Modernizing the Public Sector

<p>As policymakers and scholars evaluate possible ways forward in the reform and renewal of public services by governments caught up in a recessionary environment this book aims to offer something different – a comprehensive analysis of the development of the ‘Scandinavian’ way of modernizing public-sector management. No book has yet provided an inside view of the development and character of New Public Management (NPM) in Scandinavia. Although there is a general perception that there is a clear-cut ‘Scandinavian’ model of public policy and management this book offers a more nuanced interpretation illuminating subtle distinctions in political social and economic context which are significant in identifying receptive contexts for the adoption of modernization policies.</p><p></p><p>Organized into three main themes in the modernization of the welfare state – management governance and marketization – the contents revolve around unique empirical accounts revealing distinctive Scandinavian characteristics of reform initiatives. The received wisdom may be a hesitant follower of the UK and the USA. But this book offers an alternative interpretation revealing an edginess in certain Scandinavian settings particularly in Sweden which is a largely unrecognized.</p><p></p><p>Without compromising the welfare state it may be a bold frontrunner in the development of New Public Management.</p>