Conclusion

Abstract

The search for more effective public services places the politics of everyday life at the centre of debate; low politics has become high politics. There is a tension in the attempt to present issues of schooling, health, income support, housing and so forth as matters that can most effectively be dealt with by good management, apparent in the way that management itself has become a matter of political debate. The management of public services continually forces itself back on the political agenda. There is constant political argument, for example, over how much management is needed, for example in the National Health Service. An approach which was intended to depoliticise public services is itself a central political issue. It may be that this is a short-term phenomenon, but that seems unlikely. Just as the debate over ownership and control in the private sector (Berle and Means, 1932) signalled a fundamental change in the nature of markets and their governance, so the debate over management in the public service is a sign of profound changes. This change may be considered in terms of the relationship between the public and private realms, and between the market of the state.