The Global Economic Crisis and Public Administration Reforms in South Eastern European Countries

What kind of public administration is desirable during a crisis? What type of public administration is taking shape as a consequence of harsh spending reviews? Are limitations and drawbacks of the New Public Management approach taken into account when including public management reforms in national political economy agendas? What will the long–term consequences of austerity policies be in terms of public sector’s capability of dealing with a future crisis? Cepiku and Guga address these and other questions with reference to Southern and Eastern European countries, generally neglected by public management literature. Despite the countries’ differences in terms of administrative culture, they all aim toward the same goals: economic and institutional development and European Union integration. Differences and similarities of reform paths are analysed through a narrative approach, making use of a qualitative research software (IRaMuTeQ).