This document discusses theories of the Neo-Weberian model of public administration in Europe. It examines how concepts from the New Public Management model like privatization, deregulation, and contracting have been adapted in European countries while still maintaining traditional Weberian principles of a strong centralized state, legal framework, and public services. The document also explores tensions between efficiency goals and constitutional rights, and how countries have sought to increase accountability, transparency and responsiveness in public administration while balancing political and economic interests.

1. Theories of the Neo-Weberian
Model in Europe
By Prof. Dr. Maria Bordas
National University of Public Service
Faculty of Public Governance and International Studies
Doctoral School of Public Administration
Public Administration Theories and Public Administration
Sciences
2020.

2. Definition of Efficiency
Generally: reaches the proposed goal with the
least effort
- Enterprises: based on market evaluation - if
loosing - go bankruptcy
- Economy: if its capability of performance on
the top (can be quantified)
- State: complex connections – difficult to
measure

3. Definititon of the State
How to circumscribe?
State:
- Public authorities: legislation, public
administration, jurisdiction
- Controlling authorities: constitutional court, state
audit office, ombudsman
- Civil organizations implementing public tasks
Each has other characeristics how to operate
efficiently

4. Definition of Public Administration
Difficulties:
- Complex tasks: forming economic policies,
legislation by decrees, application of laws,
provision of public services, management of state
property and use of public money
- Public sector: public authorities (government,
ministries, central bank, office of competition,
financial market supervisory authority) AND civil
organizations (enterprises, institutions and
nonprofit organizations) impelementing public
tasks)

5. Definition of State Efficiency in the
Neoliberal Ideology
Principle: „The least expenditure – the best
result”
 Cheaper and smaller state:
- Lower cost: cannot be the standard, e.g. more
or ended state-tasks, giving public services to
business firms, reduction of staff, less welfare
services, less state subsidy, etc.
Circumscribe of public administration:
problematic because of the private organization

6. Evaluation of State Efficiency
 Neoliberal principles: if market mechanisms
are more efficient than the state in economic
or welfare activities
 If no traditions: cannot be applied (e.g. in
Scandinavian states)
 State intervention: not necessarily inefficient,
e.g. state-owned enterprises, provision of
welfare and health care services, support of
basic scientific research, fiscal policy

7. Forms of State Withdrawal - The New
Public Management 1.
 Privatization:
- The state stops providing public services –
encouragement of market-based serives –
market competition (to charge the costs to the
customers)
- Inviting tenders: if market competition cannot
be created – selection of the best offer (lowest
price and best quality) – contract (business
risk on the business firm)

8. Forms of State Withdrawal - The New
Public Management 2.
 Deregulation programs: reducing legal
regulations on business firms – bureaucratic
and unnecessarily complicated laws –
administrative burdens
 Liberalization programs: dissolving entry
limitation to the market – creating market
competition - elimination of the regulatory
bodies

9. Forms of State Withdrawal - The New
Public Management 3.
• Contracting out:
- Application of the business principles in the
public administration (competition, profit-
oriented character, civil law contracts)
- Not limited: every pubic task, if possible, e.g.
running prisons, tax collection, law
enforcement, preparing laws, etc. vs. cleaning,
security services, informatics, etc.

10. Forms of State Withdrawal - The New
Public Management 4.
 PPP (Public Private Partnership):
- Mutual advantages of cooperation: financial
resources for the state – new market for the
business firm
- Performance in the PPP contract: State
investment is implemented by the business firm –
business risk
- Consideration in the PPP contract: Operating the
building and the public utility, if a fee can be
collected, or rent it out to the state

11. Forms of State Withdrawal - The New
Public Management 5.
Conclusions:
 Contracts:
- Important: stipulation of the conditions (lower
costs and better quality), can be assured by
laws – against the agressive business intents
- Corruption: depends on the level of the
culture of public administration – otherwise it
is used for the personal advantages, e. g.
public money to private pockets

12. Forms of State Withdrawal - The New
Public Management 6.
 Business principles:
- If it is supported by certain economic and
social groups – becomes public policy to be
implemented
- Based on the business and management
culture – difficult to apply in the law-
centralized and law-binded Weberian model

13. Management Technics - The New
Public Management 1.
Means to increase efficiency:
- Organizational management: e.g. racionalization
of the decision-making process, planning, feed
back, performance-oriented budget, etc.
- Human resources management: competition,
public leadership based on democatic values and
cooperation, good environment for work
- Quality-oriented technics: quality of services,
satisfaction of the clients and customers, less
queue, quick and flexible case-management, etc.

14. Public Policy Making - The New Public
Management 2.
- Program making: government activity to achieve public aim
- Selection public aim: analyses of social-economic environment
– public opinion poll, lobbying activities
- Analyse: rationality of the political, social and economic goals
- Elaborating alternatives: possibilities and limitations
- Using results of more branches of sciences (political sciences,
laws, economics, sociology, statistics)
- Implementation: cost-effectiveness calculation, impact
assesment
- Evaluation: comparing results with the goals

15. The New Public Management in the
Weberian Model 1.
 1970-s: the fiscal (Keynes) policy hinders economic
grows (high taxes, welfare expenditures, state
investments, state-ownership)
 Result: receptive environment to the neoliberalism
- Great Britain: widely applied – Thacher government
- Scandinavian countries: only management technics –
deep welfare tradition
- Continental Europe: liberalization of infrastructure
services – privatization of health care services –
management technics – human resources
management

16. The New Public Management in the
Weberian Model 2.
Dilemma: if it is applied in a different public
administration culture
- Defining public policy: centralized and legally binded
public administration – the right of the central and
local government
- Politically determined public administration: cannot
put under business principles – it does not serve public
interest
- Legal regulations: traditional - the efficiency cannot be
forces by legal means
- Solidarity: welfare services cannot be privatized –
general availability is more important than efficiency

17. The New Public Management in the
Weberian Model 3.
State ownership:
- Supported by the constitutional regulations:
cannot be privatized unlimitedly
- Means of economic governance: not
necessarily inefficient, only in the lack of the
competition
- State property of strategic importance: natural
resources, land, public utilities, roads, rivers,
lakes, etc.

18. The New Public Management in the
Weberian Model 4.
Tasks of public authorities:
- Traditionally public tasks
- Duality of public and private law
- Cannot privatized without any limitation
E.g. PPP investments, quality legislation, law
enforcement of the courts, public notars,
preparing acts for the legislation

19. The New Public Management in the
Weberian Model 5.
Applicability:
- Infrastructural public sector: liberalization policy
of the EU – market competition – elimination of
state monopolies
- PPP: widely used – recommended contracts –
supervision of the state audit office from the
beginning
- Management technics: human resources
management, eGovernment, quality legislation,
public policy making, administrative burdens
(deregulation)

20. The New Public Management in the
Weberian Model 6.
Counter-arguments:
- No evidence to the more efficient state –
cannot be measured
- American neoliberalism: only rearrangement
of economic positions and distribution
relations
- Foreign body: business principles and
management issues in the weberian modell

21. Constitutionalism and Efficiency in
the European Public Administration
Constitutionalism: regulation of the principles in
the constitutions that can be forced by
constitutional supervision against the state
- Earlier: action of public administration against the
individuals and enterprises was hindered (state
under the rule of law, division of power, citizens’
rights, economic constitutional rights)
- Efficiency: how can make the state responsible to
use its financial resources efficiently –
constitutional regulation?

22. Constitutional Principles and Rights
How to force them:
- Parliament is obligated to pass acts based on
them (state organization, economic rights,
political and liberty rights)
- State is obligated to maintain institution system:
welfare services, health care, unemployment
aids, pension (active role)
Interpretation: the constitutional court will detail
their meaning during the constitutional
interpretation
Limitation: in necessary and porportional measure

23. Efficiency and Constitutionalism
New needs: requirements for the economic and social policy of
the government, e.g. economic crisis, collapse of financial
market, inflation, unemployment, restrcitions
Expectations:
- Economic safety
- Welfare of individuals
Difficulties:
- Not in legal norms: e.g. monetary policy, privatization, state
subsidies, developments
- Business issues: economic rationality
- Economic views: how to adopt adequately to the economic
processes

24. Principles of Efficiency in the
Constitution
 General principles: economic growth,
competitveness, economic planning, stability,
increasing living standard
 Monetary policy: price stability, adequate
financial supervision – scope of the central bank
 Fiscal policy: balance of the incomes and
expenditure (loss of the state budget and state
debt) completness, transparency, financeable,
effectiveness – legal guarantees (act on the state
budget)

25. Constitutional Interpretation and
Efficiency
Economic rationality and efficiency cannot be examined by
the constitutional supervision:
- Cannot withdraw the scope of the government to
determine economic policy
- Not a legal issue
How to solve the problem?
- Legal regulation: e.g. privatization process, public
procurement
- Quantification: inflation, loss of the state budget, state
debt, unemployment
- Legal guarantees: procedural rules, controlling authorities,
quality requirements for the legislation

26. Activities of Public Administration
and Efficiency Requirements 1.
 Administrative legislation by decrees:
- Quickly changing and unpredictable
- Bureaucratic, over-proliferating, non-transparent
- Increasing administrative burdens
Solutions:
- Deregulation: professional legal requirements for the
legislation – not vague nor contradictory, no
overlapping
- Quality legislation: more efficient legal regulation –
transparency - impact assesment – debates -
cooperation

27. Activities of Public Administration
and Efficiency Requirements 2.
 Administrative law enforcement:
- State under the rule of law, legally binded operation
(traditional principles)
- Adequate legal norms: unambiguous and clear
- Punctuality: licence, supervision, records, legal dispute
- General legal norms: e.g. competition law, financial
supervision – economic content
- Bueaucratic issues: long, complicated procedures,
registration, report, supervision – electronic case
management

28. Activities of Public Administration
and Efficiency Requirements 3.
 Providing public services:
- Traditional: infrastructural and welfare
- Public interest activities: basic research, health
prevention programs, cultural institutions
(museums, archives)
- Servicing character of public authorities: from
law-enforcement to client-oriented, flexible,
electronized public administration
- State responsibility: how to keep it?
- Business sphere: right to enter

29. Activities of Public Administration
and Efficiency Requirements 4.
 Providing public services:
- Contracts: public or private law character,
public law stipulations, maintenance of state
responsibility, right to regulate (quality,
availability accessibility, continuous provision)
concession or contracted out
- Duality of market mechanisms and legal
regulations: depends on the character of the
service

30. Activities of Public Administration
and Efficiency Requirements 5.
 Infrastructural services: liberalization
 Welfare services:
- Redistribution – solidarity – public money
Efficiency:
- Those should get who are in need (universal right
or discretion-based)
- Motivating for work: minimal wage – public work
- Price of the services: no lower than the market
price (waster) – wouchers (creating competition,
can be used only for the aimed consumption)

31. Activities of Public Administration
and Efficiency Requirements 6.
 Heath care services:
- Health care provider: similar to business
activity, but based on welfare principles
- Efficiency requirements: development of
medical technology – more expensive health
care – limited financial resources
- Extreme solutions: universal, state-owned,
centralized system vs. business principles-
based

32. Efficiency of the
Health Care Systems 1.
United States:
- Profit motivation – efficiency – innovation –
competitive environment
- Business insurance companies: compete for the
patients – insurance packages – limit the health care
providers – profit-oriented
- Business health care providers: interested in the
extension of health care services – compete for the
patients and financial resources
- Patients: can make business-based insurance
- Solidarity: Medicare (for the elderly) and Medicaid (for
the poor) and in the case of emergency

33. Efficiency of the
Health Care Systems 2.
 Reform of the Obama government:
- Employers are obligated to make health
insurance for the employees (earlier it was just a
custom at the larger companies)
- Insurance companies cannot terminate health
insurance with the patients of high risk
(permanently sick or needs expensive operation)
- Regulation of the prices of health care services
(earlier only the Medicare and Medicaid) –
decrease of health expenditure on global level
(earlier it was determined by the supply)

34. Efficiency of the
Health Care Systems 3.
European health care systems:
 Solidarity: state budget-based or social insurance-based
systems
 Limited financial resources: only from the taxes and fees –
cannot be increased by laws – political limitations
 Efficiency: privatization
 Regulated market competition:
- Health care providers for the financial resources
- Health insurance companies and health care providers for the
patients
- Social insurance system and regulated prices are remained

35. Management of State Property and
the Efficiency
Dilemma: state property or private property is
more efficient?
- Depends on the administrative culture (USA vs.
Scandinavian countries)
- Issue of economic governance: liberal (USA) or
bureaucratic (communist states)
Western Europe:
- Nationalization – after the 2nd World War
- Privatization – during the 1980-s
- Liberalization: during the 1990-s

36. Use of Public Money and Efficiency
 Beginning of the 19th century: operation
according to laws – to assure the rules of the act
on the state budget and supervision by the state
audit office
 During the 1980-s: means of efficiency –
transparency – openess – accountability –
supervision based on economic rationality –
guarantees for equal oportunisites (pubic
procurement, inviting tenders, procedural rules)

37. Impact of the New Public
Management on the Weberian Model
- Endless debates: if the American or the
European public administration is more efficient
- Instead: new requirements, e.g. importance of
controlling authorities, transparency, openess,
accountability, responsibility, predictibility,
servicing authorities, balancing political and
professional views
- Fact: some elements of the NPM could be
succesfully infiltrated in the Weberian model
- Result: evolvement of the „NEO-WEBERIAN
MODEL”

38. Dilemmas
1980s:
 United States:
Neo-liberal economic philosophy - New Public
Management
 Europe:
Neo-Weberian model (influenced by neoliberalism)
 After the global economic crisis in 2008:
World economic crises: rejection of neoliberalism –
expectation to the strong state – globalism and national
state
Strong centralized state – is it autocracy? Illiberal state?

39. ANY QUESTION ?