ABSTRACT

Anyone observing the recent scandals in the United Kingdom could not fail to understand the political importance of the rewards of high public office. The British experience has been extreme but by no means unique, and many countries have experienced political over the pay and perquisites of public officials.

This book addresses an important element of public governance, and does so in longitudinal and comparative manner. The approach enables the contributors to make a number of key statements not only about the development of political systems but also about the differences among those systems. It provides a unique and systematic investigation of both formal and informal rewards for working in high-level positions in the public sector, and seeks to determine the impacts of the choices of reward structures.

Covering 14 countries and drawing on a wide range of data sources, this work will be of great interest to students and scholars of comparative public administration, international politics and government.

chapter 1|10 pages

Rewards for high public office

Continuing developments

chapter 2|20 pages

Rewards at the top

Cross-country comparisons across offices and over time

chapter 4|14 pages

RHPOs in Ireland

Ratcheting pay in the public sector

chapter 6|18 pages

Rewards for high public office in France

Still the century of privileges?

chapter 7|15 pages

Rewards for high public office

The case of Italy

chapter 8|14 pages

Rewards for high public offices in Spain (1990–2009)

Incremental changes following the pattern of the civil service

chapter 9|16 pages

Rewards at the top in Belgium

Uneasy struggles with transparency and variability in paying public office

chapter 11|17 pages

Rewards for high public office

The case of Norway

chapter 13|19 pages

Starting from scratch

Rewards for high public office in Estonia

chapter 16|21 pages

Into the labyrinth

The rewards for high public office in Slovakia

chapter 17|16 pages

Rewards at the top

The European Union

chapter 18|8 pages

Conclusion

Choosing public sector rewards