Negotiation and command: Managing in the public domain

Abstract

This article relates the subversion of public goals, marginalization of performance, and parasitic and inflationary relations to the structuring of public institutions in both capitalist and socialist societies. These outcomes are associated with a “game dynamics”. These relationships are structured by institutions' enabling conditions and their method of securing resources. Cases are provided to illustrate such relationships within informal but stable networks; administration is seen to have a symbiotic relationship with such networks. The authors suggest dissolution of centralized control of public institutions as the only realistic means of coping with the problems addressed.