Taking stock: New Public Management (NPM) and post-NPM reforms - trends and challenges

Abstract

This chapter takes stock of the New Public Management (NPM) and post-NPM public-sector reforms. It describes NPM as an ambiguous, multi-faceted and expanded concept and discusses the driving forces behind NPM. It is argued that there has been no convergence towards one common NPM model but instead significant divergence between countries, government levels, policy areas, tasks and over time. The effects and implications of NPM are ambiguous, inconclusive and contested, The chapter also addresses post-NPM reform trends, examining their background, driving forces and content, with its focus on centralization and increased coordination across public organizations. Post-NPM has been introduced in addition to NPM and thus made public administration more complex, hybrid and layered. The effects of post-NPM reforms have yet to be fully explored.