ABSTRACT
Of the many underlying aims that motivated the writing of this monograph, a primary goal was to update the rather tired analysis of the ombudsman that too often appears in standard textbooks. Much of what is written still owes more to past commentaries on the institution as an overly formal, inefficient ‘Rolls-Royce’ complaint-handler operating at the margins of dispute resolution than current reality. By contrast, our research has uncovered a potentially dynamic and flexible institution, better equipped to tackle the needs of the modern administrative justice system and facilitate the goals of proportionate dispute resolution than the other options available. In this chapter, we summarize our findings and understanding of the ombudsman enterprise at the beginning of the twenty-first century. It is an overview that we hope will establish the template for future research in this area.
