ABSTRACT
This book, and the research on which it is based, was driven by a number of ambitions. The authors shared an intellectual concern arising from the collapse of the ‘old’ public administration and the unresolved contest between various ‘new’ frameworks that claim better approaches and insights. It was, therefore, intended to make some contribution to advancing public administration theory and to improving the capacity for governance in public service systems. The route chosen for this purpose was to explore the relevance and application of complex adaptive systems (CAS) theory. This approach was selected for a variety of reasons but not least because it seemed to have the potential to integrate various strands of theory rather than to erect yet another contesting and exclusive conceptual framework.
