The Service State: Rhetoric, Reality and Promise

by Patrice Dutil, Cosmo Howard, John Langford, Jeffrey Roy

Overview

A systematic evaluation of Canadian efforts to modernize government service delivery. In the past ten years, Canadians have witnessed a renaissance in the delivery of government services. New service organizations are cropping up across the country and accomplishing extraordinary things. Efforts are being made to consult citizens on how to improve and integrate services. Considerable resources are being invested in measuring and showcasing performance improvement. This book probes the central dimensions of service reform efforts from a variety of perspectives and answers some pressing questions: How can we make better decisions about service delivery? How should we measure service delivery performance? How should we engage users of government services? How can we create a service culture? How can we use the internet more effectively?

Approaching service delivery as not merely technical but inherently political and controversial, the authors look beyond the rhetoric to see what has actually been achieved and what obstacles confront further improvements.

Published in English.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780776619156
Publisher:	University of Ottawa Press
Publication date:	01/14/2011
Series:	Governance Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	538 KB

About the Author

Patrice Dutil is associate professor of politics and public administration at Ryerson University. He is the author of Devil’s Advocate (Robert Davies, 1994) and the editor of Searching for Leadership (University of Toronto Press, 2008).

Cosmo Howard is assistant professor of public administration at the University of Victoria. He is the editor of Contested Individualization (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007).

John Langford is professor of public administration at the University of Victoria. He is the co-editor of Corruption, Character and Conduct (Oxford University Press, 1994).

Jeffrey Roy is associate professor of public administration at Dalhousie University. He is the author of E-government in Canada (University of Ottawa Press, 2006) and Business and Government in Canada (University of Ottawa Press, 2007).