The Rise and Demise of the New Public Management, 28 10
To be progressive one has to be seen to
be doing things to which these particular labels can be stuck. ... Suggesting,
for example, that an existing or new activity would be better placed within an
enlarged central ministry or as a direct, state-provided service, becomes an
uphill struggle it is `beyond the pale', not the done thing. (Pollitt and
Bouckaert 2004: 201)
In PA, the problem is that on the one hand, experts are hired both on the basis of
fashionability and of their capacity to suggest change, not to say that things should
remain as they are the main reason why international consultancy has gone
strongly for NPM. On the other hand, for politicians it is very practical to turn to
experts, because it alleviates them from the pressure to, first, find out what the
proper decision should be and, second, to implement possibly unpopular measures.
Under the cloak of efficiency, NPM specifically returns decision-making to the
annaabi.ee 
