The three R's of reform
- 2005
- p.1971-974.
- 7 May
We cannot understand the requirements of reform without sorting out what social objectives and values should be promoted by public policy. It would be a great mistake to take reform to be some means-centred, goal-independent institutional requirement that `must be' pursued without asking any questions about how that institutional demand would influence the lives of the people that are involved. There may or may not be any payment-free lunch, but it would certainly be extremely odd to pursue ethics-free reform. If one were to be asked what three factors would be most important in the task of initiating and implementing a major reform, the factors to be emphasised woule be three R's: reach, range, and reason. The reach of the results to be achieved, the range of the ways and means to be used, and the reason for choosing the priorities we pursue. - Reproduced.