Articles

De rationaliteit van het overheidsmanagement in het Belgisch politiek systeem

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Abstract

Rational public decision-making is nearly impossible for two reasons : the organisational complexity of public services and the existence of two circuits, a political one (parties, parliament...), and an administrative
one (bureaucracy).
Moreover, public decisions are made by different pressure groups, and from different decision centres.  In Belgium the impact of political parties is steadily increasing, up to the point where they function as master-organisations that have set up their own institutions to carry out public tasks (e.g. education). In the
socio-economie field the government acts more often as an arbitrator and money-supplier than as a decision-maker.
In the welfare state the government's position in the whole field of decision-making amounts to delegating decisions to private organisations and pressure groups, which in due course leads to corporatism and
irrationality.  Finally, the organisation structure of the civil service itself stimulates irrationality because it was set up as a pyramid hierarchy in a time when the government did not have many tasks.

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How to Cite: Van Haegendoren, M. (1981) “De rationaliteit van het overheidsmanagement in het Belgisch politiek systeem”, Res Publica. 23(4). doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/rp.v23i4.20446