This volume compares and analyses the national civil services and the most important reform trends in the 27 Member States of the European Union. The authors first examine the reform processes concerning civil servants legal status organisational changes recruitment policies remuneration decentralisation of human resource responsibilities job security and ethics. They consider in what ways similarities and differences can be detected amongst the 27 Member States and whether and to what extent the national civil services move away from traditional bureaucratic structures. Finally the authors discuss the main outcomes of the reform processes and the future of the classical civil service. This publication contrasts with the many popular and speculative statements that too often capture the headlines on the future of the civil service and the different human resource management reforms. Instead it is a measured conclusion about emerging trends and developments in this important policy area. The authors argue that the reform of the public sector will not as many have predicted be characterised by clear changes and progress in the area. Instead the outcomes of the reform reveal a more complex picture of piecemeal and paradoxical patterns of change.