Public Priorities, the NPM, and the Iowa Test Case

• Author: Robert F. Durant
• Date: 01 March 1999
• DOI: 10.1177/0160323X9903100202
• Published date: 01 March 1999
• Subject Matter: Comment: Taking a Second Look

91Spring 1999

State an d Local Government Review

Vo l. 31, No. 2 (Spring 1999): 91-94

WHEN ASKED IF the French Revo-

lution of the 18th century was

a success, 20th-century Chinese

Premier Chou En-lai responded that it was

too early to tell. The same certainly can be s aid

about th e New Public Management (NPM).

Research ers are only beginning to get a sense

of its p romise versus its performance. And in

perhaps the greatest irony of a movement

purportedly geared toward consumer sover-

eignty, we know v ery l ittl e abou t how citizens

feel about the NPM reforms taking place. This

is what makes Professor Bundt’s and Profes-

sor Lutz’s research so welcome, timely, and

thought-provoking.

Their work becomes even more valuable

when they espouse the virtues of an educa-

tive role for public managers. As a recent

study by the Council for Excellence in Gov-

ernment (1999) concluded, the “challenge for

21st Century government

…

is reconnecting

with the public it serves.” Survey research

such as that und erta ken i n Iowa i s an i mpo r-

tant component of realizing this goal. As such,

I hope that Professors Bundt and Lutz will

continue this very significant line of research,

and I look forward to reading their work in

the future.

Rather than dismiss their conclusions, my

intention is to posit alternative interpretations

Comment:

Ta k i n g a Second Look

Public Priorities, the NPM, and the Iowa Test Case

Robe rt F. Durant

From the Editor—

A major goal of the Review is to provide a fo-

rum for the exchange of ideas among scholars

and professionals about significant governance

issues. In recent years, the New Public Man-

agement and its concern for results, perfor-

mance, and citizen values has been a visible

and important theme in public administration.

In the preceding article, Bundt and Lutz report

the results of a survey of Iowa citizens, con-

cluding that citizens value honest government

more than they do businesslike government.

In reviewing this article for publication, one of

the referees offered an interesting and critical

perspective on how the survey data were gath-

ered and what those data actually might mean.

At our request, Robert F. D ura nt pr epared this

“comment” based on his review, and the au-

thors prepared a brief reply. We hope this ex-

change stimulates further discussion about

how best to understand citizen attitudes to-

ward public management.

R.W.C.

of their findings. In my judgment, the study’s

design, conceptualization of key concepts,

and factor loading scores make any conclu-

sions premature about Iowans giving higher

priority to “hone st” over “businesslike” gov-

ernment. Moreover, extending the study’s find-

ings about trustworthiness to NPM reforms,