Citizens versus the new public manager - The problem of mutual empowerment

Many contemporary reforms of the public sector advocate empowerment as a so lution for many of the problems of governing. The difficulty arises when di fferent groups-clients, lower-level officials, senior officials, and local communities-are all the subject of empowerment. Attempts to enhance the pow er of all these players in the policy process is argued to create the proba bility of political conflict and this is demonstrated with a set of example s. Efforts at empowerment further may be the sources of substantial disillu sionment and possible alienation when it becomes apparent that all groups c annot be empowered at once.