The new public management and its critics

It is possible to view the New Public Management as nothing more than the public management equivalent of a cake recipe, a set of practices that can be readily transferred from one culture and one political system to another. If such is the case, then discussions of principles and paradigms are academic; it is necessary only to identify best practices. It will then be up to politicians to realize that they have only to open the book, follow the instructions, and reap the rewards. However, even within the Oecd countries such a possibility is not plausible. Within Europe, there are substantial differences in the political and cultural traditions of Oecd countries. And diversity within the Oecd goes beyond to include Mexico, Japan and Korea but also the former communist countries of Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland. Since the applicability and effectiveness of New Public Management concepts will vary considerably from one country to another, we are left with a considerable challenge: How might we apply these concepts to new settings?     

The effects of new public management on the quality of public services

Have New Public Management (NPM) reforms in public organizations improved the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of the delivery of public policies? NPM reforms, understood as a style of organizing public services towards the efficiency and efficacy of outputs, have been controversial. They have been accused of importing practices and norms from the private sector that could collide with core public values, such as impartiality or equity. Yet, with few exceptions, we lack systematic empirical tests of the actual effects that NPM reforms have had on the delivery of public services. In this introductory article, we summarize a special issue devoted to cover this gap. And, overall, we find that neither the catastrophic nor the balsamic effects of NPM reforms are confirmed, but the success (or failure) depends on the administrative, political and policy context those reforms take place.     

Education and training for new public management

This article argues for a new approach to educate and train public managers. Several functional requirements regarding knowledge, skills and attitudes are discussed. The status and trends of public management education and training in several countries are reviewed. Situation and recent developments of public management education in Germany are subject of an exemplary case study. Elements of an effective curriculum with an international perspective and steps towards a common understanding of public management education are suggested.     

Citizen perceptions of public management: Hybridisation and post‐new public management in Japan and New Zealand

An older body of research claims variously: a world‐wide transformation from new public management (NPM) to new public governance or post new public management (post‐NPM); a ‘layering’, where new management rhetoric and techniques are layered upon existing ones; or a ‘hybridisation’ synthesised from competing systems. More recent studies, particularly in central and Eastern Europe, suggest a nuanced and context‐specific degree of transformation. Influenced by a growing research interest in citizen perceptions of public management, this study expands this more nuanced approach by surveying local government public management perceptions of 1,140 New Zealand and 3,100 Japanese citizen online survey respondents. Using principal component analysis, we show both New Zealand and Japan exhibit degrees of hybridisation of public management paradigms, with Japan exhibiting a higher degree of eclecticism.     

The new public management paradigm and the search for democratic accountability

Can we permit empowered, responsive civil servants to make decisions and be innovative and still have democratic accountability? This important question haunts those who would advocate a “new public management.” The proponents of a new public management paradigm emphasize performance the ability of their strategy to produce results. But they cannot ignore the troubling question of political accountability. They must develop a process that not only permits public managers to produce better results but also provides accountability to a democratic electorate.     

浅析"新公共管理"理论在中国的应用

"新公共管理"在西方的兴起是官僚制寿终正寝的结果,而在中国,实际情况是还没有真正的官僚制,科层制并没有发挥出其真正的优势,本文并不反对把"新公共管理"应用到中国政府的改革中来,但却提醒大家在用"新公共管理"改造中国政府的时候,不要盲目崇拜"新公共管理"理论,把它当做救世良药,就我国目前形势来看还要充分发挥官僚制的优势.     

How to argue about the new public management

Hood and Jackson's (1991) distinction between administrative argument and administrative philosophy has been largely overlooked in writings on NPM. This seemingly subtle distinction flows from the more obvious one between “practical argument” and “social scientific explanation.” These terms refer to different scholarly practices. Practical reasoning is a highly-developed form of scholarship in law, public policy, and political theory. Explanation is a highly-developed scholarly activity in political science and related disciplines. The fact that practical argument and explanation are, in principle, complementary scholarly activities in practically-oriented fields such as public management is not a reason to overlook the distinction between them. If scholars writing on NPM made more of this distinction, it might prove easier for their readers to see precisely how social science explanations and practical arguments are interrelated. Discussion of how well claims have been supported would then be facilitated. Also, it would be easier for writers to decide how to engage the NPM literature. Not only would the issues be clearer, but it would also be easier to discuss the merits of alternative approaches to tackling them. If more weight is given to the distinction between practical argumentation and social scientific research by scholars of NPM, an urgent question is: how should the scholarly practice of practical argumentation be characterized?     

A contractual framework for new public management theory

This paper evaluates the potential for institutional economics to help us frame choices for the design of institutional arrangements aimed at improving public sector performance, and the lessons it offers for the development of a new public management theory. It defines the key elements of transaction cost and principal agency theory and their application to the public sector. Local government contracting, fiscal decentralization, and performance budgeting, applications that share problems resulting from divergent objectives, information costs associated with policy making and implementation, and risks to public sector accountability, are analyzed. This analysis demonstrates that institutional economics can illuminate how public management can effectively utilize private sector solutions by providing the theoretical underpinnings for government reform initiatives.     

新公共管理放松政府管制取向与行政法发展

政府管制包括政府为了改变或控制经济企业的经营活动而颁布的规章或法律,指政府可以简单地命令人们去从事某项活动或停止某项活动,即指挥或控制经济活动.政府管制主要的执行机构是行政机关.政府管制与行政法的发展密切相关,在政府管制膨胀时期,行政法得以迅猛发展.自八十年代以来,西方国家经历了一场新公共管理的行政改革运动,其中放松政府管制成为各国的共识.随着政府职能的市场化,管制范围的进一步收缩,必将对行政法的未来发展产生重大影响.     

Missing pieces in each other's puzzles: Integrating the new public management and the new political economy

Although New Political Economy ideas have sometimes accompanied New Public Management ideas in programs of bureaucratic reform (especially outside the United States), the two schools of thought have remained separate. I argue that the problems of bureaucracy are largely political problems. Therefore, bureaucratic reform must be viewed in tandem with political reform. New Public Management can learn from New Political Economy's emphasis on the incentives of self-interested politicians, and New Political Economy can learn from New Public Management's normative approach and focus on citizens. I use an “exit and voice” framework to discuss and evaluate alternative approaches to reform.     

Lessons from the new public management in commonwealth nations

The New Public Management (NPM) is unlike any other public sector reform for the simple fact that it is practitioner-driven as well as a global movement. However, what works in one public sector circumstance may not work in another political, social, or economic setting. By surveying the Commonwealth countries I find that NPM reforms are taking place in all Commonwealth countries regardless of their various stages of economic and political development. This evidence confirms that the administrative reform of NPM measures is truly a global public sector reform movement.     

Rhetoric and resources: notes for a new approach to public relations and issues management

This theoretical paper criticises the dominant rhetorical approach to public relations and issues management for not integrating symbolic and material dimensions. It is suggested that public relations and issues management assist actors in pursuing their interests with the help of symbolic strategies and various types of resources or capital. By drawing on rhetorical and sociological theories, the paper presents elements for a heuristic analytical device that has the potential to help both the critic and the practitioner to get a better grasp of such processes. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications.     

新公共管理:质疑与反思

新公共管理是公共行政发展过程中的一个新阶段.然而,新公共管理的所有教义是否就是正确的和值得提倡的,则是一个值得令人深思的问题,本文从它的理论体系、人性假设、价值导向和实践操作效果对新公共管理进行了质疑与反思.     

论新公共管理之管理主义的理论缺陷

新公共管理是20世纪70年代后在西方国家政府改革过程中形成和发展起来,并颇具影响的公共行政理论派别。由于受管理主义传统的影响,新公共管理存在着许多值得反思与批判的缺陷:如“公共性”的阙失、对市场机制的崇拜、“顾客”隐喻的不当、人性假设的偏颇等。现代政府的正当性或合法性必须奠基于公平、正义、民主、责任的价值前提,不可陷入偏狭的牢笼。     

新公共管理视域下的基本公共服务均等化

基本公共服务均等化是当前的热点问题,也是全面建设小康社会、促进社会协调发展的重要制约因素。本文从新公共管理的视角分析基本公共服务均等化的内在意蕴,剖析当前基本公共服务均等化实现过程中的困点,并在此基础上,对我国基本公共服务均等化实现路径做一些探讨性的研究。