This publication provides a contextual view of innovations in public governance. Public governance is about coordination and the use of various forms of institutional arrangements in policy-making processes to pursue the common good. In practice, the improvements and radical changes in governance structures and processes are met through ''governance innovations,'' which vary from radical large-scale national reforms to various organizational innovations and new e-enabled governance models. Understanding and managing such innovation processes are among the most burning issues in public administration in the contemporary world. The instructive cases presented in this book help readers to understand the multitude of aspects relating to radical and incremental innovations. They also reflect the real-life conditions of innovation activities in the public sector. Discussion focuses on the challenges to governance innovations and the preconditions for their successful implementation in American and European contexts. The approach applied can be called contextual in the sense that innovations in public governance are discussed in their societal and political contexts. This helps to highlight the context and situation-specific aspects of cases, which increases our understanding of the innovation challenge in the public sector. This publication is a result of collaboration among world-leading academics and experts in public governance. The book serves as an in-depth study on real-life conditions and consequences of governance innovations and also as a textbook that provides an introduction to the basic concepts and issues of this research area. As such it serves not only academics, teachers and students, but also developers, public managers and politicians in their efforts to create and implement governance innovations in different application areas and in various societal and political contexts. IOS Press is an international science, technical and medical publisher of high-quality books for academics, scientists, and professionals in all fields. Some of the areas we publish in: • Biomedicine • Oncology • Artificial intelligence • Databases and information systems • Maritime engineering • Nanotechnology • Geoengineering • All aspects of physics • E-governance • E-commerce • The knowledge economy • Urban studies • Arms control • Understanding and responding to terrorism • Medical informatics • Computer Sciences