Current and future trends in public sector reform: The views of trade unions and consultants in ten European countries.

Abstract

While public sector reform has been a constant process, sometimes evolutionary and sometimes revolutionary, the financial crisis that started in 2008, along with the streamlining and efficiency aims of New Public Management paradigms that began to emerge in the 1980s, have increased the focus on current trends in reform in Europe and what this means for the future of the public sector. This report draws on a total of 59 interviews conducted in 10 countries with top public sector consultants and public sector trade unions to determine perceptions of current trends in the public sector in each of the countries, as well as the future of public sector reform. The interviews were conducted according to a standardised set of questions, although they were conducted in each country’s native language. Interviewees were asked background questions about their role in regard to the public sector, along with questions about the state of public administration in their country, specific public sector reform factors that had improved or deteriorated over the past five years, the effects of these reforms on their work and what trends they saw shaping the future of the public sector.