ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the interrelationship between the NPM and the modernization programme of the Labour government as it is being played out in the UK. There are significant points of continuity between the neo-liberal approach to public sector reform and that of ‘New Labour’, despite some differences of language and practice (see Hughes and Newman 1999; Newman 2000; Newman forthcoming). But the interface between NPM and modernization produces key tensions, which are played out in public service organizations as they seek to accommodate new definitions of role and purpose. This chapter traces themes and issues that highlight the tensions or points of disruption within modernization, the potential disjunctures between modernization and the NPM and the dilemmas for public managers which these produce.
