Pursuing Horizontal Management Studies in Government and Public Policy: The Politics of Public Sector Coordination

Jul 16, 2026

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Pursuing Horizontal Management: The Politics of Public Sector Coordination examines policy and administrative coordination as a persistent challenge for governments and public organizations. It contrasts everyday coordination failures with larger effects on citizens when specialized agencies do not account for others’ priorities. The book analyzes why governments both specialize for expertise and attempt integration to reduce duplication and improve service coherence. It highlights how segmented programs, mismatched eligibility and taxation, and conflicting regulations generate implementation difficulties and inefficiencies.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages249

Reading Time10 h 27 min

Preface and Acknowledgments

Introduction: The Coordination Problem

Barriers to Coordination

Approaches to Understanding Coordination

The Instruments of Coordination

Case Studies in Coordination

Is Coordination Always the Answer, and Can It Be?

Notes

References

Index

PURSUING HORIZONTAL MANAGEMENT STUDIES IN GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC POLICY PURSUING HORIZONTAL MANAGEMENT THE POLITICS OF PUBLIC SECTOR COORDINATION B. Guy Peters © 2015 by the University Press of Kansas All rights reserved Published by the University Press of Kansas (Lawrence, Kansas 66045), which was organized by the Kansas Board of Regents and is operated and funded by Emporia State University, Fort Hays State University, Kansas State University, Pittsburg State University, the University of Kansas, and Wichita State University Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available. Peters, B. Guy. Pursuing horizontal management : the politics of public sector coordination / B. Guy Peters. pages cm ISBN 978–0-7006–2093-7 (hardback)—ISBN 978–0-7006–2094-4 (paperback)—ISBN 978-0- 7006-2323-5 (ebook) 1. Political planning—Case studies. 2. Public administration—Management—Case studies. 3. Policy sciences—Case studies. I. Title. JF1525 .P6P47 2015 352.2’9—dc23 2014040570 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data is available. Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 The paper used in this publication is recycled and contains 30 percent postconsumer waste. It is acid free and meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials Z39.48–1992 . To Sheryn, who keeps trying to keep me coordinated and coherent. Contents Preface and Acknowledgments 1. Introduction: The Coordination Problem 2. Barriers to Coordination 3. Approaches to Understanding Coordination 4. The Instruments of Coordination 5. Case Studies in Coordination 6. Is Coordination Always the Answer, and Can It Be? Notes References Index Preface and Acknowledgments This book examines the issue of policy and administrative coordination. Coordination is a problem in everyday life. The water company digs up the street in front of our house and patches the street, then the gas company comes the next day to dig up the same street. The schedules of trains and planes leave us with connection times of only a few minutes, or many hours. Busy friends struggle to find a time they can all meet because of conflicting schedules. In all these cases individuals or organizations are not taking into account adequately the activities and priorities of others, and asa consequence the outcomes for all the actors are less positive than they might otherwise be. As much as these coordination issues may frustrate us in our daily lives, the coordination problems faced by governments are larger and may affect the lives of thousands or even millions of citizens. Since their inception governments have to contend with the issues of specialization and coordination. On the one hand governments require specialized organizations and programs to deliver services to the public using expertise. In the extreme of Franz Kafka working in his pension office, public servants would perform one specialized function repetitively, with specialization ensuring that the activity is performed as well as possible. On the other hand, however, those same governments have also attempted to coordinate the numerous specialized functions in order to produce more coherent and integrated services to the public, as well as to save money and irritation for those same citizens by eliminating duplication. The assumption has been, as Aaron Wildavsky once commented, that coordination is a “philosopher ’s stone” for the public sector, capable of transforming ordinary, flawed patterns of governing into more effective and efficient performance. Governments have tended to concentrate expertise within specialized organizations. The typical collection of organizations within the public sector contains primarily agencies and departments focusing on particular functions or clienteles. This pattern of organization makes political sense by providing services and a clear target for

FAQs

What kinds of issues arise from segmented public programs?

Segmentation makes it difficult to integrate services needed by clients with multiple needs, and it can break the link between eligibility criteria and the tax system, contributing to poverty traps and other barriers to getting out of poverty.

Jul 16, 2026

Upload by Oliver