Trajectories of Reform: Where (and Whom) Are the Public Servants?

This concluding chapter brings together the contributions in this part and makes the case that public servants are not only (re)constructed by public sector reform, but their beliefs, identities, dilemmas, and actions shape reform trajectories too. Notions of place, time, and perceptions emerged as pervasive contextual themes that public servants grapple with as part of the dynamics of reform. Drawing on the part contributions, public servants’ situated agency is examined in these contexts. It is argued the adaptations that occur from their dilemmas, hybridity on the macro public sector-scale and bricolage at the micro public servant scale, in turn alter reform developments. We also make the case that insights into and from public servants offer a more rounded account of whether reform agendas will be symbolic or substantive and enduring or shortlived.