This is the thoroughly revised fourth edition of the widely-used and established standard text on public management reform. The new edition retains the historical perspective back to 1980, but now directly addresses the pervasive effects of the Global Economic Crisis of 2008 on public sectors in the three continents covered.

• Preface


• 1: Comparative Public Management Reform: an Introduction to the Key Debates


• 2: Problems and Responses: a Model of Public Management Reform


• 3: Many Houses: Types of Politico-Administrative Regime


• 4: Trajectories of Modernization and Reform


• 5: Results: Through a Glass Darkly


• 6: Politics and Management


• 7: Trade-Offs, Balances, Limits, Dilemmas, Contradictions, and Paradoxes


• 8: Reflections


• Appendix A: The Socio-Economic Context


• Appendix B: Country Files


• Australia


• Belgium


• Canada


• European Commission


• Finland


• France


• Germany


• Italy


• The Netherlands


• New Zealand


• Sweden


• United Kingdom


• United States of America

Christopher Pollitt is Emeritus Professor at the Public Governance Institute, Leuven. Previously he was Editor of Public Administration and the International Review of Administrative Sciences. Winner of the 2004 Hans Sigrist International Prize for his work of comparative government, he has worked in the UK, the USA, the Netherlands and Belgium. He is the author of more than a dozen books and well over 60 scientific articles. Christopher has undertaken advisory roles for the European Commission, the World Bank, the OECD and five national governments.
Geert Bouckaert is professor of public management at the KU Leuven Public Governance Institute. He is currently President of the International Institute of Administrative Sciences (IIAS), after having served as president of its European Group for Public Administration (EGPA). He received the Anneliese Maier Research Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in 2015. He is the recipient of several honorary doctorates. His publications are in the field of reform, performance, financial management, and trust. He serves in several editorial boards including JPART, PAR, and PPMR.