Development of Administrative Reforms of Public Sector: Searching for Convergence and Divergence

Abstract

The aim of this article is to review the changes in the public sector administrative reforms and to iden-tify its key elements by distinguishing the context, content (logic) and process of the reforms. It is shown that public sector reform movement and reforms content is the result of conflicting and competing values of good public management, which roots are in the perception about world’s operation and behaviour of people. Good public management presents the quality of governance. The core values of public admini-stration are responsiveness to public needs and people satisfaction, integrity of government and peoples’ trust in government, reliability and confidence of public administration system. The change in values lays in political economical, societal and institutional causes. The main reform concerns characterized by im-plementation of the 3E (economy, efficiency, effectiveness) conception are changing, by varying the ele-ments of 3E conception into ethics, equity, equalities. Reform processes seeming to be rationalistic steps guiding the change, at practice are on the continuum between planned changes and emerging strategy. Ad-ditionally, the practice of reforms is usually associated with lack of results and undelivered promises. Comparing administrative reforms we may identify the main common reforms’ factors (external pressure, political choice, reform logic, institutional constraints and administrative traditions) influencing the reform strategy and process, however its’ operation are different. There isn’t one universal reform model which could solve even similar type public administration problems.