Authors: Dimitris Kioukias

Title: Governing really? Some deficits of public administrations

Abstract

Testing public administration performance is based on standard criteria, as it is divided into policy areas and checked accordingly. E.g. Unemployment policy is judged on low rate achieving; social security policy is judged on low cost/wide coverage percentages; education policy is judged on high coverage, etc.

To be sure qualitative criteria have not been totally extinguished. Who and what one gains under what terms is still of concern. If a particular measure is justified in terms of human cost is also a matter of interest, as “good legislation” practices suggest.

Yet, the so called “numerical democracy” (Sartori and Aristotle) has gained considerable ground, as it has been reinstated in policy issue terms. Some of the reasons for this development will be suggested in this paper. However, its main aim is to show how in some cases such approaches can affect less than desired the lives of the recipients. More targeted and more sophisticated approaches seem to be in demand. At the same time, in some policy areas what is required is wider and relatively objective treatment by freeing ourselves from “virtual” targets and tools.  We shall argue that, as a horizontal approach cannot apply everywhere, certain vertical-hierarchical approaches should also be applied. After all mathematics – a revived tool for objectification- involve both dimensions.