The Ambivalent Relations between Bureaucracy and Public Innovation: The case of the Successful Failure of Dial Police

Building on a growing body of literature on public innovation and the contemporary rediscovery of bureaucracy in the public administration literature this paper explores the ambivalent relations between innovation and bureaucracy. On the basis of the literature a framework for studying public innovation in a bureaucratic context is developed. The relevance of the framework is explored through a case study of the successful implementation but failed diffusion of an innovation by the police in Denmark. The case study demonstrates the value of the framework, by showing how a bureaucratic context represents not only barriers to innovation but also a number of complex drivers. The outline of these ambivalent relations is used to tease out the Janus face of the new spirit of innovation in public administration.