ICTlogy

With the crisis of the major ideologies of the 20th century and the current revision of the socioeconomic model and the social contract in the 21st century, the concept of an entrepreneurial Administration is gaining strength. This is an Administration capable of engaging in dialogue and articulating the other actors within its ecosystem, asserting its voice in the design of a constituent process centered on the public interest, and fostering economic, social, and environmental sustainability in a changing, complex, and uncertain environment. Although this model has been conceptually referred to as New Public Governance, there are still challenges in translating it both to internal organization —procedures, spheres of competence, relationships between units and among Administrations— and to the provision of policies and public services —effectiveness, efficiency, and citizen engagement.

Below, I present a framework outlining the key considerations for implementing this model in practice, leveraging a constellation of tools already aiming to initiate deeply transformative policies oriented toward systemic impact beyond mere outcomes. These tools acknowledge the difficulties of establishing clear causal relationships, unanimous diagnoses, and stable courses of action.

The framework is structured around six levers of change —governance, organization, talent, processes, quality in management, and democratic quality— which, in my view, constitute the backbone of any organization, but especially of the Administration. In general, the framework shifts us toward an Administration that does less and enables more, becoming a platform that facilitates, articulates, fosters, and connects ecosystems of actors toward widely shared goals and impacts. In short, it opens the public system to the civic, economic, political, and social ecosystem.

This framework is part of a broader analysis that has been submitted for consideration at the 4th Congress of Economics and Business of Catalonia 2025. It incorporates a review of the theory on the paradigm shift in Administration over the past two decades, as well as a compilation of new applied initiatives which, taken together, form what I believe is already a new model of public management. At the end of this post, I have included the bibliography I used in my research.

On a more personal note, this framework represents the convergence of my academic profile with my experience as a public manager over the past six years (particularly the last three), first as Director General of Citizen Participation and Electoral Processes at the Generalitat de Catalunya and later as Director of the School of Public Administration of Catalonia. It also serves as a kind of work plan for the coming years. My aim is to continue advancing its theoretical development, to be able to implement the model in practice, and to evaluate its validity as an application of a new paradigm of public management. In this regard, I am open to collaborations both in academia and with public administrations to explore its potential, support its implementation, and assess its performance.

New Public Governance in practice: a toolbox for
public policy in times of networks, uncertainty and complexity
[click to enlarge]

Bibliography

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