Introduction: Public Administration Reforms in Europe

Rhys Andrews (1) , Gerhard Hammerschmid (2) , Steven van de Walle (3)

1 Cardiff University
2 Hertie School of Governance [Berlin]
3 UCL - Université Catholique de Louvain = Catholic University of Louvain

Despite the salience of public administration reforms in Europe, there is surprisingly little systematic research identifying how and whether public sector reforms have been implemented, and with what outcomes. This introductory chapter introduces the topic of public administration reform, as well as the general approach and purpose of the book. With an aim of evaluating public administration reforms in different European countries, three reform paradigms are distinguished. The first has the implementation of Weberian-style structures and processes at its core; the second is the introduction of the New Public Management, and the third brings together elements of Weberianism with aspects of NPM. A secondary objective is to study convergence and divergence in European public administration reform through a comparison across a large set of European countries.

Keywords: Public administration; Administrative agencies; Reorganization; Europe

Domains: Humanities and Social Sciences; Sociology; Humanities and Social Sciences; Political science

Rhys Andrews, Gerhard Hammerschmid, Steven van de Walle. Introduction: Public Administration Reforms in Europe. Philippe Bezes; Rhys Andrews; Philippe Bezes; Gerhard Hammerschmid; Steven Van De Walle. Public Administration Reforms in Europe. The View from the Top, Edward Elgar Publishing, pp.1 - 11, 2016, 9781783475391. ⟨hal-02287229v2⟩