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This is the thoroughly revised fourth edition of the widely-used and established standard text on public management reform. The new edition retains the historical perspective back to 1980, but now directly addresses the pervasive effects of the Global Economic Crisis of 2008 on public sectors in the three continents covered.

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Since the third edition of this authoritative volume, most of Western Europe and North America have entered an era of austerity which has pervasive effects on programmes of public management reform. Even in Australasia extensive measures of fiscal restraint have been implemented.

In this fourth edition the basic structure of the book has been retained but there has been a line-by-line rewriting, including the addition of extensive analyses and information about the impacts of austerity. Many new sources are cited and there is a new exploration of the interactions between austerity and the major paradigms of reform - NPM, the Neo-Weberian State and New Public Governance.

The existing strengths of the previous editions have been retained while vital new material on developments since the Global Economic Crisis has been added. This remains the most authoritative, comprehensive, widely-cited academic text on public management reform in Europe, North America and Australasia.

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Christopher Pollitt is Emeritus Professor at the Public Governance Institute, Leuven. Previously he was Editor of Public Administration and the International Review of Administrative Sciences. Winner of the 2004 Hans Sigrist International Prize for his work of comparative government, he has worked in the UK, the USA, the Netherlands and Belgium. He is the author of more than a dozen books and well over 60 scientific articles. Christopher has
undertaken advisory roles for the European Commission, the World Bank, the OECD and five national governments.

Geert Bouckaert is professor of public management at the KU Leuven Public Governance Institute. He is currently President of the International Institute of Administrative Sciences (IIAS), after having served as president of its European Group for Public Administration (EGPA). He received the Anneliese Maier Research Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in 2015. He is the recipient of several honorary doctorates. His publications are in the field of reform, performance, financial
management, and trust. He serves in several editorial boards including JPART, PAR, and PPMR.

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