The Oxford Handbook of Public Management

Abstract

Abstract The Oxford Handbook of Public Management gives an assessment of the major trends in public management, embracing both their intended and unintended effects. The articles comment on the key current issues. The public sector continues to play a strategic role across the world. The last thirty years have seen major shifts in approaches to public sector management in many different countries. There is also a fierce debate across academic disciplines about contemporary public administration/management—some advocate the use of more managerial approaches, while others critique them. New functions have also arisen in the public sector, such as evaluation or management consulting, which require analysis. The individual articles include a mix of broad overviews, in-depth exploration of particular thematic areas and analyses of different theoretical perspectives such as political science, management, sociology, and economics.