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Shaping NPM : Social democratic values at work

Karlsson, Tom S. LU (2017) p.37-52
Abstract

In this chapter, New Public Management (NPM) reforms are discussed, with focus on the Swedish public sector. The purpose is to question assumptions concerning the emergence of NPM within a Swedish context. A historical review reveals that reforms within the Swedish public sector express a heavy influence from the private sector; the idea of letting business and commercial logics guide the rationales of public-sector reforms can be traced back to the early twentieth century. The findings presented in this chapter are of particular interest for policymakers and public managers within public organizations. One conclusion is that the pragmatism and reformism characterizing Swedish social democracy during the post-World War II era has... (More)

In this chapter, New Public Management (NPM) reforms are discussed, with focus on the Swedish public sector. The purpose is to question assumptions concerning the emergence of NPM within a Swedish context. A historical review reveals that reforms within the Swedish public sector express a heavy influence from the private sector; the idea of letting business and commercial logics guide the rationales of public-sector reforms can be traced back to the early twentieth century. The findings presented in this chapter are of particular interest for policymakers and public managers within public organizations. One conclusion is that the pragmatism and reformism characterizing Swedish social democracy during the post-World War II era has enabled an adaption and adoption for emerging NPM policies; Scandinavian thinking has not focused on bad practices but rather on evolving reforms. This has resulted in responsiveness for reforms, ultimately leading to a distinctly Swedish form of NPM emerging from the need to satisfy both socialism and capitalism.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
host publication
Modernizing the Public Sector: Scandinavian Perspectives
pages
16 pages
publisher
Routledge
external identifiers
  • scopus:85026264118
ISBN
9781317197928
9781138675940
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
347da40a-856b-4b83-aaf5-358569bfb75a
date added to LUP
2017-08-04 12:00:28
date last changed
2025-07-08 08:46:45
@inbook{347da40a-856b-4b83-aaf5-358569bfb75a,
  abstract     = {{<p>In this chapter, New Public Management (NPM) reforms are discussed, with focus on the Swedish public sector. The purpose is to question assumptions concerning the emergence of NPM within a Swedish context. A historical review reveals that reforms within the Swedish public sector express a heavy influence from the private sector; the idea of letting business and commercial logics guide the rationales of public-sector reforms can be traced back to the early twentieth century. The findings presented in this chapter are of particular interest for policymakers and public managers within public organizations. One conclusion is that the pragmatism and reformism characterizing Swedish social democracy during the post-World War II era has enabled an adaption and adoption for emerging NPM policies; Scandinavian thinking has not focused on bad practices but rather on evolving reforms. This has resulted in responsiveness for reforms, ultimately leading to a distinctly Swedish form of NPM emerging from the need to satisfy both socialism and capitalism.</p>}},
  author       = {{Karlsson, Tom S.}},
  booktitle    = {{Modernizing the Public Sector: Scandinavian Perspectives}},
  isbn         = {{9781317197928}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{37--52}},
  publisher    = {{Routledge}},
  title        = {{Shaping NPM : Social democratic values at work}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}