Implementing the third way

David Clark

Public Management Review, 2004, vol. 6, issue 4, 493-510

Abstract: This article compares Quebec and the UK as instances of 'Third Way' public management reform. It aims to show that despite drawing on similar discourse, reform has played out differently in the two contexts. The article identifies the tensions that have arisen in the implementation of reform, with particular reference to performance/results-based management and the restructuring of local governance. It is argued that the outcome of reform in Quebec is likely to be the obverse of the UK case, with weaker institutionalization of performance management and a correspondingly stronger renewal of local governance. These outcomes are related to the different political contexts and strategies of reform and to differences in the structure and operation of organizational networks. In conclusion, some lessons are drawn concerning the importance of conceptualizing the Third Way as a reconfiguration of existing modes of organizational control and co-ordination rather than as a new form of networked governance.

Date: 2004
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DOI: 10.1080/1471903042000303300

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