Comparative Public Administration

This is a two-volume set focusing on comparative public administration. A proliferation of concepts, frameworks and theories characterize the discipline of public administration. Public sector processes of decision-making and implementation are approached through a variety of models from different fields such as public policy, policy implementation, management evaluation, organization theory, political economy, rational choice and cultural approaches. This diversity is explored in Volume One, which aims to present central analytical tools which have been developed since the 1980s. The articles in Volume Two feature a central methodology in the conduct of social enquiry - comparative analysis. The aim is to introduce the reader to articles focussing on the behaviour of public bureaucracies, by performing comparison across countries, time and levels of government, within a single country and across a number of different policy areas. The emphasis is on modelling decision-making and implementation in state institutions. The text as a whole aims to contribute to the understanding of the advantages of comparative research in the field of public administration. It intends to further the building of cross-national explanatory generalizations about administrative phenomena and policy-making processes, and the identification and delineation of data about various administrative systems that are cross-nationally applicable.

Table of Contents:
Volume 1 Analytical frameworks and critiques. Part 1 Perspectives on the nature of comparative public adminstration: comparative adminstration - methods, muddles and models, Joel D. Alberbach, Bert A. Rockman; emerging issues in public administration, Christopher Hood; public policy - does anybody know it when they see it? J. Rasmussen. Part 2 Perspectives on public policy: decision rules, decision styles and policy choices, Fritz W. Scharp; an institutional approach to the theory of policy making - the role of guidance mechanisms in policy formulation, Stephen H. Linder, B. Guy Peters; inheritance before choice in public policy, Richard Rose; Policy networks - a British perspective, R.W.A. Rhodes; the governance of the European Union - a new institutional approach, Simon J. Bulmer; review article - what is policy convergence and what causes it? Colin J. Bennett; conceptualizing and researching policy convergence, Robert Seeliger. Part 3 Perspectives on administrative policy: bridging the gap between theory and practice - the case of administrative policy, Morten Egeberg; the architecture of the British state, part 1 - framework for analysis, Patrick Dunleavy; stabilization and cutbacks - a catastrophe for government growth theory? Christopher Hood; a public management for all seasons? Christopher Hood; administrative reform in public management - paradigms, principles, paradoxes and pendulums, Peter Aucoin; the reinventing government exercise - misinterpreting the problem, misjudging the consequences, Ronald Moe; rediscovering principles of public administration, Ronald Moe, Robert S. Gilmour; Civil Service reform - misdiagnosing the patient, B. Guy Peters, Donald J. Savoie; managing incoherence - the co-ordination and empowerment conundrum, B. Guy Peters, Donald J. Savoie; image IV revisited - executive and political roles, Joel D. Aberbach, Bert A. Rockman; bureaucratic roles - political loyalty and professional autonomy, Tom Christensen. Part 9 Perspectives on control: control over bureaucracy - cultural theory and institutional variety, Christopher Hood; perspectives on regulation - the rise of the regulatory state in Europe, G. Majone. Volume 2 Part 1 The state of comparative administration research: observations on the state of comparative adminstration research in Europe - rather comparable than comparative, Hans-Ulrich Derlien. Part 2 Attitudes of senior civil servants: comparing Japanese and American administrative elites, Joel D. Aberbach et al; American and German federal executives -technocratic and political attitudes, Joel Aberbach et al. (Part contents).