ABSTRACT
The aim of the reforms of the 1960s and 1970s was to increase the economic efficiency of operations through concentration of resources. Critical voices pointed out that democracy was at risk. The reform revealed structures which are invisible in everyday life. The national politicians, who live in the world of representations, are not aware of any reality other than these idealized representations. Early in the reform period, it was said that top career civil servants in the hierarchy were gaining more power than was permissible under the democratic imperative, i.e. that power was too much concentrated in the hands of the central i.e. municipal public administration. The legitimacy of organizations lies in the congruence between organizational actions and the social values expressed in norms concerning organizational action. Although reforms are not always controlled by ideologies, they are always accompanied by ideologies. Reforms allow the opportunity for lessons in shared history, lectures on modernism and dreams of the future.
