The Quest for a Leaner, Not a Meaner Government

In 1993, the Clinton administration launched the National Performance Review [NPR], a large-scale effort to create a more entrepreneurial government that ‘works better and costs less’. The NPR relied heavily on the input and effort of federal civil servants. Further, it incorporated a major personnel reduction that specifically targeted ‘control- and micro-management’ positions. Although the rationale for the reduction was formulated in terms of performance improvement, it was as much driven by the goal of cost cutting. A similar effort took place in The Netherlands with the ‘Grote Efficiency Operatie’ [Operation Efficiency]. During the 1980’s, the Dutch government established six so-called ‘major operations’ to improve its performance and reduce costs. In the early 1990’s, these efforts to shrink the government workforce merged with those to lever public services to the private sector for operational efficiency. The history, targets, procedure and organization as well as results of both countries’ efforts are analyzed.