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Imitation and inspiration in public sector reform: lessons from Commonwealth experiences

School of Government, Victoria University of Wellington

Richard Norman

Victoria Management School, Victoria University of Wellington

This article is based on a paper originally presented at the 2006 Conference of the Commonwealth Association of Public Administration and Management. It discusses case studies of reform in developing countries presented at the Commonwealth Advanced Seminar, held annually in Wellington, New Zealand. The cases are analysed in terms of major reform issues such as civil service reform, strategic planning, management decentralization and accountability for results to draw out similarities in challenges and responses across jurisdictions and also some lessons about the uptake and implementation of policy ideas from other governments. The cases illustrate the influence on developing country governments of public management ideas, ranging from specific imitation of new management `technologies' to more generalized inspiration of the possibilities of reform.

Points for practitioners

There are significant similarities of reform issues across the diverse countries of the Commonwealth, indicating the value of cross-jurisdictional dialogue about reform agendas, particularly when participants share a common official language. Some ideas about New Public Management continue to exert a strong influence on reform agendas — particularly those relating to linking individual performance to organizational tasks and objectives. Nevertheless, inspiration, rather than imitation, may sometimes be the most useful result of cross-jurisdiction discussions about public sector reform, particularly when practitioners can discuss common issues and challenges.

Key Words: case studies • Commonwealth • developing countries • policy transfer • public administration • public management • public sector reform

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