This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Cohn, D. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Creating Crises and Avoiding Blame

The Politics of Public Service Reform and the New Public Management in Great Britain and the United States

Carleton University, Canada

The new public management (NPM) is the result of both pushes (attempts at crisis creation) and pulls (attempts to get along with less and to act more businesslike). These led to a new elite consensus on the role of the state, described by Jessop as the Schumpeterian workfare state. The NPM is seen as the management technology of this policy paradigm. To the degree that the NPM represents a broad agreement on how government should operate in light of this new consensus on the role of the state, it is a positive development. However, the NPM can also be attractive due to another, more cynical, pull. This is the desire to avoid blame for the costs that transition to this new policy paradigm imposes on society. To the degree that the NPM is used as technique for blame avoidance, its benefits to society decline.

Administration & Society, Vol. 29, No. 5, 584-616 (1997)
DOI: 10.1177/009539979702900504


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S. van Thiel Trends in the Public Sector: Why Politicians Prefer Quasi-Autonomous Organizations Journal of Theoretical Politics, April 1, 2004; 16(2): 175 - 201. [Abstract] [PDF]