Conviction Politics and Dynamic Conservatism: Mrs. Thatcher's Managerial Revolution

Abstract

The main change in British government in the 1980s was that there was no change of government or, more importantly, of prime minis ter. Improving public management was an integral part of Margaret Thatcher's brand of conviction politics. Political continuity provided the conditions for overcoming the dynamic conservatism of public administra tion and implementing irreversible changes. This managerial revolution has redefined the boundaries and relationships between the public and private sectors as well as transforming the public sector itself through the introduction of business models and methods of management. This paper examines these developments and assesses future prospects by distinguishing four overlapping phases of reform. (1) The Rayner scruti nies of departmental operations. (2) "Lasting Reforms" of departmental systems and structures. (3) The Next Steps programme for the creation of agencies. (4) Structural reorganizations of major public services such as health, education and local government finance. The main thesis is that the reform process is being compromised by its own early successes. The convictions which underpin the reform process have led to the repeated use of management models and methods of managing change which are inappropriate to achieve increasingly ambitious reform objectives.