Structure

The Innovative Spirit 
One reason why there has been an increasing structural differentiation in the 
governance systems of developed countries is their penchant for imbibing an 
innovative culture. These nations have never desisted from experimentations and 
have therefore, attempted to keep their administrative systems in a creative 
mould. In the United States of America, administrative reforms in the structural 
sphere are difficult to come by in view of the legislative powers to approve or 
veto any major governmental reorganisation, yet the history of the past thirty 
years goes to prove that the US organs of state have taken initiative in 
introducing significant transformation in the administrative system. A yearning 
for greater effectiveness is visible in the efforts made in the realm of 
administrative reforms in recent years. The spirit of the Brownlow Committee 
(1938) and the Hoover Commissions (1949 and 1955) lives on in the form of 
continual reforms in the administrative system. 
In Britain, by virtue of a parliamentary and cabinet government, administrative 
reforms have been the privilege of the political executive. Notably, every Prime 
Minister in recent memory has tried to initiate reforms in the administrative 
system and has succeeded in sustaining these. Whether reforms in local 
government, functional ombudsmen, Citizens’ Charters or privatisation – there 
has been a continuous flow of reforms in the governance system. 
Countries like France, Germany, Sweden, Finland, New Zealand and Canada, to 
name a few, have been part of the New Public Management enterprise that has 
stressed upon downsizing of government, debureaucratisation, liberalisation, 
privatisation, decentralization, responsiveness and performance-orientation 
(Gupta and Tiwari, 1998). 
Balanced Polity 
Most developed western nations have enjoyed political stability. No doubt there 
have been exceptions such as France and Germany, but recent years have 
witnessed political stability even there. France, since1958, has had a stable 

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