This edited volume provides a critical and international analysis of the public sector through theoretical debates, empirical issues and regional studies. It begins by reassessing the public choice theoretical paradigm, the implications of New Public Management, the current crisis of democracy and ways of mediating market pressures. It then investigates recent developments in ethics, service provision, industrial relations and the nature of work, before examining critical issues in countries and regions from both the developed and developing world, and reflecting on the way forward.

Introduction: Public Sector Management and the Neo-Liberal Hegemony; P.Dibben, I.Roper & G.Wood PART ONE: PUBLIC SECTOR REFORM: THEORETICAL DEBATES Public Choice, the Public Sector and the Market: The Sound of One Hand Clapping?; A.Van den Berg New Public Management: Marketization, Managerialism and Consumerism; P.Dibben & P.Higgins Uneasy Partners: Democratization and New Public Management in Developing Countries; B.Baker Taming the Market: Co-ordination of Economic Activity at Multiple Spatial Levels; J.Rogers Hollingsworth PART TWO: PUBLIC SECTOR REFORMS: ISSUES AND PRACTICES Ethics and the New Public Management: Challenges and Alternatives; G.Wood Mechanisms and Values in the Delivery of a Patchwork of Public Services; J.Harrow Industrial Relations in the Public Sector: Collective Bargaining Reform and the Issue of Convergence; P.James Managing Quality in Public Services: Some Distinct Implications for the Reorganization of Work; I.Roper PART THREEE: PUBLIC SECTOR MANAGEMENT: REGIONAL AND NATIONAL STUDIES Canadian Public Management Developments; Z.Lonti & A.Verma Hollowing and Hardening New Zealand's Homely State; R.Gregory New Public Management and Europeanization: Convergence or Nestedness?; G.Wood Recruiting and Training the New Cadre: Reform of the Civil Service in the People's Republic of China; J.Liu & J.Wang Contradictions Confronting New Public Management in Johannesburg: The Rise and Fall of Municipal Water Commercialization; P.Bond Latin America: Globalization Democracy and State Reform; R.Munck Public Administration and the Management of Socio-Economic Development in Developing Countries: Some Trends and Comparisons; M.Wallis Conclusion: Towards the Revitalization of the Public?; G.Wood & I.Roper