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Cover -- Contents -- List of Figures, Tables and Maps -- Foreword -- Chapter 1 Introduction: Understanding Public Administration -- What is Public Administration? -- The character of this book -- The structure of this book -- The themes in this book -- Further reading -- Chapter 2 Why do governments exist and why study them? -- Terminology -- Why people transfer authority to government -- The logic of collective action -- Regime types -- Recent research on the provision of collective goods -- Conclusions -- Further reading -- Chapter 3 What does a typical government structure look like? -- Terminology -- The stability of government structures -- Three colonial powers, three types of government -- Regional government -- Local government -- Centralization and decentralization -- Recent research in decentralization and centralization -- Conclusions -- Further reading -- Chapter 4 What is the role of a bureaucracy? -- Terminology -- Basics of organizational theory -- The specifics of a public organization -- The essence of bureaucracy -- Amendments to the Weberian bureaucracy -- Recent research -- Conclusions -- Further reading -- Chapter 5 Who works in government? -- Terminology -- Cultural dimensions -- Moving through the organization -- Top management and leadership -- Recent research on leadership and management -- Conclusions -- Further reading -- Chapter 6 What motivates government officials? -- Terminology -- Public Service Motivation and morality of public officials in reality -- Types of bureaucrats based on their motivation and morality -- Consequences of deficient motivation and morality -- Solutions for improving motivation and morality -- Recent research into motivation and morality -- Conclusions -- Further reading -- Chapter 7 When do public decisions result in optimal outcomes? -- Terminology.

This paper addresses the question how policy-values among policy makers change in times of turbulence. In five countries, experiencing radical political change in the last ten years the change in policy values is measured and related to the succession of local policy makers, in terms of rejuvenation, generational succession and period-effects. The research is based on a survey conducted in 1989, and repeated in 1996 and 2000 among politicians and senior administrators at the local level in Sweden, the Netherlands, Russia, Lithuania and Belarus. The conclusion is that it are first and foremost period effects that account for the attitude change among local policy makers. This can be explained by the development of the urgency of policy problems, through these periods. ; Straipsnyje analizuojami vertybiniai pokyčiai politikoje radikalių permainų metu. Vertinami penkių šalių, pastarąjį dešimtmetį patiriančių radikalias politines permainas, politikos formuojamų vertybių pokyčiai, jie siejami su savivaldos kūrėjų sėkme, atgimimu ir kartų kaita. Tyrimo pagrindą sudaro savivaldybių politikų ir administratorių apklausa Švedijoje, Olandijoje, Rusijoje, Lietuvoje ir Baltarusijoje, atlikta 1989 m. bei pakartota 1996 ir 2000 metais. Daroma išvada, kad per pradinį savivaldos formavimo etapą įvykusios permainos turėjo didžiausios įtakos tolesnei savivaldos raidai.

This article addresses the question how to distinguish symbolic policies from evidence-based policies, using the efforts of the Brazilian government to improve the achievements of pupils in primary schools as an illustration. The Brazilian government aimed for achievements in basic education in its country equal to those in the developed world and implemented policies in line with decentralization of the schooling system and improvement of the training of teachers. It will be shown that such policies are symbolic in the sense that they may have an appeal to the national population and to the outside world, but are hardly effective. This article's main argument is that governments can prevent such outcomes when they are less opportunistic in following international fashions, such as the striving for decentralization, and have policymakers analyze the problem somewhat more thoroughly, resulting in evidence-based policies. Points for practitioners This study points to four criteria to distinguish symbolic versus evidence-based policies and gives an example of how to use these criteria in practice. This is useful for policymakers, policy analysts and policy evaluators.