Public Management in North America

Though Canada, Mexico, and the United States have distinctly different administrative histories, the language of "performance," "customers," "accountability," "privatization," and "decentralization" is heard throughout North America, and all three countries are engaged in public management reforms that feature these themes. Yet the three countries differ in those management issues that are accorded the highest priority, in capacity to effect reform, and in the possibilities for reallocations of political influence. Moreover, beneath the radar of political awareness are numerous national professional associations, institutes and academies devoted to improving the capacities and functional performance of governments in ways that, although often more significant than widely publicized activities, are little recognized outside specialist communities. Without sustained effort at comparative scholarship, it is difficult to penetrate the veil of voguish language and ephemeral political enthusiasms to assess the extent and significance of actual reform. In all three North American countries, public management is becoming an altogether more complex undertaking in both its technical/administrative and its political aspects. This growing complexity has stimulated considerable development of public management theory, methods of inquiry, and practice and more curiosity about these developments in the practice community.