Professor Mark Considine
Background
Mark Considine is the Dean of the Faculty of Arts at The University of Melbourne. His research areas include governance studies, comparative social policy, employment services, public sector reform, local development, and organisational sociology. Mark is a Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration Australia (Victoria) and the Australian Academy of Social Sciences. Mark's most recent books are:
- Considine M., Lewis J.M. and Alexander, D (2009): Networks, Innovation and Public Policy: Politicians, Bureaucrats and the Pathways to change inside Government, Palgrave Macmillan.
- Considine, M. and Giguere, S (2008): The Theory and Practice of Local Government and Economic Development, Palgrave MacMillan.
In 2000, Mark and co-author Jenny Lewis received the American Society for Public Administration's Marshall E. Dimmock Award for the best lead article in Public Administration Review. In 2001, Mark and co-author Simon Marginson received the American Educational Research Association's Outstanding Publication Award for The Enterprise University: Power, Governance and Reinvention in Australia. Cambridge University Press.
Mark has been associated with governments and the community sector in the implementation of a number of recent projects and organisational reviews. These include:
- OECD LEED Program review of local partnerships
- Community Strengthening strategies at state and local level
- Premier's Working Party of Strategic Partnerships with the Community Sector
- Minister's reference group for the Review of the Local Government Act
- Communication and Marketing Review for Job Network
- Advisor on research strategies and organisational capacity at the Brotherhood of St Laurence
- Industry Reference Group, Employment Services Australia
Research
Mark's current research has two related strands. He is involved in comparative studies of the reform of employment services in Australia, the UK, the Netherlands and other OECD countries. This work builds upon his four country study of reform in Australia, Britain, New Zealand and the Netherlands, published as Enterprising States: The Public Management of Welfare to Work (Cambridge University Press, 2001).
A second set of projects looks at the emergence of networks as an alternative to markets and hierarchies in the organisation of government and new governance systems. Networks in this case include both personal ties or affiliations among political actors, as well as institutional linkages or relationships.
The program of work on network governance includes a new study of partnerships, pacts and other local collaborative structures for achieving improved social inclusion, economic participation and democratic renewal in Australia, Austria, Italy, the UK, Canada and Ireland.
- Creating Collaborative Advantage through Better Network Governance: A Comparative Study of New Institutions and Instruments
- Fostering innovation inside government: the role of structural and personal networks in improving innovation performance among politicians and bureaucrats
- Social connectedness and policy development: modelling strategies and measures
Supervision
Areas of supervision include social policy, organisational analysis and public sector reform in Australia, Europe and the USA. Comparative projects are of particular interest. Theoretical projects dealing with issues related to networks, self-organisation and institutional reform are also welcomed. Recent Publications
Books
- Considine M., Lewis J.M. and Alexander, D. (2009): Networks, Innovation and Public Policy: Politicians, Bureaucrats and the Pathways to change inside Government, Palgrave Macmillan.
- Considine, M. and Giguere, S (2008): The Theory and Practice of Local Government and Economic Development, Palgrave MacMillan.
- Considine, M (2005): Making Public Policy: Institutions, Actors, Strategies, Polity Press
- Considine, M (2001): Enterprising States: The Public Management of Welfare to Work, Cambridge University Press.
- Considine, M. & Marginson, Simon (2000): The Enterprise University: Power, Governance and Reinvention in Australia, Cambridge University Press.