The Tides of Reform: Making Government Work, 1945-1995

During the past fifty years, the Congresses and presidents of the United States have made many efforts to improve the performance of the federal government. In this book, a leading expert in public management examines the most important reform statutes passed and concludes that the problem is not too little reform but too much.

Paul Light explains that Congress and the presidency have never decided whether they trust government and its employees to do their jobs well, and so they have moved...