It’s not easy to write a book about THE STATE that grabs the readers’ attention. I know because I’ve tried it – with The Search for Democracy (2024) which is actually about the various reform methods which have been attempted since that became fashionable in the 1970s (for more on this see the reading recommended below)
The State is all around us - everywhere and, these days, nowhere. It’s
not something we like to be reminded of – but it does spend, in most european
countries, approaching half of a country’s GNP. But journalistic comment is
relatively rare – save as rants about the amount of money being wasted by
the public sector on which subject they are flooded with material from right-wing
Think Tanks funded by the corporate sector.
Most academic books about THE STATE are, frankly, boring and, well, academic!
I wish someone would produce a comic/graphic guide to the State – just a question
of extracting the essential ideas and illustrating them with some graphics.
In the absence of such a book, I recommend Geoff Mulgan’s
”Good
and Bad Power – the ideals and betrayals of government”
(2006) – not
least because he is one of the very few writers who gives us a short
SUMMARY OF THE book’s ARGUMENT
at the end of the book.
Reduced to basic essentials, these can be summarised as
family, tribe or state
small groups.
citizenry is still needed
arrogance, deceit and theft but also the use of abstraction.
An
extremely rare study of how to make public services more democratic
is Hilary
Wainwright’s
Public
Sector Reform – but not as we know it (Unison
and TNI 2009)
Recommended
Reading about “the State”
-
The
Sociology of the State;
Bertrand
Badie and Pierre Birnbaum (1983). An
interesting
non-Anglo-saxon view of the subject
-
The
Sources of social power – vol I history from the beginning to
1760AD;
Michael Mann (1986). The first of what turned out to be a 4 volume
study, reminding us that “the State” is a modern construct and
only one of four types of power (political) – the other three being
ideological, military and economic. Not an easy read…
- The State – its nature, development and prospects G. Poggi 1990. A highly readable
introduction although needing some updating after the Fukuyama and Mann volumes
-
The
Modern State;
Christopher Pierson
(1996); one book I would recommend since, unlike most books with such
titles, it is actually readable - if a bit boring - but
seems
to touch base with all relevant issues.…
-
The
Retreat of the State;
Susan Strange (1996) who
talked
the most sense about the contours of the modern state –
identifying, for example, the importance of multi-national companies
including the global consultancies; the Mafia; the technocrats of
global institutions, let
alone the private protection sector.
She also authored Casino Capitalism (1986); States and Markets (1988)
and, her last book, Mad Money (1998)
-
The
State in a Changing World
(World
Bank 1997) – the report that indicated the powerful World Bank had
had to eat some its scathing words about the role of the state. Goes
on a bit!
-
Globalisation
and the State
(UN
Public Sector Report 2001);
a
more balanced analysis of the role of public administration than the
World Bank is capable of
-
Governance
in the 21st century (2001 OECD)
rather
geeky overview
-
The
State - theories and issues;
ed Hay, Lister and Marsh (2006). Probably
the best read on the subject with chapters from a variety of authors
on the various issues
- You and the State – a short introduction to political philosophy Jan Narveson (2008) an excellent introductory text
-
Those who want a more detailed historical treatment can now dip into
Francis Fukuyama’s marvellous 2 volumes which
he introduces here.
I never imagined that 700 page books with titles such as The
Origins of Political Order – from prehuman times to the French
Revolution
(2011);
and Political
Order and Political Decay – from the industrial revolution to the
Globalisation of Democracy
(2014)
could be so engrossing....
-
Governance
for Health
(2012
WHO) A good overview of health indicators and coverage (if that's
what turns you on)
-
The
State – past, present, future
Bob
Jessop 2016 This is the classic text on the subject from the go-to
expert – but
is very heavy going
-
Government
at a Glance 2017;
A recent and very handy analysis of the scope and impact of public
services. Only for the 35 member states of OECD (so the Baltic
States, Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia are included
– but not Bulgaria or Romania)
- State Formations – global histories and cultures of statehood J Brooke et al (2018)
REFORM
Dismembered
– the ideological attack on the state;
Polly
Toynbee and D Walker (2017)
a clear analysis by two british journalists
“The
21st
century
public manager – challenges, people and strategies”;
Z van der Wal (2017) An interesting-looking book written by a Dutch
academic and consultant who has spent the past 7 years as a Prof at
the University of Singapore
Reclaiming
Public Services –
how
cities and citizens are turning back privatisation;
TNI (2017) An excellent overview by the radical international think
tank of this very welcome trend
How
to Run a Government so that Citizens Benefit and Taxpayers don’t go
Crazy;
Michael Barber (2015). A clearly written and rare book about the
approaches favoured by a consultant who became Tony Blair’s
favourite "go-to" fixer
The
Fourth Revolution – the global race to reinvent the state;
J Micklewaithe and A Woolridge (2015) Editors of no less a journal
than The Economist give us a breathless neoliberal analysis
The
Tragedy of the Private – the potential of the public;
Hilary Wainwright (PSI 2014) an important little pamphlet
Public
Sector Reform – but not as we know it;
Hilary Wainwright (Unison and TNI 2009) A rare readable case study
(Newcastle) of a bottom-up approach to reform. We need much more of
this..…
Leadership
for the Common Good;
Crosby and Bryson (2nd
edition
2005) Probably the most comprehensive of the practical guides to
getting the public services working well. Clicking the title gives
the entire 500 pages!
The
Essential Public Manager;
Chris Pollitt (2003) A great and very practical analysis of the
political and technical aspects of the search for effective public
services
“The
Values of Bureaucracy”; Paul du Gay (2003) Proceedings of an
academic conference on du Gay's 2000 book which was a rare attempt to
rescue aspects od this all-too-easilymaligned institution. You should
be able to access
the full book by googling the title
“The
Captive State –
the
corporate takeover of Britain; George Monbiot” (2000) A powerful
critique of the nature and scale of corporate involvement in our
public services which first alerted me to the nature of
public-private partnerships
In
Praise of Bureaucracy;
weber,
organisation, ethics;
Paul du Gay (2000) It may be academic, but is clearly written and has
become a classic defence of a much maligned institution. Well
reviewed
here
Change
the World;
Robert
Quinn (2000)
Simply the best analysis
of the
process of social and organizational change
Creating
Public Value – strategic management in government;
Mark Moore (1995) One of the few books which actually looks at
examples of effective leaders in the public sector. Started a wave of
(in-house) discussion which led to what could be the third stage of
public admin
Reinventing
Government;
David
Osborne and Graeber (1992) The book which started the New Public
Management revolution.
More
specialist recommended reads
Supporting
small steps – a rough guide for developmental
professionals (Manning;
OECD 2015)
A
Governance Practitioner’s Notebook – alternative ideas and
approaches (Whaites
et al OECD 2015)
Rethinking
policy and politics – reflections on contemporary debates in policy
studies ed
C Ayres (2014)
Reinventing
Organisations;
Frederic Laloux (2014)
People,
Politics and Change - building communications strategy for governance
reform (World
Bank 2011)
Governance
Reform under Real-World Conditions – citizens, stakeholders and
Voice (World
Bank 2008)
The
21st Century
Public Servant;
C Needham and Mangham (undated) Results of a British research project
The
Blacksburg Manifesto and the postmodern debate about PA;
Marshall and White (1990)