Where is Municipal Marketisation Heading? Experiences from England and Scandinavia

Marketisation is commonly understood as a key component in the Nnew Ppublic Mmanagement (NPM) model for public management reform. However, negative experiences, newer reform trends and local circumstances have challenged the NPM and raised the question of whether reforms have entered a post-NPM era. In this chapter, we explore and compare the impact of marketisation on the organisation of local service delivery and address whether newer reform trends in the post-NPM era are transforming contemporary marketisation. Our study takes place in the context of local park and road services across England, Sweden, Denmark and Norway and draws upon original survey data collected from mid-level managers in 2014-16. The chapter concludes that marketisation is widespread but not dominant within our study’s context. It is also being transformed to some extent by newer and different reform trends. In perspective, we find that marketisation is an evolving reform practice, which trajectories depend on local contextual circumstances and adaption of newer reform ideas.