Under new sail
Subtitle: MMP and public servants
By: Colin James
Publisher: Institute of Policy Studies, Victoria University of Wellington
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Wellington [N.Z.]
Language: eng
Number of pages: 105
Subjects: Public administration; Civil service; Cabinet system; Proportional representation; Officials and employees; Politics and government; New Zealand
Description: The new politics of proportional representation - caretaker minsters, coalitions, minority governments, coalition negotiations, consultation with other parties - presents challenges to and opens up opportunities not just for politicians but also for public servants. These were discussed at three series of forums of senior public servants, academics, politicians and private sector analysts and lobbyists organised by the Institute of Public Policy in association with the State Services Commission in 1994-96. A seminar of public sector chief executives was organised in early 1997 on the period of the caretaker government in 1996. From these discussions, Colin James, who chaired the meetings, has distilled public servants' experiences, reactions and expectations and the evolving guidelines and rules - and set these in the wider political and public sector management contexts.
Notes: Based on forums organised by the Institute of Policy Studies in association with the State Services Commission in 1994-1996.

Includes bibliographical references.
Table of contents: title: The Public Service background to MMP; title: Elections and government formation; title: Public servants, Parliament and the government; title: Strategy, the budget and accountability; title: Public Service advice on the constitution.