Day 2 - Gert Bouckaert - Final presentation.pdf

Presentation given by Gert Bouckaert at the SIGMA-GIZ joint event Advancing Good Governance in Public Administration Reform in the Eastern Partnership Countries, that took place 4-5 June 2024 in Brussels.

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4-5 June 2024, Brussels
Public Governance in an increasingly
volatile world
Geert Bouckaert
KU Leuven Public Governance Institute

2. Public Governance in an
increasinglyvolatileworld
EasternPartnership CountriesConference,
June5th 2024, Brussels, Belgium
Geert Bouckaert
KU Leuven Public Governance Institute

3. Instituut voor de OverheidUnclassified - Non classifié
European ParliamentaryResearch Service
(withIPOL, EXPO): FutureShocks, April 2022

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Shocks and impacts 2030

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Changingrealities
Resiliencevsresistance(tochange), as in goingback to
‘normal’, even whenitis ‘new normal’
From‘crisis’ to‘crises’ to‘disruptivesystem quakes’
•Fromthreatstoopportunitiesfor change
Changingparadigm: fromsequentialtosimultaneous
•previous: Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)/ crisis/
handling thecrisis/ back to‘normal’
•future: SOP combinedwithchronical, and parallel crises

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Setting thePublic Governance Scene
Is ourcurrentdemocraticpublic governanceregime capable
to‘solve’, ‘handle’, ‘contain’ these shocks?
Do we needa (re-)newedfit-for-purpose, fit-for-future
democraticand effectivepublic governanceregime?

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ImplicationsforgoverningthePublic Space (State and
public service) of society
1.Change DecisionMaking tokeep Legitimacy
2.Change Contents of Policiestokeep Trustworthiness
3.Change Public Governance regimes toensureCollaborative
Governance

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FromVUCA toTODO (Bouckaert & Galego, 2024)

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Adjustingpublic governance
Renewedbureaucracyand adminstration
•Plus: Crisis management
•Plus: System quakegovernance
Fromsequentialtosimultaneous
•Fromonlyrecoveringtosustainableresilience
Whichdrivingmodel tomake thishappen?
•Hierarchy(State and Law): Neo-WeberianState,
•Market (New Public Management),
•Networks (New Public Governance)

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Trajectoriesof governancereforms:
Solutions generatingnew problemsPerceived lack of:
- Performance
- Responsibility
- Accountability
- Transparency
- Control
- Policy capacity
to guarantee results
- ...
A
- Creation of
agencies
- More autonomy
- More
specialisation
- Increase of single
policy capacities
- Performance
Measurement
Systems (PMS)
- ...
B
- New / renewed
co-ordination
HTM
MTM
NTM
- Guarantee
effective policy
capacity
- Audit Capacity
increased
D
- Dysfunctional
autonomy
- Centrifugal
agencies
-Suboptial focus on
agency outputs, not
on policy outcomes
- Considerable
transaction costs
- Disconnected
single policy
capacities
- Perversions of
PMS: "Gaming", ...
C
(1)
PROBLEM SOLUTION NEW SOLUTION
(2)
SOLUTION = PROBLEM
(3)
NEW SOLUTION?
-H: pure
recentralisation
M: private
monopolies
N: symbolic policy,
weak networks
- Audit-Tsunami
- New performance
triggered Red Tape
- Establish distrust
within the public
sector
- Re-establish Trust
- Re-equilibrate
Trust and
Performance
- Performance
governance
- ...
SOLUTION = PROBLEM
NEW PROBLEM?

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ResilienceGovernance = C*C*C*C*C= C
5
•Capacity
•Coping with(non-)Certainty
•Confidence
•Consequencesand Appropriateness
•Cultures of Innovation

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Governance principles
CEPA (UN-ECOSOC) Principlesof responsiveand effective
governancefor sustainabledevelopment
-Effectiveness(1-3): Competence, Sound Policymaking,
Collaboration
-Accountability (4-6): Integrity, Transparency, Independent
Oversight
-Inclusiveness(7-11): Leavingno-onebehind, Non-
discrimination, Participation, Subsidiarity, Intergenerational
Equity
SDG11: SustainableCitiesand Communities
SDG16: Peace, Justiceand Strong Institutions
SDG17: Partnerships for theGoals

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Governance principles
Sigma Principlesof Public Administration
-Strategy(1)
-Policy development and co-ordination(2-7)
-Public service and human resource management (8-12)
-Organisation, accountability and oversight(13-18)
-Service delivery and digitalisation(19-22)
-Public financial management (23-32)

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Five Layers of Public Governance
-Corporate governance: the management of a single public
sector organisation
-Holding governance: managing a (territorial or functional)
cluster of organisationsthat belong together and need a
consolidated governance
-Public service governance: public sector delivery is part of
the public service delivery which includes civil society
-Suprastructuregovernance: beyond institutional
infrastructure governance
-Systemic governance: macro system design

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Five Layers of Governance

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Governance: (Mis)match of
responsibility/accountability
Lackof being
responsible
Responsibility
Lackof AccountabilitySystemicfailure Systemicdeficit
Accountability Systemicdeficit Degreesof Systemic
Matching

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Governance spaceand itsdrivers

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Culture matters

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Löffler(2006): Citizensmatter

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Three pendingquestionsfor thenext decades
•Governance with or without democracy?
•Governance with or without government?
•Governance and degrees of development (fragile states)
20

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Somelessonslearned
•Take allfive layersof governanceintoaccount (whatis the
weakestpart of thegovernancechain?)
•Ensure matching levels of responsibilityand accountability
•Usethegovernancespaceand focus on itsdifferent
drivers (hierarchy, market, network)
•Take specificcountry cultures intoaccount
•Take citizenson board (collaborativegovernance)

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References
•Bouckaert Geert, Diego Galego (2024) System-quake proof ‘Systemic Resilience Governance’: Six
Measures for Readiness. Accepted, to be published in Global Policy 2024.
•Bouckaert Geert (2023) The Neo-Weberian State: From Ideal Type Model to Reality? Max Weber
Studies, January 2023, (1): 13-59.