Why the Model Was Reopened
By the late 1970s, classical bureaucratic administration faced four distinct challenges:
- Fiscally: the post-1973 economic slowdown restricted public spending.
- Ideologically: public choice theory depicted officials as self-interested budget-maximisers.
- Managerially: private sector practices offered models of performance and customer focus.
- Democratically: citizens criticised large bureaucracies as remote and unresponsive.
Wave One: New Public Management
In 1991, Christopher Hood published "A Public Management for All Seasons". The paper identified New Public Management (NPM) and its core doctrines.
Two distinct intellectual traditions shaped NPM:
- New institutional economics: focused on contracts, competition, and incentives.
- Managerialism: emphasised professional management skills, urging governments to steer, not row (Osborne and Gaebler).
Wave Two: Governance
Disaggregation created a fragmented public sector. R. A. W. Rhodes analysed this landscape of self-organising interorganisational networks.
Here, the state acts as one partner among many. It coordinates rather than commands directly.
Wave Three: Reintegration
By the 2000s, governments sought to mend fragmented services. This wave took several related forms:
- joined-up government
- whole-of-government
- digital-era governance
Digital systems allowed agencies to reintegrate functions and organise services around citizens.
Common pitfall: assuming each reform wave replaced the previous one. In practice, modern administrations use bureaucratic rules, NPM targets, networks, and digital platforms at the same time.