Introduction, Carmel Coyle; organizational fragmentation in Greek local government - municipal bureaucracies and municipal enterprises, Paraskevy Kaler-Christofilopoulou; Irish local administration in the national and European policy process, Carmel Coyle; sub-national bureaucracy in the United Kingdom - the Scottish Office, Richard Parry; the role of the British local government Chief Executive - a response to challenge, Alan Norton; toward a centralized municipal labour market - and back? local employees unions and the labour market in Finland and Scandinavia, Voitto Helander; how central are decentral personnel politics? growth and bargaining in Denmark, Finn Bruun; communal administrators - the Swedish case, P.O. Norell; reform government and fiscal austerity strategies in American cities, Lynn M. Appleton; city workers and fiscal cutbacks - cross-national comparisons, Lynn M. Appleton and Vincent Hoffmann-Martinot; explaining the privatization decisions among local governments in the United States, Rowan A. Miranda; administrative culture - a mode of understanding public administration across cultures, Ishtiaq Jamil.