Innovation and Public Policy

Abstract

The past two decades have witnessed a fundamental transformation in the nature, role, and responsibilities of the public sector in most modern liberal democracies. Mounting community demands for better, more responsive and more efficient service delivery, coupled with a desire to restrain spending, have placed increasing pressure on public service agencies not only ‘to do more with less’, but to do so more transparently and with greater consultation with local communities. These pressures have dramatically transformed not only the kinds of services traditionally provided by government, but also the manner in which they are delivered. City government has been at the forefront of this reform agenda. The sector’s subordinate position and subsequent vulnerability to cost shifting from the levels of government above it has resulted in an increasing range of services and responsibilities being transferred downwards from stronger central governments as revenue pressures on all levels of government have increased. At the same time, a greater focus on the principle of subsidiarity in governance circles has led to the devolution of both policy development and service delivery functions to the local community level, significantly broadening local government’s traditional role.