Summary:

Administrative reform policies are often characterized by a large number of reform symbols. While these are generally aimed at furthering the legitimacy of the political leadership, they can have the opposite effect and generate problems in implementing reform practice. This paper starts by discussing the theory of reform symbols and relates it to theories of instrumental, negotiational and cultural features of reforms. We then illustrate this discussion by analyzing interview data collected among the central political and administrative elite in Norway. The analysis shows quite clearly the relevance of reform symbols even in Norway, a country with a reluctant reform tradition and few incentives for reform. It also shows that the respondents often perceived reform symbols as negative, something that creates problems for the political leadership in reconciling reform ideas or symbols with reform practice and leads it to engage it what has been labelled “double-talk”. The analysis also shows that political and administrative leaders on different levels have differing attitudes towards administrative reform symbols, reflecting different roles and perspectives. The conclusion is that symbols matter and are a main feature of administrative reform but also that reforms are not only talk and symbols.