Public sector management, electoral reform and the future of the contract state in New Zealand

The reforms to New Zealand's system of public sector management have attrac ted significant international interest since the mid-to-late 1980s. This ar ticle provides a brief description and analysis of some of the recent devel opments in New Zealand with respect to corporatisation, privatisation and c ontracting-out, and assesses the implications of the introduction of propor tional representation in 1996 for the structure and management of the publi c sector: It is argued that New Zealand's reforms, notwithstanding their nu merous strengths, have left many of the fundamental problems of public sect or management unresolved adn that sharp political divisions remain over the extent to which a more commerical and contractualist approach should be ap plied to the organisation and delivery of key social services, including he alth care and public housing.