Public management in Mexico
Introduction
Over the years public management has undergone many changes both in developed and developing countries. Mexico is a culturally and political rich country. So many changes that characterize its public sector have taken place. The economy of the country is shaped by the reigning government, which its operations are at a regional and central level but under one constitution that governs them. Housing and health which fall in the public sector have become more affordable, the countries trade agreement is vital to its economy. This essay seeks to explain the various changes that the public sector has undergone, the methods of budgeting used by the country, the strengths and weaknesses of the budgeting used in Mexico, look at how the NPM policies are being implemented in the country and the challenges this implementation is facing. Lastly, to make recommendations on the possible solutions that can help ease implementation of NPM in the country.
The public sector of Mexico is shaped by its politics. The economy of the country is shaped by the political regime. Unlike many countries in North America that are defined by plurality, in Mexico the state makes all the decisions. The agreement signed by Mexico in conjunction with unites states and Canada is very important for the development of Mexico. This agreement will continue to make reforms in energy, financial, fiscal and the telecommunication sector which will help increase the economic growth of the country. Housing in the affordable, despite the fact that the country has experienced poor housing in bigger cities such as Neza-Chalco-Itza. The healthcare of the country composes of good public and private hospitals that affords quality healthcare to the citizens. The public sector of a country reflects on the government policies of the country. health sector that is under the public sector was well catered for by the budgeting program in 2018 where 31 programs in the budget were allocated to it (Lakin, 2018).
The public sector of an economy defines its economy. Mexico is quickly becoming an emerging market despite the fact that it is smaller than its trading agreement partners. The growth of the country’s public sector has slowed since 2016. When Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was elected to a sixth term, he made promises to end corruption and violence and reduce poverty in the country. Sustainable development takes most part of the Mexican budget therefore they are guided by a result-based approach of budgeting where they focus more on the results. Its method of budgeting for results can be considered an elaborate system. This form of budgeting links allocation of finances to specific results such as the output and the services provided by the government. Program budgeting has not yet been used in Mexico; the last decade has seen a number of different budgeting ways being used in order to enhance the performance indicator of targets (Amadeo, n.d).
As mentioned earlier budgeting program is not something that is new but something that has been in existence for the past ten decades. Budgets programs were introducing in Mexico 1970s, and were revised in 1996 and in the 2000s the budgeting programs were reviewed and the number of indicators were reduced. In 2008 the state begun to carry out reforms in order to develop a modern performance budgeting system ready to take on a new program structure. The budgeting approaches. At first the budgeting program were first centered on the social sector and with time the approach soon spread to be adopted by the government (Lakin, 2018). Despite the continuous use in the country it has shown a weakness.
At a point some programs are a funding for other programs. For example, Seguro Popular funds other programs such as vaccination program and hospital program which means that the budget of these program fails to reflect on their actual cost. These suggests a problem when it comes to the design of the program. This weakness undermines the transparency that the program is supposed to achieve and the ability to use program tools to prioritize expenditure across objectives. Another weakness see in this budgeting approach is including Seguro Popular whole amount is not determined by the budget process but by the health law, this raise the question of whether it should be included in the budget with the others yet it is determined differently from the rest. Also, its presence tends to create a perception that the small programs budgeted for are not important, therefore comparing these two different programs does not bring fairness and effectiveness of these results-based program. Lastly, the result-oriented budget does not include sub-programs in its structure thus making it give less emphasis on its framework and elaborations have continued to be sought as to why the budgeting does not allow sub programs (Lakin, 2018).
In Mexico NPM was introduced due to lack of accountability, corruption, and the emergence of better and alternative forms of delivering services to the people (Abu, 2006). In many developing countries a New Public Management is typically used improve existing institution where bureaucracy is controlled by agencies or even institutes. However, Mexico is not a developing country therefore NPM is currently being used ad a top-down reform strategy in institutions where; rule of law, accountable systems, rule of law are ineffective. In Mexico this reform approach faces dangers such as; the process of changing the bureaucratic culture of the country is hard and should not be underestimated, and the country has depended on techniques over substance reform (Abu, 2006). Looking at the political and institutional scene of the country, the outcome of implementing NPM ideas is symbolic rather than the actual change that will happen.
NPM policies in the country are of great help, Mexico is a country that is defined by corruption and the policies brought about by NPM are for promoting promotion and making bureaucracy more responsible using, these policies have been able to expose some of the weak pillars of the Mexican government (Cabrero, 2005). The implementation of NPM policies will aid Mexico when it comes to developing both economically and politically. The fact that Mexico operates under a decentralized system of government is a challenge, at a local level the NPM policies have been able to be implemented easily since the population number is low. The fact that the local government is concerned with benefit their people then institution NPM policies is easy. The fac that there is tension between the federal government and the local government implementation of NPM policies is likely to be a challenging process. Implementation of NPM would not only require understanding of these policies but a reconstruction of the country’s institution in place (Cabrero, 2005).
The government of Mexico is institutionalized, it is recommendable for it to change its structure and be reconstructed again so as to facilitate changes in its management policies thus making them more effective to accommodate NPM. In order to establish the root of the problem the challenges facing the implementation of NPM approach should be evaluated from the lowest level which is corruption, for a very long time Mexico has been characterized by corruption. Corruptions responsible for distorting all the plans to have an effective and transparent institution of governance. The leaders and leaders have to be taught to work without resulting to corrupt ways. The abolishment of corruption in the country will also help to rise the level of economic development, when the country is more economically developed it is likely to face minimal challenges when implementing NPM. It is recommendable that Mexico accepts that the politics of the country and the social economic dynamics influence the implementation of NPM policies (Abu, 2006). It can be noted that the only thing the implementation of this approach is change; change in the institutional structure of the country, and the social economic structure of the government need change.
Conclusion
Mexico’s economy is defined by the regime that is in power. Over the years so many changes have been undertaken in the public sector of this country. Housing and healthcare have been made affordable. The main method of budgeting in the country is results based budgeting that focuses on the results of the funds that were allocated to a certain program. Despite the use of this method it has its weaknesses such as the allocation of other programs under other programs which brings it out as a method that is not transparent and lack of sub programs. Mexico is a country whose government is divided at the regional and central, this poses the first challenge of trying to implement NPM, corruption in the country poses another problem when it comes to the implementation of this approach. This approach was introduced to Mexico due to lack of accountability and the wide spread corruption in the country. NPM policies in the country are a great benefit when it comes to promoting and making bureaucracy more responsible. These policies are responsible in exposing the weak pillars of the government of the country. There have been many more challenges that hinder the implementation of New Public Management. There are recommendations that can be made so as to facilitate the implementation of this approach. The first and fore most step is reconstruction the political structure of the nation and ending corruption which has always been in the way of social economic development.
References
Abu, S. (2006). New Public Management in Developing Countries: An Analysis of Success and Failure with Particular references to Singapore and Bangladesh. Retrieved from; https://www.researchgate.net/publication/238325406_New_public_management_in_deve loping_ countries_An_analysis_of_success_and_failure_with_particular_reference_to_Singapore _and_Bangladesh
Amadeo, K. (n.d). Mexico’s Economy Facts, Opportunities and Challenges. Retrieved from; https://www.thebalance.com/mexico-s-economy-facts-opportunites-challenges-3306351
Cabrero, E. (2005). Between New Public Management and New public Governance: The Case of Mexican Municipalities. Retrieved from; journals.sfu.ca/ipmr/index.php/ipmr/article/view/160
Lakin, J. (2018). Program budgeting for health within Mexico’s result based budgeting framework. Retrieved from; https://www.internationalbudget.org/wp- content/uploads/case-study-health-budget-programs-in-mexico-ibp-2018.pdf
