Hood, Christopher creator Lodge, Martain text xu| 2005 continuing ng p.805-22. Among the most widely used stereotypes in the contemporary literature on public management reform is to portrary German administrative policy as that of a slow-moving `tortoise' in contrast to the fast-moving reform `hare'. Taking civil service competency as a point of analysis, this article questions the validity of these widely held assumptions. It does so in three steps. Following a brief comparative narrative of competency initiatives in the German and British higher civil services, the article explores to what extent the observed `Aesop with variation' pattern can be explained. It suggests that the variations can only to a limited extent be explained by `civil service competency exceptionalism' and that therefore seems to be something wrong with the way that Germany and the UK are conventionally categorized in the international public management reform literature. - Reproduced. Civil service Public Administration 180718