Describe and evaluate the concept of “reinventing government”. What does it mean and what are its strengths and weaknesses? Does the reinvention thesis offer Canadian governments a viable means of reforming and restructuring the nature and functioning of public administration in the country? Why or why not? The concept of reinventing government was best explained by two Americans, David Osborne and Ted Gaebler. They brought this concept to a wide audience and also increased the legitimacy and popularity of this idea among government leaders. Basically, this idea is a reformist concept in which governments seek to adopt ten major reform initiatives. Osborne and Gaebler proposed ten principles for reinventing government that, if adopted by governments and managers, could transform public sector managers into public sector entrepreneurs. The ten principles are: catalytic government, community government, competitive government, mission-oriented government, results-oriented government, customer-oriented government, enterprising government, anticipatory government, decentralized government and market-oriented government . Catalytic government (steering rather than rowing) is the role of government and management, where they must be proactive and innovative, not reactive and traditional. Instead of dealing with problems as they arise, governments are encouraged to play a catalytic role. In order to contribute to the tasks of governance and management, they must find new and creative ways to achieve public goals. They should handle questions and problems by thinking outside the box and beyond standard action, thereby finding new and better ways to solve problems. Their first action should be to “steer” rather than “row.” Instead of having...... middle of paper...... ovision of value. From the Canadian perspective, Kernaghan, Marson and Boris (2000) point out that the concepts encompass three approaches to public sector governance. These are the importance of reducing the role of the state in society; the importance of restructuring and reforming the nature and operation of government organizations; and the importance of improving management capabilities and practices within the public sector through participatory decision-making and employee empowerment. While this is a good way to reform government, the choice depends on the level of support within government for a substantial change in the way it organizes and delivers public service. Most Canadian governments have been more moderate and centrist in their application of NPM approaches, emphasizing management reforms rather than wholesale reinvention of government systems..