Britain

The boundaries of the public sector in Britain have changed radically since 1979. The seeds of some of the changes were sown earlier, as governments responded to socio-economic forces within the environment. However, a significant factor in explaining the direction and the extent of the changes lies in the political control by Conservative Governments for over a decade and a half. Influenced by the political ideology of the New Right with its faith in markets, free enterprise, competition, a minimal state, low taxation and low public expenditure, successive Governments have rolled back the frontiers of the state. They have transformed public bureaucracies into public businesses, reduced the powers of the professions and managerialized the public services, with the introduction of pseudo-markets and competition as means of increasing efficiency. Public-sector organizational cultures have been changed to embrace ‘business’ values together with private-sector managerial practices. Using a range of strategies, including privatization, compulsory competitive tendering (CCT), contractorization, market testing and restructuring, Governments have redrawn the boundaries between the public and private domains.