"The underpinning assumption of public management in the developing world as a process of planned change is increasingly being recognized as unrealistic. In reality, the practice of development management is characterized by processes of mutual adjustment among individuals, agencies, and...

Introduction / Evan Moll Ghin and Mads Bøge Kristiansen -- Public management in times of austerity: the literature / Eva Moll Ghin and Mads Bøge Kristiansen -- The five case countries / Eva Moll Ghin and Mads Bøge Kristiansen -- Germany: an outlier in terms of fiscal adjustment / Jobst...

Developing more efficient, transparent public institutions in the Bank's client countries requires a two-pronged approach. First, countries must build their capacity to perform functions such as policymaking and policy implementation, regulation, service delivery, and administrative management....

Chile's government has used information technology to achieve a customer-driven public sector that is more transparent, efficient, and accountable. Chile wanted to put the government at the service of the people, and so pursued technological innovations that enable the government to meet...

A gnawing critique of civil service reform efforts persists, intimating that these civil service reform operations of the World Bank have boosted neither efficiency nor effectiveness. The outlines of the problem are fairly clear: civil service pay and employment reforms have had only limited...

pt. 1. Conceptual rethink of public sector reforms -- pt. 2. Case studies on participation -- pt. 3. Case studies on decentralization -- pt. 4. Public sector reforms in developing countries : prospects and challenges.