Proceedings of The 9th international conference on Management, Economics and Humanities
Year: 2019
DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.33422/9th.icmeh.2019.09.988
Participatory Governance – From the Inside Up
Dr. Carol Ann Nelson
ABSTRACT:
Macro-economic challenges precipitated the emergence of the Public Sector Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) social partnership agreement between the Government of Jamaica and the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU). In the context of this governance response to crisis,this paper examines the emergence of Cost Savings Committees (CSCs) as supportive institutional expressions of subsidiarity and innovative governance, to further the MOU strategy of Expenditure Restraint within the public sector. CSCs became a network (node) within the MOU network, pursuing the dismantling and overturning of entrenched, traditional discourses and practices of financial management in the public sector, that had resulted in a culture of abuse and the inefficient management of Government assets and resources. The CSCs’struggles are portrayed in the network connectivity, revealed through the lens of Actor Network Theory and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) methodology using text and discourse as units of analysis. Tensions of power and governance are revealed between CSCs and other public sector actor networks in the MOU network of relations, as dimensions of MOU discourse are inculcated concerning financial management, with mixed results.
Keywords: actor network; Critical Discourse Analysis; discourse; governance; public sector.