The aim of this e-book is to provide a contribution to enlarging the empirical base and widening the range of theoretical perspectives to the comparative study of public management reform. What gathered and motivated the Authors of this e-book have been the shared conviction of the necessity to "fill a gap": not just an empirical gap but especially a theoretical gap in the range of explanatory factors considered for interpreting public management reform. A perspective in which the role of "corps", the power that may be wielded by local notables, the instability of the political system, etc., are explanatory factors for interpreting change (or the absence of change). And the Authors of the papers of this e-book considered that a collective effort could provide a higher-level contribution in the direction of widening the comparative research agenda on public management reform than individual, however important, efforts could have done.