This book provides a stimulating presentation of the Italian administrative system through an empirical and critical perspective on the processes of administrative reform at the national level. It focuses on some of the most recent changes developed during the years of austerity and fiscal crisis and offers an updated perspective on the attempts made by Italian governments to modernize the national public administration in the frame of the ‘new public management’ and ‘governance’ paradigms. These have largely been suggested as models to enhance efficiency, transparency, accountability and public participation - just to mention the main keywords of expected change. International and supranational influence, policy diffusion, domestic politics and institutional dynamics, administrative traditions, and functional explanations are studied as determinants of policy outputs and outcomes - and possibly of policy learning. This book is the first to set out such a comprehensive and up-to-date analysis for non-Italian readers.weiterlesen