Furht, Borko | Kirovski, Darko
Head of the Diplomatic Service, deplores the increased emphasis on judging civil servants by their ability to manage budgets and deploy staff efficiently, to make savings and to respond to new managerial requirements imposed by central government and on 'presentation', where the need to describe, explain and defend (and in practice often to 'put a spin on') what is done increasingly comes to dictate the substance of policy. Much of foreign policy, he says, is about reacting to unpredictable events but this needs to be done, within an understood and clearly thought out long-term framework of what Britain's role in the world should be and what 'idea of Britain' should be promoted and conveyed to foreign governments. This task, he believes, is increasingly undermined by the new managerialism and the presentation ethic which encourages too many short-term and risk-averse responses and not enough long-term clarity and coherence in policy-making. (Kirkus UK)