This paper sets out an archival account of events leading up to the mass agencification of the British civil service by the Thatcher administration (1979–1990). This account holds lessons for contemporary understandings of the ideological roots and institutional structures of corporatization. When Thatcher came to power in 1979, she wanted to make government “efficient” through the adoption of “business-like” practices. We show that this project was grounded in her Methodist upbringing and the emerging neoliberal economic theories of Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman. Thatcher's efforts to instill a “market mentality” were met with stubborn resistance from a bloc of Ministers and senior civil servants. We find that Thatcher used agencification to break this resistance. Agencification removed Ministerial control over service delivery and saw “business-like” managers placed in charge of the newly created agencies. This curtailed the workings of democracy. Like Thatcher's agencification, corporatization today imperils democracy in pursuit of “efficiency.”

中文翻译：

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从“类企业”到企业：撒切尔政府下的机构化、公司化和公务员制度改革

本文列出了导致撒切尔政府（1979-1990）对英国公务员进行大规模代理的事件的档案记录。这一叙述为当代理解公司化的意识形态根源和制度结构提供了经验教训。1979 年撒切尔上台时，她想通过采用“商业化”的做法来提高政府的“效率”。我们表明，这个项目是基于她在卫理公会的成长经历以及弗里德里希·哈耶克和米尔顿·弗里德曼新兴的新自由主义经济理论。撒切尔夫人灌输“市场心态”的努力遭到了一群部长和高级公务员的顽强抵抗。我们发现撒切尔利用代理化来打破这种阻力。机构化消除了部长对服务提供的控制，并看到“类企业”经理负责新成立的机构。这削弱了民主的运作。就像撒切尔夫人的机构化一样，今天的公司化在追求“效率”的过程中危及民主。