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Book Series

Routledge Critical Studies in Public Management

Series Editor: Stephen P Osborne

The study and practice of public management has undergone profound changes across the world. Over the last quarter century, we have seen

  • increasing criticism of public administration as the over-arching framework for the provision of public services
  • the rise (and critical appraisal) of the ‘New Public Management’ as an emergent paradigm for the provision of public services
  • the transformation of the ‘public sector’ into the cross-sectoral provision of public services
  • the growth of the governance of inter-organizational relationships as an essential element in the provision of public services

In reality these trends have not so much replaced each other as elided or co-existed together – the public policy process has not gone away as a legitimate topic of study, intra-organizational management continues to be essential to the efficient provision of public services, whist the governance of inter-organizational and inter-sectoral relationships is now essential to the effective provision of these services.

Further, whilst the study of public management has been enriched by contribution of a range of insights from the ‘mainstream’ management literature it has also contributed to this literature in such areas as networks and inter-organizational collaboration, innovation and stakeholder theory.

This series is dedicated to presenting and critiquing this important body of theory and empirical study. It will publish books that both explore and evaluate the emergent and developing nature of public administration, management and governance (in theory and practice) and examine the relationship with and contribution to the over-arching disciplines of management and organizational sociology.

Books in the series will be of interest to academics and researchers in this field, students undertaking advanced studies of it as part of their undergraduate or postgraduate degree and reflective policy makers and practitioners.

New and Published Books

11-14 of 14 results in Routledge Critical Studies in Public Management

  1. Managing Complex Governance Systems

    Edited by Geert Teisman, Arwin van Buuren, Lasse M. Gerrits

    Series: Routledge Critical Studies in Public Management

    Advances in public management sciences have long indicated the empirical finding that the normal state of public management systems is complex and that its dynamics are non-linear. Complex systems are subject to system pressures, system shocks, chance events, path-dependency and...

    Published December 12th 2010 by Routledge

  2. Making Public Services Management Critical

    Edited by Graeme Currie, Jackie Ford, Nancy Harding, Mark Learmonth

    Series: Routledge Critical Studies in Public Management

    This book brings together public services policy and public services management in a novel way that is likely to resonate with academics, policy makers and practitioners engaged in the organization of public services delivery as it is from a perspective that challenges many received ideas in...

    Published December 7th 2009 by Routledge

  3. Public-Private Partnerships in the European Union

    By Christopher Bovis

    Series: Routledge Critical Studies in Public Management

    Public procurement in the European Union represents almost twelve per cent of the EU's GDP and is continuing to increase, having been identified as a key objective in the EU's aim to become the most competitive economy in the world by 2010. This book provides a one-stop shop,...

    Published June 21st 2005 by Routledge

  4. Unbundled Government

    A Critical Analysis of the Global Trend to Agencies, Quangos and Contractualisation

    Edited by Christopher Pollitt, Colin Talbot

    Series: Routledge Critical Studies in Public Management

    Public sector bureaucracies have been subjected to harsh criticism. One solution which has been widely adopted over the past two decades has been to 'unbundle government' - that is to break down monolithic departments and ministries into smaller, semi-autonomous 'agencies'. These are often governed...

    Published November 19th 2003 by Routledge

Forthcoming Books

  1. Policy Transfer and Learning in Public Policy and Management: International Contexts, Content and Development
    Edited by Peter Carroll, Richard Common
    To Be Published July 2nd 2013
  2. Crossing Boundaries in Public Management and Policy: The International Experience
    Edited by Janine O'Flynn, Deborah Blackman, John Halligan
    To Be Published July 17th 2013
  3. Public-Private Partnerships in the European Union
    By Christopher Bovis
    To Be Published September 1st 2013
  4. Network Theory in the Public Sector: Building New Theoretical Frameworks
    Edited by Robyn Keast, Myrna P Mandell, Robert Agranoff
    To Be Published September 30th 2013
  5. Public Administration Reform: Market Demand from Public Organizations
    By Yogesh Dwivedi, Mahmud Shareef, Vinod Kumar
    To Be Published November 14th 2013
  6. Public Service Efficiency: Theories and Evidence
    By Rhys Andrews, Tom Entwistle
    To Be Published November 29th 2013
  7. Gender Equality in Public Services: Chasing the Dream
    By Hazel Conley, Margaret Page
    To Be Published December 14th 2013
  8. Public Sector Reforms in Developing Countries: Paradoxes and Practices
    Edited by Charles Conteh, Ahmed Shafiqul Huque
    To Be Published January 14th 2014
  9. Governance and Public Management: Strategic Foundations for Volatile Times
    Edited by Charles Conteh, Thomas J. Greitens, David K. Jesuit, Ian Roberge
    To Be Published May 14th 2014

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