FROM OLD PUBLIC-ADMINISTRATION TO NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT

This article starts by looking at the now familiar idea of 'New Public Management' in the light of previous efforts at managerial reform, ar guing that NPM has proved a fairly durable and consistent agenda. Then the major criticisms of NPM within and outside the public service are reviewed, demonstrating the tensions and contradictions among the maj or criticisms. To endure, NPM must be capable of accommodating differe nt poles of criticism by modifying its agenda, attempting to identify the areas where drawbacks in NPM methods are most salient. Finally, so me future challenges for NPM are discussed: the prospect of outcomes o utside the conventional distinction of traditional and modern public m anagement styles; the risk of inappropriate cloning; and quasi-constit utional issues about the core competencies of public sector agencies.