Comment from the Editors

Abstract

The articles in this issue are intended to be of interest to both academics and practitioners. This issue is comprised of articles on a variety of interesting public management and policy topics. The first contribution to this issue is a tribute to our late and much beloved and respected colleague Professor June Pallot. It is titled "June Pallot: A Voice of Reason," and was written by her close friend and colleague Susan Newberry. The second piece in the issue is an editorial essay that defines public management as an international academic field of study. The third article in the issue, co-authored by Montra Leoseng and Willi Zimmermann, is titled, "Limits to Environmental Policy Implementation. The Case of User Charge Implementation in Thailand." The fourth article by Ling Lan is "Open Government and Transparent Policy: China’s Experience with SARS." The fifth article in this issue is by Enrique Cabrero, "Between New Public Management and New Public Governance: The Case of Mexican Municipalities." The next article is by Bruce J. Perlman and Gregory Gleason, "Comparative Perspectives on Third Generation Reform: Realignment and Misalignment in Central Asian Reform Programs." The article that follows is by Willie Seal and Amanda Ball on, "Regulating Corporate Performance and the Managerialization of Local Politics." These articles are followed by an edited IPMN listserver dialogue on, "Outyear Budgetary Consequences of Agency Cost Savings?" with additional comments by L. R. Jones. This dialogue was stimulated by a question to the listserver from Steven J. Kelman at Harvard University. The last piece in this issue is a report on the IPMN 2004 Rio Conference co-authored by Bruce J. Perlman, Eugenio Caperchione and Turo Virtanen.