Many countries have undertaken major programmes or public-sector reform in recent times, and none more extensively than New Zealand. Since the mid-1980s virtually every aspect of New Zealand's public sector has been restructured, giving rise to a new model of public management. Many of the reforms have won domestic and international acclaim; some have also been the subject of considerable controversy.

Public Management: The New Zealand Model describes and critically assesses the features of these reforms. It examines the model's theoretical origins and explores how the new model operates in practice - how its outcomes compare with those intended, and what impact, both positive and negative, it has had on the governance of New Zealand.