ABSTRACT
New public management has been the dominant theory in public administration since the 1990s, although admittedly most governmentsincluding Canadian governments-have never fully implemented its prescriptions. New theories have emerged, such as new public governance, to try to explain developments that are more recent. Judging by the flow of past and current trends, future directions in public administration scholarship and practice, it seems, will be marked by further shifts away from emphasis on hierarchical structures and command and control management processes, as well as strict distinction between public and nongovernmental agencies (private or not for profit). The new approaches reflect a global tendency of public administration processes to be more integrative to the extent that they emphasize the strategic imperative of environmental forces, promote network approaches to public service production and delivery by blurring the boundaries of the public sector, view processes of policy implementation as characterized by negotiation and persuasion, and pay attention to enablement and relational skills for public managers.
