Traditions and public sector reform: Comparing Britain and Denmark

A governmental tradition is a set of beliefs about the institutions and his tory of government. In this article I argue the Anglo-Saxon governmental tr adition interprets public sector reform differently to the Rechtsstaat, par ticipation tradition of Denmark, leading to different aims, measures and ou tcomes. In the Introduction, I define NPM arguing that is has become everyt hing and is, therefore a meaningless term. I identify six dimensions to pub lic sector reform: privatization, marketization, corporate management, regu lation, decentralization and political control. In section 2, I describe th e six dimensions of public sector reform in Britain and Denmark. In section 3, I explain the idea of a governmental tradition and argue the idea is es sential to understanding the differences between Britain and Denmark. In se ction 4, I compare British and Danish governmental traditions, arguing the key differences lie in beliefs about the constitution, bureaucracy and stat e-civil society relations. Finally, I provide a summary explanation of the differences and argue that traditions not only shape the aims, measures and outcomes of public sector reform but also lead to different interpretation s of reform and its dilemmas. In Britain, the key dilemma concerns central steering capacity. In Denmark, the main dilemma is democratic accountabilit y.