Resumen
The fiscal crisis has led to recentralization, reorganization and innovation. These endeavours can better be understood as acts of government than as governance. The heg-emonic position of New Public Governance is questioned from four reference points: (1) reform policies of the Danish state under three consecutive governments since the turn of the century; (2) the fate of a public policy manifesto by 30 Danish researchers (3) research that looked in vain for politicians who identify with and act in accordance with ideals of governance; and (4) the deliberate strategic efforts made by local author-ities to achieve strategic design fit and to push forward the innovation agenda from the top down. As far as signs of New Public Governance, the Danish case should be of particular interest because of Denmark?s history of corporatism and consensus-oriented democracy, a highly decentralized welfare state and the high level of trust among citi-zens and at the workplace.