Abstract

The chapter describes dominant public management reform trends and top-level civil servants’ assessments of the use of managerial tools within the public sector of Norway with a focus on the last five years. A main finding is that Norway largely follows the same reform trends as in Europe, with the important exception of public sector downsizing. The managerial tools that are used are judged as rather successful, in contrast to many other European countries. The reform features are in line with the traditional Norwegian collaborative reform strategy and policy style, and confirm a reluctant and incremental approach emphasizing managerial aspects rather than privatization and marketization.