The New Public Management

New public management is a topical phrase to describe how management techniques from the private sector are now being applied to public services. This book provides a completely up-to-date overview of the main theoretical models of public sector management, and examines the key changes that have occurred as more and more public services are contracted out to private organisations, as the public sector itself grapples with 'internal markets'. Drawing on economics, organisational theory and poliltics, Jan-Erik Lane presents new public management from an analytical perspective. This book uses game theory and empirical studies in order to assess the pros and cons of new public management.

How policymakers should guide, manage, and oversee public bureaucracies is a question that lies at the heart of contemporary debates about government and public administration. This text calls for public management to become a vibrant field of public policy.

Since the third edition of this authoritative volume, most of Western Europe and North America have entered an era of austerity which has pervasive effects on programmes of public management reform. Even in Australasia extensive measures of fiscal restraint have been implemented. In this fourth edition the basic structure of the book has been retained but there has been a line-by-line rewriting, including the addition of extensive analyses and information about the impacts of austerity. Many new sources are cited and there is a new exploration of the interactions between austerity and the major paradigms of reform - NPM, the Neo-Weberian State and New Public Governance. The existing strengths of the previous editions have been retained while vital new material on developments since the Global Economic Crisis has been added. This remains the most authoritative, comprehensive, widely-cited academic text on public management reform in Europe, North America and Australasia.

The UK has played a pivotal role in the development of New Public Management (NPM). This book offers an original, comprehensive and multidisciplinary analysis of the impact of the New Public Management in the UK, and situates these analyses in a broader comparative perspective. Its chapters consider: competing typologies of NPM issues of professionalism within NPM debates on social exclusion and equity the role of different research approaches in evaluating NPM the evolving nature of NPM and impact of modernisation evaluations of NPM in mainland Europe, North America, Africa and the developing World, Australia, and Pacific-Asia. Leading authorities from around the world present evaluations of current thinking in NPM and highlight the challenges which will shape future development and research approaches. New Public Management presents a timely and constructive overview of the nature and impact of the NPM and offers important lessons for public management across the world.

This book analyses changes which have occurred in the organization and management of the UK public services over the last 15 years, looking particularly at the restructured NHS. The authors present an up-to-date analysis around three main themes: the transfer of private sector models to the public sector, the management of change in the public sector, and management reorganization and role change. In doing so they examine to what extent a New Public Management has emerged, and ask whether this is a parochial UK development or of wider international significance. This is a topical and important issue in management training, professional, and policy circles. Important analytic themes include: an analysis of the nature of the change process in the UK public services, characterization of quasi markets, the changing role of local Boards, and possible adaptation by professional groupings. The book also addresses the important and controversial question of accountability, and contributes to the development of a general theory of the New Public Management.

How policymakers should guide, manage, and oversee public bureaucracies is a question that lies at the heart of contemporary debates about government and public administration. In their search for better systems of public management, reformers have looked in particular at the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. These countries are exemplars of the New Public Management, a term used to describe distinctive new themes, styles, and patterns of public service management. Calling for public management to become a vibrant field of public policy, this valuable book consolidates recent work on the New Public Management and provides a basis for improving research and policy debate on managing public bureaucracies. A copublication with the Russell Sage Foundation

A festchrift in honour of Peter C. Aucoin, professor emeritus of political science and public administration.

This collection provides a comprehensive, state-of-the art review of current research in the field of New Public Management (NPM) reform. Aimed primarily at a readership with a special interest in contemporary public-sector reforms, The Ashgate Research Companion to New Public Management offers a refreshing and up-to-date analysis of key issues of modern administrative reforms. This volume comprises a general introduction and twenty-nine chapters divided into six thematic sessions, each with chapters ranging across a variety of crucial topics in the field of New Public Management reforms and beyond. The principal themes to be addressed are: ¢