Pursuing a new institutional design for the State

a Critical review of the recentliterature

Abstract

This review of recent literature on State reform divides theoretical approaches into four categories: neoliberal, sociological, rational choice, and principal-agent. The strong and weak points of how each approach responds to three fundamental questions are analyzed: how can public agencies be protected from private interests? What political regime is deemed best suited to producing a more efficient state? What is the prime emphasis regarding public agency performance and regarding the political roadblocks which hamper initiatives to reform the State? Although authors widely agree that reform is necessary both to equip the State to respond to social demands as well as to solidify the economic reforms already implemented, the question of how to actually go about achieving this reform does not elicit the same degree of consensus. The resulting range of interpretations has produced distinct agendas and approaches on how to reform the State.