The managerial conversion of senior civil servants
A convenient myth for the French local welfare state
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9962529 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jean-Robert Alcaras (University of Avignon and Pays de Vaucluse, France, corresponding author), Guillaume Marrel (0000-0003-4020-3446, University of Avignon and Pays de Vaucluse, France), Christèle Marchand (University of Avignon and Pays de Vaucluse, France), Magali Nonjon (0000-0003-3590-6550, University of Avignon and Pays de Vaucluse, France) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 82 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 190-207 |
| Publication date | 2016-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Review of Administrative Sciences (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0020-8523 • E-ISSN: 1461-7226 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0020852315570552 |
| OpenAlex | W2322679870 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 35 |
Has New Public Management really been rolled out homogenously across the board? Drawing on research into the viewpoints and practices of a particular category of senior civil servants in France (those in charge of local welfare policy), this article takes a critical look at this assumption of convergence towards NPM. Behind a discursive convergence that remains superficial and partial, the reality tends more towards heterogeneous and contextualized appropriations of New Public Management benchmarks often leading to new forms of bureaucracy. In a context where the position of public officials has been weakened, ‘management’ seems to have been adopted as a source of professional legitimization. By adopting this very useful managerial posture, these civil servants find comfort in perpetuating the myth of convergence
Bureaucracy · Civil servants · Context (archaeology · Convergence (economics · Economic growth · Economics · Legitimacy · New public management · Political science · Politics · Position (finance · Public relations · Public sector · Sociology · Viewpoints · Welfare · Welfare state · Education, sociology, and vocational training · Finance · French Urban and Social Studies · Law · Public Administration · Social Sciences and Governance
Performance Management in the Public Sector
The New Public Management in Action
The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis
The New Public Governance?
Public Service Performance and Trust in Government
Reinventing Government
VII. Sociologie, formation et carrière des hauts fonctionnaires territoriaux
Local government reform between ‘exogenous’ and ‘endogenous’ driving forces
Management et travail social
Building the New Managerialist State
Les hauts fonctionnaires croient-ils à leurs mythes ? L'apport des approches cognitives à l'analyse des engagements dans les politiques de réforme de l'État. Quelques exemples français (1988-1997)
La fonction publique territoriale
Réinventer l’État
Construire des bureaucraties wébériennes à l'ère du New Public Management
La « performance sociale » comme horizon ? Les directeurs départementaux de l'aide et de l'action sociales et leurs perceptions de la managérialisation
Convergence
New Public Management for the ‘Classical Continental European Administration’
The French State and Its Territorial Challenges
Public Service’, ‘Public Management’ and the ‘Modernization’ of French Public Administration
Two Myths of Convergence in Public Management Reform
Restructuring Weberian Bureaucracy
Public Management Innovation in Economically Advanced and Developing Countries
At the Critical Moment
The social construction of reality
Making Narrative Count
Defensive versus Offensive Approaches to Administrative Reform in France (1988–1997)
Intellectual Obsolescence and Intellectual Makeovers
A Public Management for All Seasons
La décentralisation de l'action sociale. L'irrésistible ascension du « département providence
Entre les politiques publiques et la politique
Désenchantement idéologique et réenchantement mythique des politiques locales
Les transformations managériales des activités politiques
Institutionalized Organizations
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |