optional · CSS study notes
2020 · Q2 · Bureaucracy versus New Public Management in Pakistan (20 marks)
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CSS 2020 · Q2 · 20 marks · Topic: I.6 New Public Management
Same idea asked again: 2023 Q7 (NPM in developing countries) · 2025 Q2 (Traditional PA and NPM) · 2024 Q1(2), 2025 Q1(2), 2026 Q1(11) MCQs
1. Question
Compare and Contrast the Bureaucratic Model with New Public Management (NPM). Do you think NPM is relevant to developing countries like Pakistan? Support your argument with key indicators.
2. What the examiner wants
- Part 1 — Compare and contrast (about 8 marks): both models explained, then a table.
- Part 2 — Relevance to Pakistan (about 7 marks): a clear opinion with arguments for and against.
- Part 3 — Key indicators (about 5 marks): named, measurable indicators. This part is skipped by most candidates — it is the easiest place to gain marks.
3. Outline
- I. Introduction and thesis
- II. Weber's bureaucratic model
- A. Features
- B. Strengths
- C. Weaknesses
- III. New Public Management
- A. Origin
- B. Hood's seven doctrines
- C. Osborne and Gaebler
- IV. Compare and contrast
- A. Similarities
- B. Differences table
- V. Is NPM relevant to Pakistan?
- A. Arguments for
- B. Arguments against
- VI. Key indicators
- VII. Verdict: selective, sequenced adoption
- VIII. Conclusion
4. Model answer
I. Introduction
- Bureaucratic model: Max Weber's rational-legal administration — hierarchy, rules, expert officials and impersonal treatment.
- New Public Management: the 1980s–90s reform wave that asked government to focus on results, managerial freedom, competition and customer service.
- Thesis: NPM is relevant to Pakistan only as a selective and sequenced toolkit placed on top of a working bureaucracy — not as a replacement for it.
II. Weber's bureaucratic model
- Features:
- clear hierarchy and chain of command;
- fixed jurisdiction for each office;
- written rules and files;
- officials appointed on merit and trained;
- impersonal, impartial treatment;
- a salaried career, separate from private interest.
- Strengths: legality, predictability, impartiality, continuity.
- Weaknesses:
- red tape and delay;
- rigidity and fear of initiative;
- Merton's "trained incapacity" — rules become goals in themselves;
- Weber's own fear of an "iron cage."
III. New Public Management
- Origin: Thatcher's Britain, New Zealand, Australia and the US in the 1980s–90s, driven by fiscal crisis and dissatisfaction with big government.
- Christopher Hood's seven doctrines (1991):
- hands-on professional management;
- explicit standards and performance measures;
- greater emphasis on output controls;
- disaggregation of large units;
- more competition in the public sector;
- private-sector styles of management;
- discipline and parsimony in resource use.
- Osborne and Gaebler (Reinventing Government, 1992): "steering rather than rowing"; mission-driven, results-oriented, customer-driven and enterprising government.
IV. Compare and contrast
- Similarities:
- both aim at efficient, rational administration;
- both need trained managers and reliable records;
- both keep government responsible for public services.
| Dimension | Bureaucratic model | NPM |
|---|---|---|
| Main concern | Legality and correct procedure | Results and performance |
| Structure | Large, centralised hierarchy | Small, autonomous agencies |
| Control | Inputs, rules and compliance | Outputs, outcomes and targets |
| Staff | Permanent career service, fixed grades | Contracts, performance pay, flexibility |
| Citizen seen as | Rights-bearing citizen | Customer |
| Service delivery | Direct, by departments | Contracting-out, PPPs, competition |
| Budget | Line-item, input based | Performance based |
| Accountability | Upward, to rules and superiors | To results and customers |
| Main risk | Rigidity and delay | Equity loss, gaming, fragmentation |
V. Is NPM relevant to Pakistan?
- Arguments for:
- chronic delay and poor service delivery need a results focus;
- loss-making state enterprises drain the budget (power distribution companies, Pakistan Steel Mills);
- successful autonomous, service-oriented bodies exist — NADRA, FBR's IRIS e-filing, the Pakistan Citizen Portal;
- contracting has worked in places — Punjab Education Foundation's school vouchers and partnerships;
- the 2001 Devolution Plan's decentralisation fitted NPM thinking.
- Arguments against:
- Allen Schick (1998): developing countries should not jump to New Zealand-style reform before building basic rule-based controls;
- the Weberian base itself is weak — politicised postings, uneven merit;
- thin markets and weak regulators turn outsourcing into private monopoly;
- poor data lets targets be manipulated;
- more managerial discretion in a patronage culture can mean more favouritism;
- "customer" language ignores poor citizens who cannot pay or choose.
VI. Key indicators
| Indicator | What it tells us | Reading for Pakistan |
|---|---|---|
| World Bank WGI — Government Effectiveness | Quality of civil service and services | Weak; limited capacity to run performance contracts |
| WGI — Control of Corruption; TI Corruption Perceptions Index | Whether discretion will be abused | Weak; caution with discretion and contracting |
| WGI — Regulatory Quality | Ability to regulate contractors and markets | Weak; outsourcing is risky without strong regulators |
| WGI — Rule of Law | Contract enforcement | Slow courts weaken contract-based management |
| PEFA assessment | Budget credibility and audit | Performance budgeting needs reliable budgets first |
| Tax-to-GDP ratio | Money available for services and incentives | Low; limits incentive-based reform |
| Service outcomes (HDI, literacy, out-of-school children) | Whether reform reaches citizens | Large gaps; judge reform by access, not cost alone |
- Exam rule: state the direction (weak, improving, low) and say "latest value to be verified." Never invent figures.
VII. Verdict: selective, sequenced adoption
- First build the base: merit, rule of law, audit, reliable records.
- Then pilot NPM tools where results are measurable — service standards, e-services, performance agreements, selective outsourcing.
- Evaluate and scale what works.
- Model to follow: Pollitt and Bouckaert's neo-Weberian state — Weberian legality with modern responsiveness.
VIII. Conclusion
- Bureaucracy gives legality and continuity; NPM gives results and responsiveness.
- For Pakistan, NPM is conditionally relevant: useful tools on top of a strengthened, accountable bureaucracy — never a shortcut around it.
5. 🎯 CSS Exam Perspective
- Time and length: about 30 minutes, four pages.
- High-scoring touches: three separate headings matching the three parts; an indicators table with real names (WGI, CPI, PEFA); Schick and the neo-Weberian state in the verdict.
- Must-cite: Weber, Merton, Hood, Osborne and Gaebler, Schick, Pollitt and Bouckaert.
- Common mistakes: skipping indicators; quoting rankings from memory; giving no clear opinion.
- Reuse: sections V–VII answer 2023 Q7 almost directly.