Introduction
The End of Government as We Know It: Making Public Policy Work was published in 2007. The author argues that the current government structure in Washington will disintegrate in a number of years not to come to a crashing end but to embrace the new technologies in this information and technology era. This will lead to a reduction of the number of bureaucrats in the Washington offices and there will be a great reduction in those in the federal offices. All this will be influenced by the policy makers if they adopt the emerging technology in the workings of the government. The book is not only informative but also provides practical solutions for policy makers and other agents in government.
Discussion
If we are conscious of what is happening within government, we can make it happen better. If we are not, we might to waste a lot of money and fail a great many people as Elaine puts it in her book. What exactly is happening in government, and how can we avoid wasting a whole lot of resources in the coming years? Elaine, who from 1993 to 1997 worked in the Clinton administration, explores this in her book. Most of the solutions that she proposes involve working with the general public and big corporations and agencies to help reduce government expenditure while working out government goals and strategies. Each of this solution is a model that can be explored fully.
The models are practical but the problem is finding common ground where the public sector, the government and the private sector can merge and work on the policies and still be fully accountable to the government to avoid loss of control. Policymakers are also required to match appropriate implementation strategies to their goals in the models mention herein. The models will also require the leaders involved to be well educated and experienced so as to navigate the whole system and its networks in the proper directions.
Model I: Reinventing Government Bureaucracy
In this model, she suggests that the government could get rid of some of the bureaucracy in its processes day for instance in the screening of luggage in transport facilities e.g. airports or subway terminals for the purposes of safety. In their place, there could be the tracking of performance of the various systems and program services to evaluate their effectiveness. This will reduce the continual use of redundant methods in public processes.
Golden nugget Quote
Elaine writes that – performance measures do not guarantee good performance. This is true since there could be an improvement indicated on a performance measure but it is largely based on the relativism of alternative systems or previous performances statistics which may also not be effective. Performance could better be evaluated through expected returns and perfect model prototypes or by comparing with the ideal situation. This would ensure good performance and also improve the systems involved.
The problem of bureaucracy is that inhibits the fast making of decisions and solving of problems that could be easily made and solved respectively. Decision making may take months instead of hours or days. The solving of problems say with clients requires a process that complicates and infuriates the public. Getting rid of the bureaucracy where it is deemed fit ensure faster transfer of resources and shorter time is taken in making of important decisions. This leads to fluidity in terms of finances and other resources involved thus growing the economy faster.
Model II: Usage of State Power by the Government to Create Market Catering for Public Purposes
In this model, the government uses its state power to fulfill public purposes by creating a feasible market. The advantage of this model is that the number of federal officers required is significantly reduced thus very minimal, if any, public money gets used. It also involves the implementation of public policy on behalf of the government over a large number of the population. The other advantage is that there are already many public amenities in place to be used by the government that it owns. Thus it does not require acquiring new assets or resources except maybe for human personnel with the required expertise.
It is also easier for the public to buy into the state owned market since most of its products are subsidized to cater for all the different classes in the economy. Thus even those who are not in the middle class or the upper class i.e. the lower class can afford the products thus avoid being marginalized. They are also the large majority and thus they affect the success of most of the government policies.
“Western democracies are fooling themselves if they think they can manage into the next century without addressing the wage gap at the top between the public and private sectors” Kamacrk writes in her book The End of Government as We Know It: Making Public Policy Work. This means that in creating the market for their state products or policies, the government will have to increase or reduce wages accordingly. This is however difficult as the private sector wages are determined by the profits the private companies make while the government’s priority is not to make profits but to serve people.
Model III: Governance and Implementation of Government Policy through Government Networks
Kamarck writes that the government should fund its public networks e.g. non-profit and for-profit organizations, universities, laboratories, research centers with to carry out some of its ventures in its place. This involves the public and private sectors in working towards of collection of public oriented information for instance the collection of information on terrorism intelligence, and innovation of machines and finding of epidemic disease cures etc.
Golden nugget quotes
Kamacrk writes “If the government is to remain an effective force, people should make nearly as much money in the public sector as in the private sector. Each of these new forms of governments requires sophisticated packages of skills and backgrounds often found among leaders of the industry.” In this regard, while running and interconnecting with its networks, the government will have to improve the wages of those it works with to almost be the equivalents of their counterparts in the private sector. It will also need to train and improve the expertise of those in its networks to those of the level of those in the private sector so as to improve the level their output.
Relevance of the book to policy studies
There is a lot of fodder for policy makers in this book. The model presented by the author involve reinventing the government bureaucracy models, the government could instead utilize the systems of those institutions that it will choose to fund and work with. This helps policy makers focus on pending matters instead of rehabilitating the administration first thus saving time, finances and human personnel output.
The three models offer alternatives to the original structure of government that is now rapidly changing due to changes in technology and the emerging concerns and of the general public. There are limitless options for those in federal government on how to deal with these changes and their major problem is to pick the implementation method and the strategies to use in place of the previous, and what to consider as priorities. They also indicate that there are different ways for the government to govern its citizens apart from the old systems.
Strengths and Weaknesses of her arguments
This is the strength of these models; that they are possible strong solutions to the old government systems in place that are not working well in this information age. They are also practical and not difficult to implement. They are not difficult as they will put into use existing layers of management and to a great extent improve those models of management hence the policy makers will be at an advantage as they do not have to start from scratch in these scenarios. The models are practical since some of them are already in practice and have been well tested even though to a small extent.
The other advantage is that there is less usage of public resources by the government; instead the private sector will also put in play its resources to assist in the achieving of government goals. Private sectors will also be greatly involved and they will also feel as though they are also greatly a part of the development of the country and implementation of the states policies thus they will also be inclined to care for the common good of the common citizen of America. Also the reinventing of the government bureaucratic systems will lead to better serving of the public and private sectors.
The disadvantage of these models is that the government current bureaucratic systems will make them hard to be implemented. They also require massive changes in the placement and replacement of federal officers in government offices. Reduction in their numbers will be met with resistance as that will mean layoffs and pay cuts and pay rises for some. There requires some policies to be made to cater for these kinds of changes and until they are modeled in a way that will not meet a lot of resistance, it will be difficult to effect them immediately.
The other disadvantage is that the private sectors may not be willing to work with the government due to their vested interests in their respective fields or out of fear of the reduction in their profits or encroachment of their resources by the government. Institutions like the non-profit and for-profit organizations and universities may have different goals from those of the government at a point in time, or in the long run thus creating a point of conflict of interest even if they are well funded by the government. This means that one party will lose out, and most likely, the institution as the government has more power. These scenarios could create resistance to the government thus supporting the claim that government is not relevant in today’s world.
Conclusion
The models proposed by Elaine are relevant. They have their advantages and disadvantages, and each is a possible solution to the problems that Congress in Washington is facing. It is up to the government to decide what to do to solve its increasing rift between itself and its people. Policy makers should read this book to gain insight on what can be done to solve the problems that the country currently faces and to be prepared to circumvent problems that arise with their implementation.
Reference
Kamarck, E. C. (2007). The end of government as we know it: Making public policy work. Boulder, Colo. [u.a.: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
