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A Review of: “Building Strong Nations. Improving Governability and Public

Management by Eran Vigoda-Gadot”
Agustín E. Ferraro a
a
UNIVERSIDAD DE SALAMANCA / INSTITUTO DE IBEROAMÉRICA,

Online Publication Date: 01 October 2009

To cite this Article Ferraro, Agustín E.(2009)'A Review of: “Building Strong Nations. Improving Governability and Public Management
by Eran Vigoda-Gadot”',International Public Management Journal,12:4,506 — 507
To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/10967490903328972
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10967490903328972

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 International
Public
Management
Journal

BOOK REVIEW
BUILDING STRONG NATIONS.
IMPROVING GOVERNABILITY AND PUBLIC
MANAGEMENT BY ERAN VIGODA-GADOT

AGUSTÍN E. FERRARO
Downloaded By: [Ferraro, Agustín E.] At: 12:53 4 November 2009

UNIVERSIDAD DE SALAMANCA / INSTITUTO DE IBEROAMÉRICA

Building Strong Nations. Improving Governability and Public Management. Eran

Vigoda-Gadot. Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 2009. 258 pages. ISBN: 978-0-7546-7546-4.

Vigoda-Gadot’s book represents a serious attempt to confront and resolve the

enduring contradiction between democracy and bureaucracy in modern societies.
Probably first posed by Weber, the contradiction or paradox lies in the fact that,
although it is very much necessary for running a government with a modicum of
efficiency and predictability, a professional bureaucracy is not a democratic organi-
zation. Members of the bureaucracy are neither voted by the people nor appointed
by elected public officials. They are designated on the basis of merit. This should not
be a problem, but often it is.
Some readers will be wondering if the author succeeds in solving this famous para-
dox. We will discuss the point, of course, but bear in mind that success is not the
most important issue for endeavors of this kind. The book is ambitious, original,
and enlightening. It combines approaches and ideas from disciplines such as man-
agement, public administration, political science, and sociology. These disciplines
too often work in isolation, which is particularly damaging when we attempt to deal
with the links between the state, the bureaucracy, and the political system.
Sorting out the bureaucracy-democracy paradox represents for Vigoda-Gadot a
key factor in the creation and consolidation of ‘‘strong nations.’’ He defines a strong
nation as ‘‘not the one with merely economic superiority, military dominance, or
high levels of education, but the one that, through the consensus of its population,
has found a way to bring together the conflicting ideas and imperatives of democracy
and bureaucracy peacefully’’ (p. 2).
The book is organized into three parts. The first part introduces a theoretical
framework for the new concept of nation-building, and discusses the difference

International Public Management Journal, 12(4), pages 506–507 Copyright # 2009 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
DOI: 10.1080/10967490903328972 ISSN: 1096-7494 print /1559-3169 online
 BOOK REVIEW 507

between top-down and bottom-up institutional approaches in this area. The second
part introduces results of diverse empirical studies related to nation-building. Of
these studies, the most remarkable is a longitudinal seven-year research project on
the relationship between the political system and the bureaucracy in Israel. In the
third part, the author formulates several proposals aimed at solving the democracy-
bureaucracy paradox.
Vigoda-Gadot’s concept of nation-building requires sustained improvement
and expansion of cooperation among citizens and the public sector. However, the
author describes what he regards as a significant obstacle for achieving this goal:
the widespread influence of New Public Management (NPM), also known as neo-
managerialism, in current public administration. The overarching principle of NPM
requires running the state like a business organization. Therefore, all kinds of pro-
Downloaded By: [Ferraro, Agustín E.] At: 12:53 4 November 2009

cedures and techniques developed in business management must be applied to the

public sector.
However, NPM’s focus on business leads to a disregard for values such as fairness,
justice, representation, and participation. As Vigoda-Gadot points out, this is trou-
blesome. Neo-managerialism encourages citizens to take on the role of customers of
public services. But if the service is not satisfactorily run, such an approach only
allows for the choice of ‘‘exit’’: the client looks elsewhere in the market. Therefore,
the citizen as a client is not encouraged to exert the power of ‘‘voice’’ and take an
active role in running public services. Neo-managerialism promotes a passive, much
reduced idea of citizenship, which fails even in its own supposedly economic terms:
‘‘the NPM approach does not take advantage of its most powerful, valuable, and
inexpensive resources: good will, civic virtue, spontaneous initiatives, and innovation
by individuals. Even in its own business-oriented terminology, contemporary NPM
theory is limited and incomplete’’ (p. 72).
The proposals for reconciling the democracy-bureaucracy paradox, in the third
part of the work, focus on a redefinition of the idea of citizenship. Based on the
empirical findings in the second part, Vigoda-Gadot shows that the key for solving
the paradox lies in regaining citizens’ trust in government. However, this cannot
depend solely on government’s initiatives. On a theoretical level, first of all, it is
necessary to make citizenship an integral part of public administration theory.
Secondly, a new practical spirit of public management must be promoted, in which
citizens actually take the lead. In all kinds of public policy areas, citizens’ groups
have shown willingness to engage in policy formulation and implementation. Such
trends of increased civic participation must be supported and intensified by means
of radical innovations in public management theory and practice.
All in all, Vigoda-Gadot’s book presents a solid theoretical and empirical frame-
work for solving the democracy-bureaucracy paradox. The author makes clear,
however, that the tension or contradiction between these two domains of public life
cannot be disentangled solely in theoretical terms. A new spirit of radical innovation
will be necessary. The book clearly points the way towards this goal.