MARTIN, Steve <br/><br/>
The modernization of UK local government :  markets, managers, monitors and mixed fortunes  

 - UK :  Taylor & Francis ,  set. 2002 
<br/><br/> Since 1997 UK central c]government has launched a bewildering array of new initiatives know collectively as the 'local government modernizing agenda' which represent an ambitious attempt to transform the performance and the politics of local authorities in the UK. The aim is to improve local sevices, enhance community government. Some of the key elements of this agenda, notably attempts to persuade authorities to make greater use of markets, to encourage strategic management techniques and the reliance on external monitoring, draw heavily upon the New Public Management and biuld directly upon previous reforms. Others, in particular the emergence of a more diversified approach to public service improvement. The result is a combination of mutiple drivers of change and paradoxal 'operating codes' which reflect both the politics of the modernizing agenda and our current lack of understanding about which approsches will prove most effective in enabling performande improvement in the public sector