1. IntroductionPart I: Theoretical and Conceptual Issues2. Democratic Order, Autonomy and Accountability 3. Accountability, Performance and Legitimacy in the Welfare State - If Accountability is the Answer, What was the Question? 4. Combining Agency and Stewardship. Welfare Reforms and AccountabilityPart II: Accountability in Welfare State Areas5. Hybrid Welfare Administrative Systems and Changing Accountability Relations – Comparing the Development of the Danish and Norwegian Systems6. Public Sector Reform and Accountability Dynamics: The Changing Welfare Administration in Norway and Germany7. The welfare state in flux: Individual responsibility and changing accountability relations in social services 8. Dimensions of Accountability in Health Care 9. Accountability through performance management? Hospital performance management schemes in Denmark, Germany and England 10. Accountability, Legitimacy and Immigration Control: The Inclusion of Social Actors in Asylum Regulation in Norway, Denmark and Germany11. Welfare Reforms, Accountability and PerformancePart III: Accountability in Unsettled Situations12. Accountability, Transparency and Societal Security13. Accountability under Inquiry: Inquiry Committees after Internal Security Crises14. Accountability Relations in Unsettled Situations: Administrative Reforms and Crises15. Accountability in Times of Austerity: Democratic and Constitutional Gains but Learning Loss?16. Regulatory Reform, Accountability and Blame in Public Service Delivery: The Public Transport Crisis in BerlinPart IV: Accountability, Administrative Reforms and Multi-level Governance17. Principles meet Practicalities: Challenges of Accountability Reform in the British Civil Service18. Multiple Accountabilities in Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs): How to Unravel the Accountability Paradox?19. Digital Era Governance Reform and Accountability – The Case of Denmark20. The Dynamics of the EU Accountability Landscape: Moving to an Ever Denser Union

"This book not only provides the most up-to-date map of tensions between logics of consequences and appropriateness of contemporary welfare states. It also discusses ways to cope with its paradoxes, contradictions and trade-offs. This publication is a perfect GPS for all those that navigate within and between responsibility and accountability of our welfare states." - Geert Bouckaert, President of the International Institute of Administrative Sciences, and Professor at the KU Leuven Public Governance Institute, Belgium"The Welfare State has been central in legitimating contemporary governments, and accountability has been, and remains, a fundamental democratic concern. But both of these factors in contemporary political life continue to evolve. This handbook examines the intersection of these two factors, and the manner in which they continue to evolve. This is important reading for any student of contemporary governance." - B. Guy Peters, University of Pittsburgh, USA"We live in an age of administrative and policy reforms. But we often do not understand their effects very well. This outstanding set of essays by leading scholars in the field delves deeply into the complex world of welfare state policy reforms and changing accountability mechanisms. Anyone interested in these topics will find this collection an invaluable, indeed an essential, source of insights and ideas." - Joel D. Aberbach, University of California, Los Angeles, USA"A very rich volume that combines a sophisticated approach of accountability with detailed analyses of welfare state reform. It brings together Europe's best scholars on accountability and welfare state reform and provides a concise analysis of contemporary welfare state reform and its effects on accountability relations." - Mark Bovens, Utrecht University, the Netherlands