Books & ideas

Barbarian, or Modern?

David Chopin — 2021-05-24T07:00:00Z

Can Nazi barbarianism resurface in our modern world? Yes, according to Johann Chapoutot, in the pleasant guise of management, as one of its key promoters started out as a Nazi technocrat

Reflections on the Makings of Neo-Weberian Policy

Gianfranco Poggi — 2017-11-23T08:00:00Z

This collective work discusses the neo-Weberian model and its impact on the processes of societal transformation. The ‘Neo-Weberian State' is thus conceptually defined by the authors as the combination of the Weberian model with New Public Management and Public Governance approaches.

The New Public Management

Hugh Pemberton — 2017-06-22T07:00:00Z

Has the New Public Management made the state of the United Kingdom more efficient and less costly? Christopher Hood and Ruth Dixon answer negatively on both counts. As such, difficult but necessary comparisons must be drawn to further the scope of these devastating conclusions.

The Human Element vs. the Standardization of Medical Care

Élie Azria — 2014-06-05T07:30:00Z

Originally conceived to help physicians make enlightened decisions, evidence-based medicine in North America and elsewhere has become a risk management method fostering the standardization of medical practice and the dehumanization of relations between doctors and patients.

Participating Is Not Enough

Julien Talpin — 2012-01-05T09:10:17Z

In the United States, empowerment strategies emphasizing commitments that are brief, informal, and fun have proved tone deaf to the political importance of associations. If civic engagement is to play a role in social change, citizens must realize that voluntary associations also depend on conflict and professionalization—as well as a prominent role on the part of the state.

Disorder in Modernity

Evelyne Payen-Variéras — 2011-12-08T10:20:48Z

Historians of business have looked at the development of railroads in the U.S. as a time of “managerial revolution.” Richard White's latest book shows the role played by disorder and sheer contingency in this process, and runs counter to a view of economic modernity as the history of a rationalization. Business, in his view, was never just business.

The FNAC: A Story of Standardization

Frédérique Leblanc — 2011-01-05T08:00:00Z

How a culturally avant-garde company gradually came little-by-little to be part of Big Business: Vincent Chabault recounts the story of the FNAC, from its Trotskyite origins to the present.