Public sector employment is undergoing a major transformation. The authors have undertaken a Herculean task of mapping and analysing these changes and collecting a unique set of statistical and comparative material. The book provides a monumental analysis of changing public employment regimes. It is required reading for anyone who is looking for a current overview of public employment and HR reforms, essential public employment data, and innovative country comparisons. - Steven Van de Walle, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Karin Gottschall, Bernhard Kittel and their colleagues have created a high-quality and exemplary resource on a controversial topic. Their impressive work is packed with an encompassing research design that integrates a persuasive methodological approach, well observed international comparisons and well-written case studies. I am highly recommending this book to interested practitioners as well as to any student and scientist of public administration and political science interested in solid research paired with stringent argumentation. - Joerg Bogumil, Universitat Bochum, Germany
This necessary study fills a major gap in existing research. It provides urgently needed empirical results on regulatory regimes of public employment and their substantial change and drastic transformation in selected major European countries after the 'Golden Age' of the welfare state. It successfully combines sector-specific analysis of crucial areas of service provision and country studies on a strictly comparative base. It extensively elaborates on all three major levels of government (municipal, state, and federal) and copes with differing degrees of public responsibility devolution. This ambitious interdisciplinary volume constitutes an important contribution to all future comparative analysis on the increasing national heterogeneity of public and civil service employment. - Berndt Keller, Universitat Konstanz, Germany
This important work provides critical insights into the politics of institutional change through the lens of administrative reform and public employment. - Kathleen Thelen, MIT, USA