Assessing the implementation of managerial reforms in Catalan government: the development of professional public management

Abstract

This article examines the extent of recent managerial reforms in Catalan government. The results were unexpected. Reforms which aimed to provide public administrations with more managerially-oriented frameworks are failing to embed in Catalan administrations, particularly in areas like accountability and incentives systems. This article will be of particular value in countries where the boundaries between politicians and managers coming from administrative careers in the public service are blurred, such as in Spain, France and Italy.

Keywords:

• Discretional sphere
• deliberative argumentation
• managerial reforms
• political-administrative systems
• professional public management

Acknowledgements

This article reports work undertaken by the authors as part of MICINN Research Award CSO2009/11351, and AGAUR Research Award SGR1483. We would like to thank Rhys Andrews, Andrew Massey and PMM's two anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions. We also thank Marina Pol and Héctor Arámbula for research assistance.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Francisco Longo

Francisco Longo is Professor of Human Resources and Public Management and the Director of the Institute of Public Governance and Management at ESADE Business School, Ramon Llull University, Barcelona, Spain.

Marc Esteve

Marc Esteve is a PhD Candidate in Management Sciences at ESADE Business School and he is currently a visiting researcher at Cardiff University, UK.