Paradigm shift from New Public Administration to New Public Management: theory and practice in Africa

Shikha Vyas-Doorgapersad

doi:10.4102/td.v7i2.240

Abstract

The African continent is facing a number of administrative crises. The recent decline of public administration on the continent has forced some African countries to re-assess their governance systems. Their public service reforms are evidence of the emergence of New Public Management (NPM) for improved public sector administrative structures and operations. This article discusses the paradigm shifts from New Public Administration to New Public Management, as a means of meeting public administration challenges in Africa. At a contextual level, the paper examines the practical implementation by some African countries of NPM and the outcomes of NPM-led reform in these countries.Keywords: Public Administration (PA); New Public Administration (NPA); New Public Management (NPM); Public Value Management (PVM); paradigm; paradigm shift; public service reforms; governanceDisciplines: Public Management; Political Science; Sociology; Economics

Highlights

The progression from New Public Administration to New Public Management has stimulated intellectual debate amongst scholars, raising certain probing questions
During the late 1960s, intellectual voices were raised against the growing inability of the discipline to reorient itself to the needs of social change ... emphasised the need for bringing Public Administration closer to politics and political theory
The client oriented, normative and socially conscious public administration suggested by the scholars, is the new public administration

Summary

Introduction

The progression from New Public Administration to New Public Management has stimulated intellectual debate amongst scholars, raising certain probing questions. Rather than being opposite paradigms, one of which must defeat the other, they appear to represent incommensurable ways of looking at their subject, each having its contribution to make (Gow and Dufour 2000: 590). Through this theoretical understanding, the paper aims to explore the implementation and practise of NPM as a new paradigm (hypothetical) and the outcomes of NPM-led reforms introduced on the African continent

Paradigms of Public Administration

The way forward

Conclusion

Dictionary of Social