Transparency Principle in the Context of The New Public Management Approach

Abstract

In developed countries, especially in the UK and Europe, a different understanding is beginning to prevail in the public sector compared to the past. This understanding has begun to be defined with names such as "business management," "new public management," "market-based public administration," or "entrepreneurial administration ."With the economic crisis that has been showing its effect since the 1970s, the Traditional Public Administration Approach, which we have seen in every field, has left its place to the New Public Administration Approach, which has a flexible organizational structure, softer hierarchy, and minimal state understanding. This point of view, widely adopted by societies in the 1980s and accepted its existence in many countries, was put into practice in Turkey with Turgut Özal. In the 2000s, however, it gained a certain speed. Most of these changes were arranged according to the New Public Administration principles, which increased the pressure on public administration. One of the crucial innovations is restructuring public financial management: the transition from the traditional public management approach to the New Public Management approach, the emergence, development, and characteristics of this approach. Since implementing the New Public Management Approach, there have been radical changes in the activities of both central and local units. In Turkey, the working areas of the central government were restricted, and the state was left in the background by giving more space to the private sector. Local governments were also given responsibilities from their working regions, and it was tried to ensure that the works were transferred from the center to the private sector. The need for an effective, efficient, public participation, responsible, accountable, and open/transparent public administration has led to the redesign of the public administration and the increase in the efforts to put this new understanding into practice. Laws made to understand openness/transparency in management has emerged due to such needs. In civilized democracies, it is not enough for the state to inform the public unilaterally about the affairs of the administration. Public works are open to the public/transparent, and individuals can access the information and documents they want independently from their information sources. This feature is one of the essential features of modern democracy. The first and foremost goal in a democratic state is to provide transparency, closeness to the public in public service, equality, participation, justice, accountability in case of distress, effectiveness, efficiency, and openness to public scrutiny. One of the essential tools to achieve these goals is the right to information. The findings as a result of the studies and analyses on the main objectives and elements of the New Public Administration approach, the concepts that are widely used in government programs, efficiency/effectiveness, competition, quality, regulation/regulation, privatization, efficiency, liberalization, private sector/sector participatory democracy / participatory management. /governance and transparency have shown concepts related to the economic field. Concerning service supply and administration, concepts such as citizen and result orientation, specialization, and flexible employment have been used more since the 60th Government Programme. Parallel to the developments in the world, Turkish Public Administration has moved away from the Traditional Public Administration approach and shifted to the New Public Administration approach. Efforts have been made to include the principles and elements of the New Public Administration approach in government programs to a large extent, along with legal regulations and practical efforts. With the New Public Management approach, efficiency and economy are kept in the foreground, entrepreneurship is supported, and private sector techniques and methods have been adapted to public institutions. In this process, the public services offered by all Public Institutions and Organizations were also affected by this new public management approach and were reshaped over time. In this study, the main aim is to analyze all aspects of the Transparency Principle in the New Public Management Approach context. For this purpose, examples of the transparency principle within the scope of the new public management approach will be included with a comparative method. This study is a candidate to fill an essential void in the literature because it examines the relationship and interaction between transparency and new public management in detail.