Wolf's Model: Government Failure and Public Sector Reform in Advanced Industrial Democracies

Abstract

Many developed nations have embarked on public sector reform programs based on the New Public Management (NPM) paradigm. This article seeks to evaluate the efficacy of NPM reform strategies as a means of dealing with the problem of "government failure" in public sector hierarchies by examining these strategies through the analytical prism provided by Wolf's theory of non market failure. Drawing on the New Zealand experience, we explore the potential for NPM reform initiatives to mitigate the problems of non market supply. Moreover, we examine how "autonomous policy leadership" and "advocacy coalition networks" can overcome the various obstacles to the successful implementation of reform strategies delineated by Wolf under his "conditions of non market demand". The article then focusses on the efficacy of NPM in removing, or at least reducing, the various forms of government failure identified in Wolf's taxonomic catalogue of non market failure. We conclude by assessing some of the likely trade offs involved in the application of NPM reform programs.