ABSTRACT
Who defines the public good? Who decides who gets what, when, where and how? Who makes the crucial decisions that turn an infinite number of demands for service into a manageable number of legitimate needs to be met? These have always been difficult questions to answer, since they are concerned with concepts which are, in their nature, elusive. But they are especially important questions for public managers, since the evidence seems to point to significant changes taking place in the ‘rules of the game’ governing public service management.
