Introduction: Comparing Contemporary Marketization in the Light of the Past

This introductory chapter prompts the need for revisiting conventional ideas and models of marketization and rethink what and how we think about marketization. The need is prompted by the innovation and intensification of new public sector reforms which not only have challenged but also provided avenues for the reinvention of older reform ideas and models. The chapter outlines two research questions, which guide and bind together the many analyses provided in the remainder of the book. The research questions center on, respectively, (a) how contemporary models of marketization in local governments compares against earlier models and across national contexts, and (b) how we in this context can understand patterns of divergence and convergence. In addition, the chapter introduces the overall logic, content and structure of the book.