Reinventing Government

Reinventing Government: How the Entrepreneurial Spirit is Transforming the Public Sector is a work of nonfiction political science written by authors David Osborne and Ted Gaebler. Published in 1993, the book was hailed as “a landmark in the debate on the future of public policy” by The Washington Post. After surveying and compiling a litany of processes and procedures of political practitioners around the U.S., Osborne and Gaebler make the case that a new form of “entrepreneurial government” is necessary in order to combat the increasing influence of private money in public politics. The two authors lay out a 10-chapter blueprint for achieving this “entrepreneurial government,” emphasizing the importance of spending less empowering communities, and supporting local competition as a means of avoiding monopolies.

In the book introduction, the authors liken the changing tides of the U.S. public sector as an “American Perestroika.” That is, they recognize a restructuring of the U.S. political system that, due to an increasing amount of money in politics, is injecting too many market forces into various government enterprises. Osborne and Gaebler warn against the increasing size of governmental bureaucracy and argue for a decentralized system as a means of dispersing power and limiting monopolistic practices. These are not new ideas, they insist, but instead a collection of experiential data that they have gathered from hundreds of political scientists and public officials across the country. In areas such as schools, slums, sanitation work, and many others, example after example is given.

Chief among their citations is John Q. Wilson, author of the 1989 book Bureaucracy, which in part detailed what Osborne and Gaebler deem a “new paradigm.” This is a fresh, optimistic model that does not urge politicians to run government like a business, but rather take steps to ensure their programs run more efficiently in order to have a direct impact on its users. Other contributing influences that speak to this new paradigm include Robert Reich, Alvin Toffler and Harry Boyte.



However, Osborne and Gaebler make a point to name people outside of government as the biggest influencers on their thesis. This includes consultant managers such as Thomas Peters, Edward Deming, and Peter Drucker, all of whom recognize the same kind of bureaucratic inefficiencies in big business as they do in state and local governments. As such, Osborne and Gaebler posit that both governments and businesses must evolve beyond the antiquated processes they’ve been rooted in since the 1930s and 1940s, and do so primarily through decentralization, quality control, fiscal responsibility, and direct community empowerment.

Osborne and Gaebler argue, supported by the writings of countless others, that since these two entities face similar problems, governments and businesses should rewrite their protocols in unison with one another. Yet, while market-oriented policies are only half of the solution, the other lies in what the authors call "the warmth and caring of families and neighborhoods and communities." Osborne and Gaebler make the case that a combination of market-conscious policies ought to be incorporated with helping communities solve their own bureaucratic problems. The underlying theme suggests that the smaller a governmental program is, the more efficient it will be, and the greater impact it can have on a personal level. Based on their findings, Osborne and Gaebler advocate for a less-is-more approach to governance.

In the first chapter of the book, the authors lay out their chief concern with modern government: "Hierarchical, centralized bureaucracies designed in the 1930s or 1940s simply do not function well in the rapidly changing, information-rich, knowledge-intensive society and economy of the 1990s.” It is with this primary problem in mind that the two writers offer a 10-point solution, beginning with a government’s need to guide, not push, programs at the local level. In the following two chapters, Osborne and Gaebler make the case for empowering communities to find solutions to their own problems, as opposed to governments merely providing services for them. They also emphasize the need to encourage competition as a means of guarding against monopolistic strangleholds.



In chapters four through six, Osborne and Gaebler address the need to focus on mission-driven programs rather than rules-oriented ones; the importance of funding outcomes rather than inputs; as well as stressing the need to cater to customer needs over bureaucratic agencies. Osborne and Gaebler argue for budget reductions, increased diversity and continued service in an ever-changing and challenging society. By citing various examples of how numerous state and local governments have transformed themselves using these methods, Osborne and Gaebler further make the case for this so-called paradigm shift to become the new norm.

The final four chapters of the book emphasize the need to focus on earning money over spending money; investing in preventative measures rather than reactionary ones; dispersing power from the hands of a few; and swaying market forces rather than opening new public programs. In the end, the authors lobby for all sizes of government to spend less, decentralize authority, and become more invested in communities in order to be more flexible, innovative, and efficient. These measures will, according to the authors, drastically reduce the gridlock of political bureaucracies and guide market forces towards more effective governance.

The book concludes by reiterating that the same problems currently hindering governments also hinder businesses, and if willing to do so, the two can be solved in unison by appealing to and harnessing the “Entrepreneurial Spirit.”