Administrative reform in Portugal: problems and prospects

Administrative reform has been an important issue for several decades in Western countries. Like other Western countries, Portugal developed an increasing interest in administrative reform. This article is a contemporary analysis of Portuguese administrative reform. It introduces the Portuguese system and outlines its major features. Briefly stated, the decrease in State expenditure is represented by the proletarization of the middle class that lives off the State; there is an increase in party clientelism, since the old systems based on legal statutes are subject to flexibilization; and, finally, privatizations increase economic monopolies because the regulatory agencies do not work. This means that if this therapy was to be applied to small countries like Portugal, it could have serious consequences for Europe. Points for practitioners The article reflects the consequences of New Public Management when applied to a traditional bureaucracy. The introduction of administrative reform is more difficult in legal systems such as Portugal. So practitioners and politicians can learn from this case study when dealing with reforms in similar systems.