The evolution of reform narratives: a narrative policy framework analysis of German NPM reforms

Abstract

ABSTRACT Narrative approaches have been well known in public policy and public administration research for years. As a contribution to research on reform narratives, this paper will deal with the question of how the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) can be used to understand the dynamics of reforms. For the case of New Public Management (NPM) reforms in Germany between 1993 and the late 2000s, it is shown how a reform narrative is shaped by reform actors and how it evolves through implementation. It is argued that the dynamics of re-form narratives typically lead to excessive expectations which must be disappointed during implementation. While from a methodological perspective, benefits of the NPF for structuring narrative analysis are evident, a systematic approach for linking narrative evolution to material or social facts seems to be vital.