The rise and fall of an NPM-style reform in China: a longitudinal case study of sanitation service delivery in Guangzhou
通过广州环卫服务从内部提供到外包、标准化外包、回包再到公私合营的演变，揭示后果、适当性和权力动态三种行动逻辑如何塑造中国新公共管理改革的轨迹。
This article explores how three types of logic of action – consequences, appropriateness, and power dynamics – configurate to shape the trajectory of an illustrative NPM-style reform in China, reflecting how the NPM paradigm has evolved through layering, displacement, and hybridization. Using a longitudinal case study in Guangzhou, we trace sanitation service delivery modalities from in-house delivery to contracting-out, to standardized contracting-out, to contracting-in, and finally, to public-private partnerships with state-owned enterprise. Our findings underscore the salience of the logic of power dynamics in an authoritarian context, suggesting NPM as a transitionary paradigm bridging traditional public administration and hybrid paradigms in China.