Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: the coordination problem -- Barriers to coordination -- Approaches to understanding coordination -- The instruments of coordination -- Case studies in coordination -- Is coordination always the answer, and can it be?

"Peters provides the most comprehensive discussion available of the problem of policy coordination in the public sector. He begins by observing that governments typically react to policy problems by embracing specialization, which tends to undermine efforts to deliver better coordinated policies. Drawing upon a variety of perspectives, both theoretical and multinational, he tackles this conundrum by focusing on the concept of horizontal management. His conceptual analysis is supplemented by four case studies of public sector coordination (Homeland Security in the U.S., child protection in the U.K., policymaking in Finland, and the European Union). Finding the appropriate balance between specialization and coordination, Peters concludes, is a knotty problem yet essential to the delivery of the most effective policies"--