This article provides a review of the meaning and scope of the concept of quality as applied to the meaning and scope of the concept of quality as applied to the state and its role in the administrative paradigm known as new public management. It also discusses the most significant management models, the characteristics of governments in Latin America, and various projects to incorporate quality programs in these governments. The accomplishment of this work is based on documentary research as well as on an exhaustive process of reflection from the author’s perspective as an academic, a researcher, and a founding member of the Latin American Experts Network in Quality in Public Administration. It concludes with a recommendation for the use of quality-based philosophies as a requirement to modernize the public sector.
