Hood, Christopher and Lodge, Martin 
ORCID: 0000-0002-4273-6118
(2005)
Aesop with variations: civil service competency as a case of German tortoise and British hare?
Public Administration, 83 (4).
pp. 805-822.
ISSN 0033-3298
Abstract
Among the most widely used stereotypes in the contemporary literature on public management reform is to portray German administrative policy as that of a slow-moving 'tortoise' in contrast to the fast-moving reform 'hare'. Taking civil service competency as a point of analysis, this article questions the validity of these widely held assumptions. It does so in three steps. Following a brief comparative narrative of competency initiatives in the German and British higher civil services, the article explores to what extent the observed 'Aesop with variation' pattern can be explained. It suggests that the variations can only to a limited extent be explained by 'civil service competency exceptionalism' and that there therefore seems to be something wrong with the way that Germany and the UK are conventionally categorized in the international public management reform literature.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Official URL: | http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/1185194... |
| Additional Information: | © 2005 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. |
| Divisions: | Government Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion |
| Subjects: | J Political Science > JA Political science (General) J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe) |
| Date Deposited: | 09 Sep 2008 17:14 |
| Last Modified: | 04 Jan 2024 04:33 |
| URI: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/15378 |
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