Reshaping the State in the Age of Fiasco

‘Patrick Diamond assesses the UK experience with public management reform in this important book, which combines historical scope with incisive analysis of successive reform agendas over the past fifty years. The book is timely, as it locates the challenges facing the current government within the context of perennial themes and debates surrounding the content, meaning, and efficacy of reform agendas in public administration and public management, and their impact on government performance. Students, academics, and practitioners will learn a great deal from this text. ‘

— Robert Pyper , Emeritus Professor of Government and Public Policy, University of the West of Scotland, UK.

‘This is a vital text for anyone who wants to understand the nature and causes of fiasco and failure in government. Through exemplary analysis of policy and practice at Westminster, including the recent approach to mission-driven government, Professor Diamond explains how reforms over the last 50 years have damaged the UK economy and the ability to govern.’ 

— Ian Elliott , Senior Lecturer in Public Administration, University of Glasgow, UK.

Reshaping the State in the Age of Fiasco  meticulously analyses fifty years of structural innovation in UK public management reform. Rather than ascribing policymaking blunders to the ascendency of New Public Management, the book focuses on how the rise of managerialism led to pathologies and contradictions arising from the traditions and culture of British government. The book addresses the dynamic of waves of centralisation and fragmentation – the back-and-forth between ‘filling-in’ and ‘hollowing-out’ – that animated the reform process in Britain since the mid-twentieth century.

In the post-war era, the myth prevailed that UK institutions, policies and solutions offered a model for the rest of the world, while there was little meaningful that could be learnt from elsewhere. Yet recent governing crises, notably fiscal austerity, Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic underlined that despite decades of reform, the performance of the British state and public services remained glaringly inadequate. There has been far less improvement in efficiency, economy and effectiveness than was promised. The volume asks why that is so, and what can be done.

Patrick Diamond is Professor of Public Policy at Queen Mary University of London, UK.