Creating Crises and Avoiding Blame

Abstract

The new public management (NPM) is the result of both pushes (attempts at crisis creation) and pulls (attempts to get along with less and to act more businesslike). These led to a new elite consensus on the role of the state, described by Jessop as the Schumpeterian workfare state. The NPM is seen as the management technology of this policy paradigm. To the degree that the NPM represents a broad agreement on how government should operate in light of this new consensus on the role of the state, it is a positive development. However, the NPM can also be attractive due to another, more cynical, pull. This is the desire to avoid blame for the costs that transition to this new policy paradigm imposes on society. To the degree that the NPM is used as technique for blame avoidance, its benefits to society decline.