This thoroughly revised and updated second edition of Civil Service Systems in Western Europe presents a comprehensive overview of the important issues in modern bureaucracies and provides a comparative analysis of the civil service systems of various Western European nations. Country-specific case studies ? based on neo-institutional frameworks and underpinned by extensive empirical research ? are presented by the expert contributors. The specific nature and development of civil service systems is emphasized, and special attention is paid to the current features of each national civil service. Each chapter has been reworked to include new material and topics, and new chapters on Denmark, France and the United Kingdom have been included. Combining both theoretical and empirical studies, this book will prove to be invaluable to scholars and students of public administration, political science and international affairs, as well as to civil servants, politicians and policymakers.