The Politics Measurement Makes: Performance Management in the Obama Era

Donald Moynihan, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Abstract

President Obama assumed leadership of the state in an era of governance by performance management. While sometimes dismissed as a technocratic tool, performance management has profound implications for how the state is governed - impacting the distribution of administrative power, the capacity to exert control and accountability, and the means by which citizens experience the state. This article examines the transition of performance systems between the presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, which was marked by a mixture of continuity and change. Both presidents identified performance as the central organizing theme for their management initiatives. The enthusiastic adoption of performance techniques by any government result in a variety of responses, ranging from passive, political, perverse and purposeful. Understanding why and when such responses occur, and their implications for politics and governance, should be a central aspect of the study of permanent government.