Book Description

Annotation The EGPA Yearbook provides an overall view of current scientific discussion concerning networks, particularly the governing of networks in European public administration. More than 30 presentations by researchers and practitioners of public administration in different European countries guarantee that the wide range of topics related to network governance, information technology, and also to other special issues of administrative and managerial reforms related to the subject is fully covered. The Yearbook deals with two main topics centred on governing and developing networks. In the first part, issues are related to different interpretations of networks involved in social policy reforms, administration-citizen-relationships, reforming governance models, public-private relations, also including health care, local governance and professional policy networks. In the second part networks are discussed from the perspective of information technology. Among several presentations, the authors analyse challenges and applications of new technology in public administration, ICT-networks in social networks, and also reforms and improvements of new technology. The accent is on how IT is bringing new patterns into the public administration of different countries. The Yearbook demonstrates that a discussion of networks is a rather new and fresh way of thinking about the role of public sector authorities in society, reforms of hierarchical structures in public agencies and e-governance applications at all levels of government.