CREATING CRISES AND AVOIDING BLAME - THE POLITICS OF PUBLIC-SERVICE REFORM AND THE NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT IN GREAT-BRITAIN AND THE UNITED-STATES

The new public management (NPM) is the result of both pushes (attempts at crisis creation) and pulls (attempts to get along with less and to act more businesslike). These led to a new elite consensus on the rol e of the state, described by Jessop as the Schumpeterian workfare stat e, The NPM is seen as the management technology of this policy paradig m. To the degree that the NPM represents a broad agreement on how gove rnment should operate in light of this new consensus on the role of th e state, it is a positive development. However, the NPM can also be at tractive due to another; more cynical, pull. This is the desire to avo id blame far the costs that transition to this new policy paradigm imp oses on society. To the degree that the NPM is used as technique for b lame avoidance, its benefits to society decline.