The authors provide a fresh and accessible multi-disciplinary perspective on public management reform in this study. The work includes a broad survey of the paradigms and patterns that have shaped and differentiated the reform process in different countries.

The book focuses on two themes not usually considered together. First, the scope and limits of the role economists have played in reform processes, not simply in terms of providing analytical models but in the actual leadership required to advance reform coherently. Secondly, the authors examine the importance of developing leadership at all levels of the public sector to take advantage of the opportunities reforms have generated, and to create new sources of public value. In bringing these themes together they uniquely show how the family of economic theories (public choice, agency theory and new institutional economics) can be adapted to explain why there might be a demand for developing public sector leadership that reflects an 'appreciative' managerial style as opposed to the hard-edged contractualism often associated with public management reform.