Local public sector reforms in times of crisis: national trajectories and international comparisons

This book compares the trajectories and effects of localpublic sector reform in Europe and fills a research gap that hasexisted so far in comparative public administration and local governmentstudies. Based on the results of COST research entitled, 'Local Public SectorReforms: an International Comparison', this volume takes a European-scale approach,examining local government in 28 countries. Local government has been the mostseriously affected by the continuously expanding global financial crisis andausterity policies in some countries, and is experiencing a period of increasedreform activity as a result. This book considers both those local governmentswhich have adopted or moved away from New Public Management (NPM) modernizationto 'something different' (what some commentators have labelled 'post-NPM'), aswell as those which have implemented 'other-than-NPM measures', such asterritorial reforms and democratic innovations.