Comment from the editors

Abstract

The articles in this issue are intended to be of interest to both academics and practitioners. The first piece presents the views of four internationally recognized public management scholars, Steven Kelman, Fred Thompson, L. R. Jones, and Kuno Schedler, on how the PM may be defined and understood as an emergent discipline. Their dialogue took place on the International Public Management list server in October 2003 and is reproduced here with only minor editorial changes. The second work in this issue by Clay Wescott explores how decentralization supports the policy commitments made by the Viet Nam government to increase citizen participation and accountability, and to reduce poverty and regional disparities. The article includes a review of basic definitions of decentralization to place this case study into an international context, a brief look at the unique historical context of Viet Nam, a comparison of policy intention versus implementation reality, an analysis of the impact of decentralization, and a concluding section on remaining challenges.