Control and Autonomy—The SAIs in Norway, Denmark, and Germany as Watchdogs in an NPM-Era?

TY - JOUR

T1 - Control and Autonomy—The SAIs in Norway, Denmark, and Germany as Watchdogs in an NPM-Era?

AU - Jantz, Bastian

AU - Reichborn-Kjennerud, Kristin

AU - Vrangbæk, Karsten

N1 - Special Issue: Accountability, Performance and Legitimacy in Welfare Reforms

PY - 2015

Y1 - 2015

N2 - New public management (NPM) reforms have weakened the direct steering capacity within state bureaucracy. This article looks into how supreme audit institutions in three countries (Norway, Denmark, and Germany) assess these types of reforms. The analysis shows that all three SAIs have taken on an evaluative role when judging NPM instruments. At the same time their emphasis on legality and compliance can be at odds with some of the operating principles in NPM. All in all the German SAI seems to be the most radical critic. This may be linked to the lack of openness of the German SAIs results that makes it more internally focused within a mindset of administrative accountability.

AB - New public management (NPM) reforms have weakened the direct steering capacity within state bureaucracy. This article looks into how supreme audit institutions in three countries (Norway, Denmark, and Germany) assess these types of reforms. The analysis shows that all three SAIs have taken on an evaluative role when judging NPM instruments. At the same time their emphasis on legality and compliance can be at odds with some of the operating principles in NPM. All in all the German SAI seems to be the most radical critic. This may be linked to the lack of openness of the German SAIs results that makes it more internally focused within a mindset of administrative accountability.

KW - Faculty of Social Sciences

KW - accountability

KW - new public management

KW - supreme audit institutions

KW - autonomy

KW - control

U2 - 10.1080/01900692.2015.1069839

DO - 10.1080/01900692.2015.1069839

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0190-0692

VL - Volume 38

SP - 960

EP - 970

JO - International Journal of Public Administration

JF - International Journal of Public Administration

IS - 13

M1 - 3

ER -