Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira
Revista de Administração Pública 34(4), July 2000: 55-72. In Moderna Gestão Pública: dos Meios aos Resultados, Lisbon: Edição INA-Instituto Nacional de Administração, 2000: 55-72. Paper presented to the Seminar "Moderna Gestão Pública", sponsored by INA Instituto Nacional de Administração Pública, Lisbon, March 30-31, 2000. Versão reduzida publicada em Cadernos Adenauer II (3) Burocracia e Reforma do Estado, julho 2001: 29-45.
Abstract. The 1995/98 Public Management Reform distinguishes the exclusive activities of the state from social and scientific activities. The state is not supposed to directly execute the later, but contract out public non-state organizations to execute them with public funds. Senior civil servants are supposed to be more autonomous and more accountable to society. Its basic principles, consistent with new public management, were defined in the 1995s Plano Diretor da Reforma do Aparelho do Estado, and in the constitutional amendment that came to be called "administrative reform". The amendment and most of the institutions required by the reform had already been approved by 1998. This positive outcome was possible, in spite strong initial rejection, due to the national debate that it entailed - a national debate that ended with large approval among public opinion and senior civil service. Now the reform is being gradually (and loosely) implemented at federal, state, and municipal level.
