ABSTRACT
The combination of economic restructuring and public sector reform has been a trend in capitalist economies with a shift from administration to management replacing the traditional model of public administration. Prominence has been placed on the shaping of state institutions and policies by rational economic forces. Reconstruction of the public sector has been partially accomplished through applying private sector strategies to its administration and management with market-based remedies incorporating the introduction of competition and choice into public sector activities. These reforms have significantly transformed administrative arrangements in an attempt to make them more 'responsive', both to political direction and the market. A result of these changes has been a number of new governance and delivery structures in the public sector. These include contract agencies, boards, voluntary agencies, and the residual public sector. Even here, increased use of contracts and 'commercialisation' has developed a greater market orientation. The influence of globalisation further complicates the issue. The distinctions between politics and administration are blurred, as is the distinction between public and private, and national and international. An understanding of traditional institutional arrangements alone is no longer an adequate or sufficient basis for analysing or developing a public service ethos.
