New Public Management and Convergence in Public Administrative Systems: A Comparison between Australia and the Republic of Korea

Abstract

New Public Management (NPM) has adopted many of the qualities often associated with the concept of 'modernization', including the presumption that it is unambiguous, irreversible, convergent, and beneficent. This rhetorical stance has served to propagate the global influence of NPM and entrench it as the dominant doctrinal model in contemporary public management. This paper considers the claim that there is an international trend towards public sector convergence following the policy prescriptions of NPM After a case study comparison of the processes of public sector reform in Australia and the Republic of Korea, we argue that the distinction between symbolic reform and actual reform belies the convergence claims of NPM Thus, although reform 'talk' between Australia and Korea have been predicated on common NPM themes, the reform 'walk' has been quite different between the two countries.