Charters are official commitments to quality and reform. Belgium introduced its Charter of the User of Public Services in 1993. The federal administration’s Copernicus reform began in 1999 and had a strong external outlook. It therefore may be considered as a second User Charter. In this...

Originating in the Anglo-American world, the 'New Public Management' (NPM) paradigm appears to have swept over various Continental-European countries, producing convergence of administrative reform. This text explains how the ambiguous concept of NPM is crafted and shaped differently in various...