made. One of the issues is how many degrees of freedom there are to reform the public sector.Just as in many other countries, mixed strategies have been chosen for public- sector reform in CEE countries, and these choices have changed over time. However, it seems that the span of reform has rather been broad than narrow. It also seems that tactics could have been more visible than strategy because of electoral cycles.This brings us to the question of the trajectories to move ahead. Our article, heavily based in the joint NISPAcee research project4 tries to respond to some selected dimensions of the question of what the common and different trajectories and selected outcomes of public administration / management reforms are in the CEE region.

Technological Change: A Central yet Neglected Feature of Public Administration

Abstract: This overview paper has two aims. The first is to indicate that technological change has been a somewhat neglected, or at the least esoteric, topic within the academic field of public administration. The second is to argue that this neglect is damaging for the PA community, because technological change is actually fundamental to developments in public administration, in a variety of ways.In order to demonstrate these two points, a wide range of literature is called upon, across many sectors.In conclusion a framework is offered to encourage the kinds of analysis of technological change that should ensure strong links with the central concerns of public administration scholarship.

New Public Management and its Implementation in CEE: What Do we Know and where Do we Go?

Abstract: The paper tries to provide one specific input for future evidence-based public policies in CEE. It discusses the role of New Public Management (NPM) in our region, with the focus on the new CEE EU members and their experience. NPM was, with very limited success, used in many developed countries at the end of last century. It was also part of several reforms, at least in some CEE countries. It may be "misused" for simple cost-cutting, but it may also be well used for better efficiency in the near future of public finance crises. The issue - our core question - is very simple: How to understand: "Adieu NPM"?

Participatory Budgeting: A Comparative Study of Croatia, Poland and Slovakia

Abstract: The New Public Management movement regards citizens as customers and, accordingly, focuses on the quality of services provided by public-sector organizations. Since this approach negatively affected democratic values, there has been a shift of the focus from consumer satisfaction and quality of services to quality of governance. The latter implies the improvement of the relationship between government and citizens as active members of the community. Over the last twenty years, participatory budgeting (PB) has become a popular form of co-production intended to improve the quality of local governance. The aim of the article is to provide a comparative analysis of the use and role of PB in Croatia, Poland and Slovakia and to identify the models of PB used in selected countries. In order to compare the case studies of municipalities in selected countries, a qualitative analysis has been used and the classification of PB models applied. Most analyzed local units use the “Porto Alegre adapted for Europe” model, but the “Consultation on public finances”, “Representation of Organized Interest” and “Proximity participation” models are also represented. The main findings are that PB indeed enables better allocation of public sources according to citizens’ needs (various public services were delivered following the trend of social innovation and co-creation), but the problem lies in the low amount assigned for PB from public budgets and the relatively low interest of citizens to participate in the PB processes. PB might also bring certain risks linked with its implementation, e.g. misuse of the idea for political reasons or additional costs of projects delivered in the PB process.

The Two Futures of Governing: Decentering and Recentering Processes in Governing

Abstract: Reforms of the public sector have helped create a more efficient and effective public sector, but also have created a number of problems. Both, the New Public Management and "governance" reforms have contributed to the contemporary problems in governing. These problems have been political to a great extent, reflecting the tendency to emphasize administrative rather than democratic values. Governments have begun to react to the real and perceived problems within the public sector by developing a number of "meta-governance" instruments that can help steer public organizations but which involve less direct command and control. This paper addresses the contemporary governance tasks of restoring political direction and policy coherence while at the same supporting the autonomy of public organizations, and the involvement of policy networks, in governing.;