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— The Model State: Slogan or New Principle? — Over the past decade political discourse has referred increasingly to the Model State. High-level State officials have taken the exemplary model on board as a duty to be upheld. By reviewing the origin, significance, scope and method of the Model State, this article demonstrates that we have before us a new principle of public action which aims to combine economic concerns and ethics, going far beyond declamation. Changes which have already been implemented as well as planned changes must give equal importance to ensuring that state administrations adapt to the requirements of sustainable development and that the status and behaviour of the State’s political elite become more acceptable in the eyes of public.