The Giuliani Administration and the New Public Management in New York City

Abstract

New public management (NPM) assumes that government should be run as a business and is based on a set of interrelated principles applied to reduce the costs of government by encouraging privatization and managed competition of government services. The author analyzes the viability of NPM as a governing strategy by examining the extent of implementation of NPM policies by New York City’s Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, an aggressive proponent of the NPM agenda. Close examination reveals that Mayor Giuliani’s success in implementing his NPM agenda has been limited. The mayor’s difficulties in achieving his goals are identified and are illustrative of the reform/accommodation cycle facing Mayor Giuliani and other urban mayors who attempt to implement abstract reform principles in a politicized environment.