Policy Implementation in Chile: The Case of the Public Management Modernisation

The paper analyzes the implementation of the Chilean policy on public management modernization from 1990 to 2013. The analysis will be based on the framework provided by Hasenfeld and Bock (1991), who identified the following patterns in studies on policy implementation: the pursuit of rationality, organization policy fit, bureaucratic discretion and adaptation, power relation, and leadership and competence. The work will test whether those patterns are present in the Chilean policy on public management modernization. In doing that, the work will concentrate on the role fulfilled by high public officials, the political management undertaken by them as well as the readiness of the basic condition, factors and circumstances needed to the operation of the policy. Data come official documents, press clippings, academic literature and mainly from 30 interviews to key actors who have participated in the process, in roles of high public officials, advisers and leaders of public servant unions.