The papers in this volume focus on the broad issues of public sector reform. They address issue-oriented and comparative research such as: analysis of civil service systems at the theoretical level; reforming the wing of national level governments; the wave of public sector reform that has swept the West over the past fifteen years; a comparison of two recent programs to improve efficiency and legitimacy of government in the US and the Netherlands; the problems of insufficient capacity in managing the public sector; the impediments in the current system of public sector job evaluation in the...

Examines seven theoretical perspectives of public budgeting: incrementalism, the budget process model, the organizational process model, the median voter model, the 'greedy bureaucrat' model, a post-modern model, and the transaction cost model. This title also examines and critically reviews major research from each perspective.

What is public administration? How can we identify it and characterize it? The meaning of public administration seems more problematic than ever after the late 20th century cry for privatization. Some argue there is no need to elucidate the meaning of public administration, others stick to more limited notions like public management or introduce new vocabulary such as governance. administration. Before discarding public administration, a more profound analysis of its meaning is preeminent. Where did the concept originate, why and how was it grounded, and can we perhaps (re)establish its...

This fourth volume in the series covers a variety of topics in the field of research in public administration, including: answering the call for improved and relevant research in public administration; and citizen participation in an era of reinventing government.