The Napoleonic Administrative Tradition and Public Management Reform in France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain

Are the forces of globalization making governments and their public bureaucracies more similar? Or are there patterns of administration in different countries that persist despite international pressures and despite the importance of ideas such as the New Public Management? This book examines these questions by developing a concept of administrative traditions and describing the traditions that exist in a wide range of countries across the world. It assesses the impact of these traditions on administrative reforms and the capacities of government to change public administration. Tradition and Public Administration is a comprehensive account of the underlying patterns of administration and their impact on change.