1. Performance Information for Democracy The Missing Link?

Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands,

This article examines research into the use of performance information by ministers, parliamentarians and citizens. These ‘end users’ are of crucial importance to the claim that performance information is not merely managerially useful, but also contributes to the quality of democratic debate and to the ability of citizens to make choices. A literature review indicates that research into use by these groups has been very patchy, and that much of what we do know suggests that evaluations and performance reports and audits are seldom highly valued by politicians or citizens. Possible reasons and remedies for this apparent state of affairs are discussed, and areas for further research are suggested.

2. Who Are We, What Are We Doing, Where Are We Going? A Perspective on the Academic Performance Management Community , published in Köz-Gazdaság II.I, (2007) February, pp73-82 (ISSN 1788-0696)

This article demonstrates the scope and dynamism of academic studies of performance measurement and management. It is a sub-field which exhibits both long-standing concerns and fresh challenges. The topics used are not only ‘doing science’ they are also intervening in a subject which is (potentially at least) of great political and public importance, and which may be highly consequential for the work and careers of many public sector staff.

3. Performance regimes in health care: Institutions, critical junctures and the logic of escalation in England and The Netherlands

Christopher Pollitt
Public Management Institute, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Stephen Harrison
George Dowsell
National Primary Care Research & Development Centre, University
of Manchester

Sonja Jerak-Zuiderent
Roland Bal
Erasmus Medical Centre, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam

This study sought to describe and understand the development of performance ‘regimes’ in the health care sectors of The Netherlands and England, focusing mainly on the acute hospital sector, where issues of ‘performance’ have received most government attention. The approach to the conceptualisation of such regimes included not simply the measures themselves, but the manner in which these were employed and any associated systems of sanctions. The study comprised two longitudinal national-level cases, one for each country, covering a period beginning in the early 1980s and going through to 2007.

The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. First, the authors outline the design and methods of this study, including the rationale for undertaking a specifically Anglo-Dutch comparison. Second, they summarise the different institutional patterns of the two countries and, third, the historical policy ‘punctuations’ that gave rise to quantitative performance regimes in their health care sectors. Fourth, we can identify a ‘logic of escalation’, by which factors endogenous to performance regimes intensify over time. Finally, we assist at a discussion about the overall nature of the authors findings and consider their possible applicability elsewhere.

UNPAN Publication (e-book)

Technical Project Highlight “Think-Tanks and Public Policies in Latin America” edited by Alfredo Garcé & Gerardo Uña

The term “think tanks” covers a wide range of organizations that aim to influence public policy.{…} However, despite growing interest, there is little literature on their properties in Latin America. Like any other global phenomeno,, the expansion of think-tanks is manifested in a specific way in different local contexts, especially in its functioning and relations with political actors. This book is a contribution to expand knowledge about think-tanks in Latin America.
The profile of the authors, which combines the expertise of researchers specializing in the field with the experience of protagonists of these processes, results in a cross view of this phenomenon that will certainly contribute to th study and understanding of think-thanks in Latin America.

United Nations e-government survey

UN Survey: Full findings of the 2010 United Nations E-Government Survey have now been published, including chapters on citizen empowerment, the role of e-government in financial regulation, electronic service delivery, and methods of measuring e-government. The survey also contains the world e-government rankings published earlier this year, which rated the UK and Northern Ireland as fourth in the world for e-government development, behind Canada, the US, and top-ranked Republic of Korea.

E-government Readiness in the OIC Member Countries

The Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC)

Today, we are living in an era of speed caused by the thecnological progress of mankind which has a deep impact on each and every process in both the public and private sector. this impact has even been felt in the most remote geographical areas of the world due to the widespread use of information and communication technology (ICT) tools. These technologies are adopted by the governments to trasnform the public he needs of their citizens.

The Institute of Public Administration of Canada (e-book)

Social Media and Public Sector Policy Dilemmas