How do countries make policy in an uncertain world? Do policymakers look inward, rationally designing policies to fit domestic interests, ideas, and institutions? Or do they look outward, imitating policy elements from other countries? And if the latter, where do they look? Focusing on the...

The United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) has generated a lively debate among academics, activists, and policy practitioners. Given the scope and ambition of this program, and the prestige of the United Nations associated with it, its supporters believe it will fundamentally reshape how...

Since 2000, three consecutive governments in Croatia have focused their policies on modernising the public administration and reforming the budget process. This article examines the budget process in Croatia in the light of its two unique characteristics: a very detailed account structure, and a...

This review of the Slovenian budget system was carried out as part of the Budget Project of the Working Party of Senior Budget Officials (SBO). The Budget Project aims to initiate and foster regional networks of Senior Budget Officials outside the OECD area. This review served as a basis for the...

Since independence, Estonia has been at the forefront of institutional reform in the area of financial management. Budget formulation is divided into two distinct stages: strategic planning and preparation of the annual budget that is submitted to Parliament. This article describes key...

This review of the Romanian budget system was carried out as part of the Budget Project of the Working Party of Senior Budget Officials (SBO). The Budget Project aims to initiate and foster regional networks of Senior Budget Officials outside the OECD area. This review served as a basis for the...

Greece is undertaking important reforms with the aim of making the budget a more modern strategic policy document. This article examines Greece’s recent economic and fiscal performance and the developments that led to the launch of the programme budgeting pilot in 2008. The article discusses...

Bulgaria’s budget management has seen a series of structural and procedural reforms, including in budget execution, treasury functions, internal audit, and programme and medium-term budgeting. This article discusses the use of modern budgeting techniques in Bulgaria such as top-down budgeting,...

At the time of this review, fiscal policy in Latvia was in considerable turmoil as a consequence of the world-wide financial crisis. Thus, some of the usual budget rules and procedures were not followed during budget preparation 2009 and 2010 and budget execution 2009. This review examines the...

La présente étude sur le système budgétaire slovène fait partie intégrante du Projet sur le budget du Groupe de travail des Hauts responsables du budget. Le projet sur le budget vise à mettre en place et renforcer des réseaux régionaux de hauts responsables du budget en dehors de la...