Christopher Pollitt Knihy

Focusing on the interplay between place and technology, this book delves into their roles in shaping public services. It highlights how these services are influenced by local contexts and technological advancements, presenting a comprehensive analysis that combines theoretical insights with empirical research from various international settings. This exploration aims to fill gaps in public management literature by offering a nuanced understanding of these critical elements.

Originating in the Anglo-American world, the New Public Management paradigm appears to have swept over various Continental-European countries, producing convergence of administrative reform. Specific implementations of NPM, however, show a surprisingly large variety of forms, shapes and results. These include performance indicators, personnel reforms, creation and management of executive agencies, public private partnerships, benchmarking and evaluations of reforms. This volume demonstrates and explains how the ambiguous concept of NPM is crafted and shaped differently in various institutional contexts.

"In this new contribution to a rapidly expanding field, the authors offer an integrated analysis of the wave of management reforms which have swept through so many countries in the last twenty years. The reform trajectories of ten countries are compared, and key differences of approach discussed. Unlike some previous works, this volume affords balanced coverage to the 'New Public Management' (NPM) and the 'non-NPM' or 'reluctant NPM' countries, since it covers Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, the UK, and the USA. Unusually, it also includes a preliminary analysis of attempts to improve management within the European Commission." "This book is ideal for advanced courses and programmes on comparative public management."--Jacket