Assessing Public Management Reforms

Patrick C. Gibert is Emeritus Professor of Management at the University of Paris-Nanterre, France. An alumnus of the Northwestern Graduate School, his publications examine the ways in which public organizations enact performance management and policy evaluation. He is the co-founder of the journal Politiques et Management Public. Jean-Claude Thoenig is a former research director at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France. A former associate dean at INSEAD, he led the French Conseil Scientifique de l’Évaluation. His academic contributions cover innovation management, policy implementation and evaluation, intergovernmental relationships, higher education, and research institutions.

• 1. Introduction.- 2. Bridging Efficience and Efficiency.- 3. An enigma: The French Paradox.- 4. A poor appropriation of performance-oriented capacities.- 5. Required capabilities to assess and enact modernization capacities.- 6. Conclusion.

“I enjoyed reading this book and am pleased to recommend it. It would be of inter­est to scholars and researchers of French administration, but also to those interested in public management and responses to reform more broadly, and why transforma­tional reforms do not always measure up to their stated intents.” (Christopher L. Atkinson, Public Organization Review, January 11, 2023)