Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira
Lua Nova Revista de Cultura e Política, no. 45, 1998 49-95. Desarrollo Económico 38(150) July 1998. Paper presented to the second Montevideos Circle, Barcelona, May 1997. In English, "State Reform in the 1990s, Logic and Control Mechanisms", in Burlamaqui, Castro and Chang, eds. Institutions and the Role of the State. Cheltenham Edward Elgar.
Abstract. This paper offers a broad view of the public management reform which is taking place in the 1990s. It does not have as objective to reduce the state to a minimum, but to rebuild state capacity and to make the state more efficient. The role of the state is redefined using concepts like "exclusive activities of the state" (that involve the use of state power), the social and scientific activities (which the state is supposed to finance but not directly execute), and the production of goods and services for the market, that are supposed to be private unless it is a natural monopoly. The new forms of accountability (or the several forms of control) are analysed. The state is supposed to be managed according to managerial public administration principles, instead of remaining subject to bureaucratic public administration. The new public managers are becoming more autonomous and more accountable in political terms. New forms of accountability (adminstration by results, managed competition, and social accountability) are discussed.
