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Keywords Public management, Civil service reform, International public service reform
New Public Management: The Transformation of Ideas and Practice
Edited by T Christensen and R Laegreid Ashgate Publishing Aldershot 2002 ISBN 0-7546-3212-1
Why are so many political scientists still so interested in the new public management (NPM)? In some countries, including England, we seem to be moving beyond it into relatively uncharted territory, involving joining up whole systems and other suspiciously hippy-sounding ideas. In others, including a number of European countries, it seems to have stalled on take-off. If there is a positive answer, then at least part of it can be found in this excellent collection of papers.
The contributors make it clear early on that NPM is really a conceptual lens through which the real topic - civil service reform - can be viewed. The book reports on developments in four countries, Norway, Sweden, New Zealand and Australia. This is interesting, properly reflecting the spirit in which Christopher Hood made his original observations in 1991. It avoids the positivist trap...