ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes perceptions of New Public Management (NPM) reforms by local government actors. A basic idea of New Public Management (NPM) reforms is to separate the tasks and responsibilities of politics and administration. The crucial argument behind this idea is that only by such a clear separation can accountability be achieved. This applies particularly to bureaucrats who should be free to choose the appropriate way for implementing policy programmes and to effectively and efficiently realise the policy objectives defined by politicians. Taking the results on administrative reforms of all surveys or at least some of them into account allows reflection on changes of the perception of NPM reforms over time. This applies not only to the roughly 10 years between the survey on municipal chief executive officers and municipal councillors but also to the more or less five years between the survey on mayors and municipal councillors as well as to the different years.
