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Religion, third sector, policy and public management
Guest editor: Francis Davis (Vol. 29, No. 6, November 2009).
Papers are being invited from academics and practitioners of all backgrounds for consideration for publication in the September 2009 edition of Public Money & Management. Papers could cover:
- Faith-based civic engagement in public sector reform and social innovation processes.
- Voluntary sector policy and management.
- Philanthropy and volunteering.
- Health and well-being.
- Governance, participation and empowerment.
- Statereligion relations.
- Leadership and management of religious organizations.
- Local and national commissioning.
- Criminal justice and policing.
- Education and citizenship.
- Social cohesion and inclusion.
Abstracts of 1,000 words should be sent to Francis Davis (fd250@cam.ac.uk) by 12 November 2008.
The privatization of British Telecom: 25 years of economic regulation
Guest editor: David Parker (Vol. 30, No. 2, March 2010).
In November 1984, the UK government took an historic step and privatized what until then had been considered in Britain to be a state-provided monopoly service: fixed-line telecommunications. Although a number of privatizations had already occurred, notably BP, British Aerospace, Cable & Wireless, Amersham International, the British National Oil Corporation and Associated British Ports, the sale of British Telecom (BT) was the first time that any attempt had been made to privatize one of the so-called (natural monopolies'. The privatization of BT took government into uncharted territory. The sale was the world's largest Initial Public Offering (IPO) to date. In addition, a new non-departmental office, the Office of Telecommunications, was established to oversee conformance with BT's new operating licence. Professor Stephen Littlechild was commissioned to prepare a report on the best way of regulating BT's prices or profits, after disagreement between officials in the Department of Industry and Mrs Thatcher's economic adviser, Professor Alan Walters. The result was a price cap regime, now widely emulated abroad but one which has proven to be far from problem free. Price regulation was to exist to hold the fort until competition arrived, but competition came more slowly and in a different form to that expected and the regulator was drawn into a series of confrontations with BT over claimed predatory behaviour.
The 25th anniversary of the privatization of BT in November 2009 provides an opportunity to undertake an autopsy on the sale, the development of UK telecommunications since the mid-1980s and the regulatory regime created.
Issues that should be covered include:
- To what extent did the privatization of BT achieve its objectives?
- Did price cap regulation really make a difference to incentives within BT?
- Has Oftel (now Ofcom) outlived its usefulness?
- To what extent is the resulting industrial structure in Britain's telecommunications a flawed historical accident?
Contributions to the themed edition are welcomed from academics and practitioners with insights into BT's performance since privatization and the operation of the telecoms regulatory system.
Submissions of titles of proposed papers, preferably with outline abstracts, should be sent to Professor David Parker (david.parker@cranfield.ac.uk) by
31 December 2008.
The politics of co-produced research
Guest editors: Kevin Orr and and Mike Bennett (Vol. 30, No. 4, July 2010).
This themed edition of Public Money & Management will consider the co-production of research by academic and practitioner communities. Papers are invited from academics, practitioners and joint academic/practitioner teams on a range of issues, for example:
- The impact that co-production has had and will have on the world of research and policy-making in public services.
- The politics of co-production to what extent do practitioners and academics hold distinctive perspectives and motivations?
- How does the relationship between researchers develop and how do co-producers manage their loyalties to each other and to their respective organizations?
- How do the multiplicity of voices and interests within the one (research team) come to be represented in research accounts?
- Does co-production privilege academics by involving practitioners only on academics' terms, or does the price of access and influence (and future
commissions) dilute academic independence?
- What are the reflexive dynamics of academic-practitioner co-produced research and how do these impact upon the work?
Enquiries/suggestions/abstracts to either of the two guest editors: Kevin Orr, University of Hull (K.Orr@hull.ac.uk) and Mike Bennett, SOLACE (mike.bennett@solace.org.uk).
Citizens and technology: trends and developments
Guest editor: Christopher Exeter (Vol. 31, No. 2, March 2011).
The use of information technology in delivering public services has had a chequered history. This is met, if not surpassed, by public expectations.
However, the public's attitude fibrillates. The future of information and technology in delivering public services is as much, if not more, to do with philosophy and sociology, as it is with the technology. Borders will increasingly become a purely a construct of government: the internet has already opened up a world of new experiences whether to purchase different, cheaper goods from overseas to planning journeys which would once have required lengthy organization. At a macro-level, this is being driven by fundamental changes in public behaviour: primarily the empowering nature of the internet, the demand for more (personalized services' and the increasing lack of deference within society.
A themed edition of Public Money & Management will explore some of these issues in greater depth. The edition will try to look ahead and consider some of the longer terms trends in society and how the public sector needs to change in anticipation. It will also include a case study on healthcare.
Topics for articles include:
- Privacy.
- Trends in society.
- Embedding innovation in organizations.
- Consumer innovation.
- Productivity.
- The sociology and behaviour of using technology.
Abstracts of 1,000 words should be sent to Christopher Exeter
(pmmtrends@live.co.uk) by 1 March 2009, where further information can also be obtained.