New Public Management and its Implementation in the CEE Region: What do we know and where do we go?

Abstract

The paper presents a short literature review on New Public Management (NPM) and public sector reforms in CEE. It also includes selected practical  experiences in CEE countries with the implementation of NPM, data collected for most cases by the author and his team. On this base the conclusions about very limited success of NPM in Central and Eastern Europe are suggested, including explanations of some region specific factors, determining the level of success of NPM strategies. Our findings argue in simplified way that: “Adieu NPM” should mean that managing by contracts, objectives, competition, etc. as the goal, is a forgotten story (not only for CEE, but generally). But governing by predictable, reliable and coherent, open and transparent, accountable and responsible bureaucracy, using evidence and consultation based policy making and simultaneously properly managing efficiency, economy and effectiveness of any government operation is the future target.