Fiscal Austerity and Public Administration
Jen-Hui Hsu*
Abstract
The purpose of the article is to explore the impact of fiscal austerity policy on the theories and practices of public administration. Observing the two recent waves of fiscal austerity policies adopted by OECD countries and the mainstream political thoughts, the article gives a clear analysis of the development directions and the contents of public administration. The fiscal austerity after the oil crises and the liberalism thoughts pushed the birth of New Public Management. The austerity programs of European countries following their national debt crises and the rise of communitarianism sped up the adoption of collaborative governance, public governance and citizen participation. The third wave of fiscal austerity will come in the near future. From the experiences and development trends we can see the influence of liberalism and communitarianism still exist, and the collaborative governance and public governance will be further developed with the help of AI and big data. Government officials should play the role of policy educator to encourage citizen participation and help build a strong civil society.
Keywords: fiscal austerity, public administration, new public management, collaborative governance, public governance
* Professor, Department of Public Policy and Management, Shih Hsin University, email: jhhsu@mail.shu.edu.tw.