This thesis investigates the political management of state schooling under New Labour from 1997-2010. The thesis considers and rejects two mainstream approaches to the analysis of New Labour‟s education strategy which characterise the New Labour education project as either a process of marketisation or as a symptom of a shift to a new governance through networks of diffused power. Instead, the thesis argues that the best general characterisation of New Labour‟s education strategy is as a centralising project which has increased the power and discretion of the core of the core executive over the education sector at the expense of alternative centres of power. The thesis proposes that the trajectory of education policy under New Labour is congruent with a broader strategy for the modification of the British state which sought to enhance administrative efficiency and governing competence. Changes to education strategies can then be explained as the result of changing social and economic contexts filtered through the governing projects of strategic political actors. The thesis argues that New Labour‟s education strategy was largely successful in terms of securing governing competence and altering power relations and behaviour in the sector despite continuing controversy over the programmatic and political performance of its education policies.

How performance management influences the motivation of public-sector institutions in a decentralised system has received little attention by scholars. This study helps fill this gap by investigating how Minimum Service Standards (MSS) in Indonesia influences the motivation of local government in a decentralised country like Indonesia. This study considers the nature of MSS, how it works, what effect it has on the performance of local governments and why. The evidence is collected from extensive interviews with eighty-three respondents from central government, local governments (eight districts and cities) and non-governmental sector. The findings show the varying effects on the motivation of local government to improve service delivery. MSS does not motivate local governments that are already performing well, but more importantly, it also does not motivate those that are performing badly. However, a small positive effect is found on the motivation of those whose performance lies just below the minimum standard. As it has limited influence, the MSS system does not achieve its formal objectives. However, it survives because it brings central government other benefits. MSS provides a framework for central-local dialogue about public services and strengthens the role central government plays in delivering services at the local level.

The adoption of performance-related pay schemes is part of the wider market-type reforms occurring in public services today. However, this ‘managerial revolution’ has prompted an academic debate for and against these practices. The main questions raised revolve around the novelty, objectivity and compatibility of such practices to which this study responds. The thesis argues that the value of an incentive scheme policy is a function of the organisational environment, objectivity of performance measurement processes and perceived equity of the installed scheme. The research uses data from in-depth interviews, questionnaires, and desk research based on a case study of performance-related pay schemes in UK local authorities. The evidence indicates a strong support at policy level for the use of market-type managerial reforms, but less support on the ground for the performance-pay thesis. There are difficulties encountered in the setting, measuring and rewarding qualitative performance of intangible targets such as intellectual capital. The evidence perceives PRP schemes to be vulnerable to failure as they are installed as ‘off-the-shelf’ ‘stand-alone’ rather than organization-specific motivational devices. The study looks at the ‘new’ role of management accounting systems in meeting ‘performance information needs’ of public sector managers as a potential area for further research.

The research investigated how various people, such as Local Education Authority officers, teachers and parents, represented change (defined as becoming different from a previous state) concerning an inclusion strategy. The investigation used a case study approach and methodology based upon grounded theory (Glaser and Strauss, 1967) and heuristic research (Moustakas, 1990). Several different case studies within the LEA were used, a formal consultation concerning the change of specialist provision, staff views in a “MLD” school and LEA officer views. Data used was discourse, written and spoken, semi-structured interviews, public meetings and media publications. NVivo, a computer programme, was used to analyse the discourse, relating this to different theoretical orientations, cognitive psychology, social psychology, management theory and school improvement. Foucault (1977), especially the concept of episteme/paradigms, provided the most useful theoretical framework for analysing data. It is argued that inclusion within the case study LEA was not a paradigm shift, but change around the edge of a paradigm with a stable core, which related to groups of pupils being seen as different. Comparison has been made with Kuhn (1996) on how scientific paradigms are modelled, linking together the research methodology and findings.

This study examines policies and practices in procurement and commissioning which aim to maximise the value of public organisations’ spend by asking for contractors to deliver social value (community benefits) as added value, over and beyond the core requirement. It draws from case studies of revealing practices to i) contribute to the definition and interpretation of the term ‘value’ in procurement and commissioning, ii) identify a theoretical model of how community (societal) benefits can be delivered as ‘added value’, aimed at improving public procurement and commissioning practices and iii) explore the implications of this model for the current debate on ‘Public Value’, examining how it might contribute to policy and practice in creating and delivering value in public services delivery.

This thesis explores co-production between citizens and third sector professionals (in community regeneration, parents’ organisations, and older people’s services) in Sheffield, England and Lyon, France. I employ an analytical framework of institutional logics to explore how the rules, practices and narratives of the organisations are specific to their contexts and how these shape co-production practices. The study finds that while the Sheffield organisations are characterised by an assimilation of the state, community and market logics, the Lyon organisations demonstrate a blend of a ‘Napoleonic state’ logic, and a ‘local solidarity’ logic. These combinations of logics illuminate two approaches to co-production. In France, co-production is informed by notions of citizenship, solidarity and participative democracy, leading to a greater focus on citizen involvement in organisational governance and influence of rules as an enabler and constraint to co-production. In Sheffield, co-production is seen as a way to improve communities, services and outcomes, and we therefore see more pragmatic attention to co-design and co-delivery activities. This thesis provides an important contribution to co-production theory and practice, by employing institutional theory to demonstrate some of the cultural and contextual subjectivity of co-production, and producing evidence of meso and macro level factors that influence co-production behaviour.

This thesis focuses on the challenge within public leadership of reconciling the sometimes conflicting interests of the national and local state. District Governors in Turkey are the agents of the central state within their districts but they also exercise an important role as local civic leaders for the communities over which they have jurisdiction. This thesis examines the ways in which those competing governance and leadership responsibilities are balanced out between one another. Additionally, the thesis explores the impacts upon the leadership practices of district governors of, on the one hand, personal qualities and behavioural traits, and contextual factors specific to particular places on the other, recognising that Turkey is a particularly diverse country in terms of social development, ethnicity, economic prosperity, and religion among other aspects. The underpinning research has been based on a case study design and has involved in-depth and semi-structured interviews with a sample of 30 District Governors, selected from across Turkey. A key finding is that, while being appointees of the central state and accountable to their superiors in Ankara, district governors soon develop for themselves strong roles and profiles as local public leaders, though somewhat constrained in this respect both by the centre's control over resource availability, and by the growing challenge created by the ascendancy of locally elected politicians under more recent policies favouring devolution and decentralisation. The research also highlights the significance of governors' personal endeavours to resolve particularly challenging local issues to their reputations and respect within their local communities; such acts of leadership being undertaken over and above, the plethora of administrative duties and responsibilities that the state expects of its governor appointees. However, having been conducted at a time of increasing political tension and hiatus across Turkey, the research also identified a mood of considerable uncertainty and pessimism among interviewees about the future for district governorships at the interface between centre and locality within the country. Recent public administration reforms in Turkey, and specifically, moves to devolve more powers to municipalities, imply changes in the role and influence of District Governors. Accordingly the research sought to understand how interviewees were viewing these changes and their implications for their role into the future. In this respect, almost all the governors expressed apprehension and much uncertainty about future prospects.

This study examines the process of the distribution of residential land in Greater Khartoum, Sudan, and inquires into the processes which constrain the access of the urban population to residential plots. The main objective is to analyse the constraints which bear upon the implementation of urban housing policy, and to develop an adequate explanation of their sources and underlying mechanisms. The study employs a broad framework of analysis that combines a structural analysis of the political economy with an institutional analysis of policy and organisational process. It will be argued that the limitations inherent in the urban housing policy in Sudan can be explained in terms of the prevailing policy planning model and the underlying structural constraints which arise from the nature of the political economy. The study consists of seven chapters. Chapter One provides an overview of perspectives of policy implementation in the Third World. The relevance of some of these perspectives to an approach that relates policy problems to social structure will be considered. Chapter Two presents an exposition of the Sudanese economy and highlights the question of how dominant economic interests influence public policy. Chapter Three addresses the links between social structure and public policy by analysing the prevalent model of policy planning in Sudan. It will be argued that there is a correspondence between the social content of the policy model and the interests of dominant economic classes identified in Chapter Two. Chapter Four focuses on the effect of the policy model on urban social policy. Two policy areas will be examined: the policy of regional development and its impact on housing problems in the capital; and the policy of urban land development. Chapter Five investigates the concrete limits on access to residential land at the level of housing agencies. Their organisational patterns, rules of allocation and operational processes will be examined. Chapter Six narrows the focus on the limits on access by examining the upgrading process in one of the capital's illegal settlements. Chapter Seven concludes the argument on the source and the incidence of constraints on policy implementation. We will synthesise the processes underlying the constraints identified in the preceding chapters, and advance a broad explanation of the nature and the incidence of these constraints.

The search for enhanced rationality in the governance and management of UK public services is an enduring theme of reform programmes. Three modes of rationality had a significant impact during the period 1977-1997: the rationality of disengagement, which suggests that there are benefits to be derived from the governance of public services by boards of appointed individuals operating at arm's-length to the democratic process; the rationality of integration, which concerns the advantages to be gained from the development of interrelationships between agencies around particular public policy objectives; and the rationality of congruence, which stresses the need for local authorities' policies and service delivery processes to reflect the views and preferences of their communities. The origins and characteristics of these three themes are examined and their effect on public services assessed. Together, they have produced a significant transformation of the management and governance of UK public services. The analysis suggests that, at a macro level, the underlying problems of governance and management each rationality seeks to address recycles over a period of time. Reform strategies materialise through a 'garbage-can' model in which current problems are attached to the prevailing fashionable solutions. However, there is also a developmental process in operation. The intersection of the three rationalities offers an agenda for future research.

The study seeks to clarify why donors such as the World Bank still insist on the use of their financial management system rather than the recipient country’s financial management system, despite the intention under the Paris Declaration 2005 to use the respective government’s systems. The study then explores the reasons why the financial management system used by the World Bank is more effective in managing risks related to public financial management and aid as compared to the Government of Malaysia approach. The study compares financial management by the World Bank and Ministry of Education, Government of Malaysia, in their parallel implementation of Educational Sector Support Projects (ESSP) under the Eighth Malaysian Plan, 2001-2005. The quality of financial management of projects in two systems is compared using established criteria of good financial management practice. Findings are based on evidence from interviews, documentation and direct observations. The study demonstrates the significant roles in reducing risks played in the World Bank approach by the Project Management Reports (PMR), the high quality of Project Implementation Unit (PIU) staff and the better procurement procedures. The implication is that more effective risk management and financial management reporting were needed by the Ministry of Education in implementing the ESSP under the Eighth Malaysian Plan 2001 - 2005.