"Uneven essays by European political scientists on a major issue of contemporary politics. The essays, informed but not always readable, deal with individual West European countries, with chapters also on elite rotation in Yugoslavia and on the functional equivalents of top civil servants in Poland."

"Who surrounds presidents and prime ministers? Who fills the European public techno-structure? Who benefits from the decline of parliament? Who heads nationalized enterprises and public services? Who has inherited classical capitalism? Top Civil servants constitute a new political elite that has risen since World War II. This book concentrates on a crucial problem for understanding European political systems locating top civil servants within the modern state, and analyzing the roles they play in modern government."

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