Strengthening of the executive centre: looking beyond NPM as the explanation for change

Abstract

In several countries, attempts have been made to increase the capacity to coordinate and control public policy in the executive centre. The literature on whole-of-government and joined-up government describes these changes as reassertion efforts to counter the negative effects of former New Public Management (NPM) reforms. The main research question discussed in this article is whether the strengthening of the executive centre also should be explained by broader developments in society and by features of the cabinet itself. The research question is answered by looking at changes in Norway over the last three decades. Although former NPM reforms play a part in the Norwegian case, the article finds that the efforts undertaken should also be explained by the wish to improve cabinet decision-making and to solve conflicts between parties in cabinet.

Points for practitioners

This article examines different explanations for change in the executive centre in Norway. Over the last three decades, the Norwegian executive centre has been strengthened by the increased number of political appointees in ministries, by the enlargement of the Prime Minister’s Office where its own coordination minister was appointed in 2009, and by the formalization of an inner cabinet. The empirical data are gathered from internal cabinet documents and semi-structured interviews with administrative and political leaders. The article finds that developments in Norway have several explanations, suggesting that changes in the executive centre are heterogeneous, and are seldom undertaken to serve only one purpose.