Evert Lindquist (University of Victoria) , Jonathan Craft (University of Toronto)
Recent turbulence in governing environments has reinvigorated big questions in the field about the efficacy of various public governance approaches for more effective government. This article examines the applicability of the most recent versions of the Neo Weberian State (NWS) approach to the Canadian case (Bouckaert 2023). Our analysis reveals that Canada does not fit the NWS approach well. Canada’s decentralized federal system and indigenous governance imperatives challenge the hierarchy essential to the NWS. A modest reformer, Canada’s public management reform trajectory has not yielded many of the elements stipulated by the NWS. Canada remains characterized by partial and often asymmetrical incrementalism, which we argue points to defined hybrid, pragmatic, and negotiated (HPN) approach. However, looking at Canada through the lens of NWS raises important questions and considerations for the future directions of Canadian public management, and identifies further opportunities to sharpen the NWS approach.