How could the small country called the Netherlands -- almost totally destroyed during WW II, being very poor and judged to be primitive at that time -- become one of the wealthiest, democratic and modern countries in the World? This book argues that respective Dutch governments, consciously or unconsciously, opted for an efficient and effective solution of focus and flexibility. Instead of trying to accomplish everything at once, they chose to achieve one goal at a time. These goals altered when the previous ones had been achieved and the focus turned to other problems that had been neglected previously.
This book offers a theory which argues that it is not only possible to explain when policy change is likely to occur, but also to explain the direction. It argues that what is neglected at present is likely to become dominant in the policies of the near future. The core of a fundamental policy change is always concerned with a shift of attention toward those aspects of problems that were the most chronically neglected in the previous policy. Furthermore it argues that with the birth of a new policy generation, a convergence towards meeting the dominant value of that generation will be noticeable in all policy areas.

A multidisciplinary analysis of the role of values and virtue in public administration, this book calls for a rediscovery of virtue. It explores ways of enabling the public sector to balance the values that are presently dominant with classic values such as accountability, representation, equality, neutrality, transparency and the public interest.

A multidisciplinary analysis of the role of values and virtue in public administration, this book calls for a rediscovery of virtue. It explores ways of enabling the public sector to balance the values that are presently dominant with classic values such as accountability, representation, equality, neutrality, transparency and the public interest.

The aim of this book is to clarify the ground on which public service scholars, practitioners and advisers stand in relation to values and virtues in public administration. It explores assumptions, the unspoken and unexamined things that are taken for granted in the field of serving the public good. Accordingly, Value and Virtue in Public Administration gives an account of the recent developments and progress in public sector management and public service. It describes the progress made in the discipline of public administration, in theories related to public administration and in the practice of public administration in tackling the questions surrounding values and virtues. These trends, descriptions, theories and comparisons make it possible to answer the question of how administrative ethics vary and what this variance depends upon. Featuring contributions from scholars in several different disciplines and in-depth case studies, the book concludes that under New Public Management instrumental values and consequential ethics have become dominant and more fundamental values have been neglected.

De Vries argues that it is possible to explain when and in what direction policy change is likely to occur. He argues that what is neglected at present is likely to become dominant in policies of the near future. With the birth of a new policy generation a convergence towards meeting the dominant value of that generation will become evident.

Local governments encounter mammouth problems, and although there is not one panacea that works internationally, this book argues that there are mechanisms to improve the local situation and theer is evidence that this can suceed. By considering a number of key case studies from Latin America, Africa and Asia, the authors review best practices in good governance, thereby demonstarting that things can improve at the local level.

This is a book about making choices based on the evaluation of alternatives. The outcomes of choices are often worse than people expect. This book discusses the major problems in evaluating courses of action and examines the political contexts in which decisions are made. The subject matter of this book is at the crossroads of policy and research methodology. How can information derived from empirical research benefit a policy-maker or decision maker, and how should this information be incorporated in the decision-making process?

Public administration - the practice of producing and executing government policy by bureaucrats, politicians, managers and other officials - affects almost everything we encounter in our day-to-day lives. Public administrators are - at least partially - responsible for the amount of hours we work, the quality of the air we breathe, the ease with which we can visit the doctor and the state of the roads we walk and drive down. Despite the widespread relevance of public administration however, the relative amount of government influence on society differs across the world. This major new introduction examines public administration structures, processes and achievements, and the behavior and motivations of the administrators themselves. Internationally relevant and analyzing states at a range of different developmental stages, it examines the key themes and issues that dominate the field. Chapters are framed around a series of questions that determine the typical and the unusual features of governments. For example, focus is given to what makes for a stable government, the different definitions of management, possible solutions to corruption, the relationship between central and local governments as well as the formal strategies for policy development. The book draws extensively on core theory in the field, and makes critical links between public administration and economics, law, sociology and the wider subject of political science. As accessible for students as it is useful for practitioners looking for a comprehensive reference guide, this is an essential text for those who wish to understand the complexities of government and public administration from the inside out.

This book analyses the participatory budgeting practice as it has evolved in evaluated countries, focusing on what is substantially at stake concerning the budget and issues involved, the actual participation, the way such processes are organised and administered, and the outcomes of such processes. It concludes that participatory budgeting in selected European countries is far away from the level of 'best practice', but that all experiences are not just trivial pursuits. The information collected serves to check, to what extent participatory budgeting as practiced in the countries involved presents a real attempt to change municipal budgets towards addressing the needs of marginalized groups and to improve decision-making based on local democracy and participation, or whether these processes as such are to be judged to be more important than any output and outcomes. The practices can neither be seen as a process of policy diffusion nor as a process of policy mimesis. The terminology of participatory budgeting remains, but the tools to achieve the goals resulted only in marginal changes in the status quo in municipalities in European countries practicing participatory budgeting, instead of resulting in radical changes to increase spending in favor of marginalized groups. Chapter 15 'Unraveled Practices of Participatory Budgeting in European Democracies' is available open access under a CC BY 4.0 license.

This book analyses the participatory budgeting practice as it has evolved in evaluated countries, focusing on what is substantially at stake concerning the budget and issues involved, the actual participation, the way such processes are organised and administered, and the outcomes of such processes. It concludes that participatory budgeting in selected European countries is far away from the level of 'best practice', but that all experiences are not just trivial pursuits. The information collected serves to check, to what extent participatory budgeting as practiced in the countries involved presents a real attempt to change municipal budgets towards addressing the needs of marginalized groups and to improve decision-making based on local democracy and participation, or whether these processes as such are to be judged to be more important than any output and outcomes. The practices can neither be seen as a process of policy diffusion nor as a process of policy mimesis. The terminology of participatory budgeting remains, but the tools to achieve the goals resulted only in marginal changes in the status quo in municipalities in European countries practicing participatory budgeting, instead of resulting in radical changes to increase spending in favor of marginalized groups. Chapter 15 'Unraveled Practices of Participatory Budgeting in European Democracies' is available open access under a CC BY 4.0 license.

This book provides a comparative analysis of performance budgeting and financing implementation, and examines failures and successes across both developed and developing countries. Beginning with a review of theoretical research on performance budgeting and financing, the book synthesises the numerous studies on the subject. The book describes the situation in the US, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Netherlands and Italy, as well as in seven developing countries - Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine, Russia and South Africa, at the national, and at the local level. Each chapter provides historical and descriptive details of successful or failed experiments in performance budgeting and performance financing.