The most appropriate term for the new generation of the extended family of ideas about how to make government operations productive and accountable is the post-bureaucratic paradigm. This term implies that the post bureaucratic paradigm is as multifaceted as its predecessor. An unrelated name would hide the fact that as a historical matter, the younger generation of ideas has evolved from the bureaucratic paradigm.
Table I depicts this evolution. This framework guides the effort to identify the post-bureaucratic paradigm and to place it in historical perspective.