The original Handbook of Public Administration was a landmark publication, the first to provide a comprehensive and authoritative survey of the discipline. The eagerly-awaited new edition of this seminal international handbook continues to provide a complete review and guide to past and present knowledge in this essential field of inquiry. Assembling an outstanding team of scholars from around the world, the Second Edition explores the current state-of-the-art in academic thinking and the current structures and processes for the administration of public policy.

The Second Edition has been fully revised and updated, with new chapters that reflect emerging issues and changes within the public sector. A dominant theme throughout the handbook is a critical reflection on the utility of scholarly theory and the extent to which government practices inform the development of this theory.