Wednesday, 21 May 2014

The reform of the state in the troika and in the post-troika periods


The reform of the state has been set as one of the primary goals of the adjustment program, as a way to avoid future problems of this sort. The notion of reform of the state is very broad, and different meanings have been attached to it: better functioning of the civil service structure (how the Government does it), redefinition of the scope of Government intervention (what the Government does) and the depth of Government intervention (which part is done by the Government and which part is done by the private sector). This way of splitting the several notions of Government reform has never been clear in the political (and policy) discussions about the reform of the state. The document the Government made publicly available is, in this respect, a mix of all three, in a random order, as it clearly resulted from joining contributions from different sources (ministries, I guess).

The changes during the troika period along these dimensions were uneven.
On the internal procedures of the Government, several measures have been adopted to increased the control of the ministry of finance over the spending ability of individual organisms inside civil service, which are expected to have a long term effect, and many short-term measures (restrictions on what can be done, and how much can be spent) were implemented. Still, a long road waits for the post-troika period. In particular, one point that has been mentioned in several discussions about the issue (check the Sextas da Reforma debates) is the fragmentation of relationships between civil service organisms and the ministry of finance.

In terms of redefining the scope of Government, there was no mention about it but for some privatizations that were set as a commitment in the Memorandum of Understanding. In all other areas, in the several documents produced, it was very clear that each minister had (has) if anything a desire to increase the scope of intervention. The discussion of the scope of Government is unlikely to occur in the post-troika period.

Finally, the depth of intervention was the area where more discussion took place, even though in an unstructured manner. The main example is given by pensions – where cuts and “generational fairness” (largely undefined in their meaning) are a redefinition of the “depth” of public intervention in the pension system.

A different type of action, that has been termed “reform” somewhat too much, is improvement on what the Government does without changing internal procedures, the scope or the depth of intervention – things like changing justice codes, implementing centralized electronic procurement, lowering prices of outsourced services. These hardly constitute a “reform”, they are just better management of what is done. These have been the main focus of action as it is where it becomes easier to find what consultants love, “quick wins”, but they are also easily reversible in the post-troika period.

Overall, some progress has been made, more by outside pressure or by financial pressure, not really on a structured decision making process with engagement of society on state reform. Even the efforts may stop in an election year. What is mostly needed is a process, a political process, by which important decisions on scope and depth of Government intervention need to be discussed and then translated into policy action.

Author: Pedro Pita Barros

14 comments:

  1. "Reform of the state" is the most frustrating and destructive term in Portuguese political debate. Everyone agrees it must be done, but no one agrees on what it is. Everyone blames this and previous governments for not doing it, without ever explaining exactly what they mean. It would be much better if we all stopped using the term altogether, forgot about "missions", "visions" and useless taxonomies, and talked about specific reforms instead.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DR. GREAT IS THE BEST SPELL CASTER ONLINE WHO RESTORED MY BROKEN RELATIONSHIP AND I HIGHLY RECOMMENDS DR. GREAT TO ANYONE IN NEED OF HELP! 

      My husband left me for another woman 3 months ago and ever since then my life have been filled with pains sorrow and heart break because he was my first love whom i have spent my entire life with. A friend of mine told me he saw some testimonies of a spell caster called Dr Great that he can bring back lover within some few days, i laugh it out and said i am not interested but because of the love my friend had for me, she consulted the great spell caster on my behalf and to my greatest surprise after 2 days my husband called me for the very first time after three months that he is missing me and that he is so sorry for every thing he made me went through.He came back to me and now we are happy together. I still can’t believe it, because it highly unbelievable. Thank you Dr.Great for bringing back my lover and also to my lovely friend who interceded on my behalf, for any one who might need the help of this great spell caster here is the email address:

      infinitylovespell@yahoo.com  or  infinitylovespell@gmail.com

      you can also call him or add him on Whats-app:+2348118829899 

      View his blog  http://infinitylovespell1.blogspot.com






      DR. GREAT IS THE BEST SPELL CASTER ONLINE WHO RESTORED MY BROKEN RELATIONSHIP AND I HIGHLY RECOMMENDS DR. GREAT TO ANYONE IN NEED OF HELP! 

      My husband left me for another woman 3 months ago and ever since then my life have been filled with pains sorrow and heart break because he was my first love whom i have spent my entire life with. A friend of mine told me he saw some testimonies of a spell caster called Dr Great that he can bring back lover within some few days, i laugh it out and said i am not interested but because of the love my friend had for me, she consulted the great spell caster on my behalf and to my greatest surprise after 2 days my husband called me for the very first time after three months that he is missing me and that he is so sorry for every thing he made me went through.He came back to me and now we are happy together. I still can’t believe it, because it highly unbelievable. Thank you Dr.Great for bringing back my lover and also to my lovely friend who interceded on my behalf, for any one who might need the help of this great spell caster here is the email address:

      infinitylovespell@yahoo.com  or  infinitylovespell@gmail.com

      you can also call him or add him on Whats-app:+2348118829899 

      View his blog  http://infinitylovespell1.blogspot.com






      DR. GREAT IS THE BEST SPELL CASTER ONLINE WHO RESTORED MY BROKEN RELATIONSHIP AND I HIGHLY RECOMMENDS DR. GREAT TO ANYONE IN NEED OF HELP! 

      My husband left me for another woman 3 months ago and ever since then my life have been filled with pains sorrow and heart break because he was my first love whom i have spent my entire life with. A friend of mine told me he saw some testimonies of a spell caster called Dr Great that he can bring back lover within some few days, i laugh it out and said i am not interested but because of the love my friend had for me, she consulted the great spell caster on my behalf and to my greatest surprise after 2 days my husband called me for the very first time after three months that he is missing me and that he is so sorry for every thing he made me went through.He came back to me and now we are happy together. I still can’t believe it, because it highly unbelievable. Thank you Dr.Great for bringing back my lover and also to my lovely friend who interceded on my behalf, for any one who might need the help of this great spell caster here is the email address:

      infinitylovespell@yahoo.com  or  infinitylovespell@gmail.com

      you can also call him or add him on Whats-app:+2348118829899 

      View his blog  http://infinitylovespell1.blogspot.com

      Delete
  2. Totally agree. And to talk about specific actions (I am even in favour of not using the word "reform"), I propose to think in terms of what is the type of action: 1) internal procedures; 2) scope of action; 3) depth of action; 4) efficiency in dealing with external agents. Points 1) and 4) are technical. Points 2) and 3) require political decision and input from societal preferences.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you for your miracle Doctor Osemu Okpamen

    This article is dedicated to the Doctor Osemu Okpamen. I have been married with my wife for 5 years and recently she broke up with me and it hurt me deeply when she told me to leave her alone and that she does not love me anymore when i was always faithful and honest to her. I tried all the ways to get her back buying her what she wants like i always did and she still left me heart broken and she even has a new boyfriend which destroyed me even more until a friend of mine from high school directed me to this genuine spell Doctor called Osemu Okpamen. This man changed my life completely. I followed everything he told me to do and my wife came back begging for me back. I was stunned everything happened exactly like he told me. I had faith in everything he told me and everything was true. Also he was there every moment until i got my happiness back and he also provides spells that cures any diseases & sickness. You could contact him via email at { Doctorokpamenspelltemple@yahoo.com } or visit his website http://www.doctorokpamenspells.com or reach him on +1 (914)-517-3229. He will help you in anything you need and quick to answer once you contact him.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hello,
    I Read the article of a very great spell caster and it seems very helpful
    to me. I haven’t had the chance to have a proper relationship with my ex
    because we work together. This will be the final week or work and then I
    wont be around him constantly. Unfortunately, I broke one of the rules in
    the article and have been sleeping with him. Something I’m not proud of,
    especially since he has a girlfriend. Not to mention that she’s a girl he
    dated off and on for 3 years before he dated me.
    When I asked him why he kept sleeping with me even though he was in a
    relationship, his response was because I wanted it, and he wantve him all to
    myself. That was when i read about Dr alexzander on how he help people in
    saving their relationship and i was really desperate for his help. There
    were things in our relationship that were tough. We traveled for 4 months
    right in the beginning, and it was hard due to different expectations. When
    we returned our living situation was unstable which caused a lot of stress
    on my end. And when I ask why he didn’t give me a chance to make things
    better he said he gave me tons of chances. Oh, and he compared our
    relationship with his past. He says that things were great, and then they
    went bad really fast, and that why his back with is Ex. Because it at least
    took them years for things to get that bad. So i was very sad and
    disappointing and decided to contact this spell caster for help with tears
    running out of my eyes and Dr alexzander promised to make things right in
    my relationship and also assured me that my boyfriend is going to come back
    to me within 78hrs. At first i was shock and didn't believe him because i
    thought it was impossible to do. But i gave it a try and trusted him. Dr
    alexzander asked for my details and his, then guarantee me of his return.
    Truly my ex lover started calling me and also begging me to forgive him and
    that's his willing to give us a second chance, then promised me never to
    love any other woman apart from me. it all seem like a miracle to me till
    now. Dr alexzander. Words can't express how i feel right now. it been 2
    month now since you caste that love spell for me and nothing have gone bad
    between us. his now caring more than ever and also the loving kind of Man i
    have ever wanted for myself in life. I thank you Dr alexzander for saving
    my relationship. Indeed you are the best. I want to use this media to share
    my testimony for the whole world to see and know that there is still hope
    in your broken relationship, No matter how bad it seems don't give up hope
    and also contact this man who saved my own. you can reach him through his
    website address http://alexzanderhightemple-com.webs.com or contact him
    direct with his email address alexzanderhightemple@gmail.com. I thank you
    Dr alexzander for helping me and i will always share my testimony in every
    social media or place i may go to.
    (From United State Of America).
    Mrs Tracy Grilli.
    http://tracygrilli.blogspot.com.tr
    https://tracygrilli59.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. HOW I BECAME A VICTOR AFTER SO MANY FAILED ATTEMPT OF GETTING A LOAN.

    I feel so blessed and fulfilled. I've been reluctant in applying for a loan i heard about online because everything seems too good to be true, but i was convinced & shocked when my friend at my place of work got a loan from Progresive Loan INC. & we both confirmed it and i also went ahead to apply, today am a proud owner of my company and making money for my family and a happy mom. Well i'm Annie Joe by name from Pauls Valley, Oklahoma. As a single mom with three kids it was hard to get a job that could take care of me and my kids and I had so much bills to pay and to make it worst I had bad credit so i couldn't obtain a loan from any bank. I had an ideal to start a business as an hair stylist but had no capital to start, Tried all type of banks but didn't work out until I was referred by my co-worker to a godsent lender advertising to give a loan at 2% interest rate. I sent them a mail using their official email address (progresiveloan@yahoo.com) and I got a reply immediately and my loan was approved, and I was directed to the Bank site where I withdrawed my loan directly to my account. To cut the story short am proud of my hair stylist company and promise to testify to the world how my life was transformed.. If you are in need of any kind of loan, i advise you contact Progresive Loan INC and be financially lifted Email: progresiveloan@yahoo.com OR Call/WhatsApp: +16626183756



    ReplyDelete
  6. Are you searching for a very genuine loan at an affordable interest rate of 3% process and approved within 4 working days? Have you been turned down Constantly by your Banks and other financial institutions because of bad credit? Loans ranging from $5000 USD to $20, 000, 000 USD maximum LOANS for Developing business a competitive edge / business expansion. We are certified, trustworthy, reliable, efficient, Fast and dynamic for real estate and any kinds of business financing. Contact us for more details and information.
    Thanks & Regard
    Call/Whats App 918929509036
    (Whats App) 918929509036
    Dr James Eric Finance Pvt Ltd
    E-mail: financialserviceoffer876@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  7. I really want to thank Dr Emu for saving my marriage. My wife really treated me badly and left home for almost 3 month this got me sick and confused. Then I told my friend about how my wife has changed towards me then she told me to contact Dr Emu that he will help me bring back my wife and change her back to a good woman. I never believed in all this but I gave it a try. Dr Emu casted a spell of return of love on her, and my wife came back home for forgiveness and today we are happy again. If you are going through any relationship stress or you want back your Ex or Divorce husband you can contact his whatsapp +2347012841542 or email emutemple@gmail.com 

    ReplyDelete
  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks for sharing this with so much of detailed information, its much more to learn from your article. Keep sharing such good stuff.
    myadornment
    Adornment is a personal and tailored jewellery shopping experience for consumers, allowing the exploration of a range of affordable but luxurious brands all within one e-commerce marketplace

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks from Skip Hire Near Me for sharing this blog post. this blog has detailed information, its much more to learn from your blog post...

    ReplyDelete
  11. Your words of interest in this article almost match my own thoughts. This article is really commendable. I liked this post very much. Thank you very much for sharing such posts. Skip Hire Leicester

    ReplyDelete