Public Administration Reform in Europe. Views and Experiences from Senior Executives in 10 Countries. COCOPS WP3 Cross-national Report

Abstract

Coordinating for Cohesion in the Public Sector of the Future (COCOPS), as one of the largest comparative public management research projects in Europe, intends to provide a comprehensive picture of the challenges facing the European public sector of the future and to systematically explore the impact of New Public Management (NPM)-style reforms in Europe. The project brings together public administration scholars from eleven universities in ten countries1 and is funded as part of the European Union’s 7th Framework Programme; it runs from January 2011 until June 2014. The research is comparative and evidence-based, drawing on both existing data and innovative new quantitative and qualitative data collection. A cornerstone of the project is the COCOPS Executive Survey on Public Sector Reform in Europe, an original survey of public sector senior executives in ten European countries, and currently the largest of its kind implemented in Europe. The survey explores the executives’ perceptions, experiences and opinions with regard to their work context and public administrative reforms and the impact of these factors on public sector performance more generally; particular attention is given to the employment and health policy sectors.