He notes also that the idea of an intelligent, highly efficient state, which intervenes at strategic moments, is steadily gaining ground. Markku Temmes explains for post-communist states the problems of transition connected to the complicated relationships between liberal democracy, a market economy and the rule of law. He provides an analytical framework containing the key factors in transition theory and he concludes that any effort to seek some kind of compromise between communism and the European welfare state will slow down the processes of transition and render them unsuccessful. Andrew Shepherd contends that good government may be necessary, but it is rarely sufficient, for poverty reduction. The final three articles concentrate on developments in specific countries, but the arrangements and lessons involved have much wider significance.
Relationships also feature in the United States experience of limited public trust in government.
Finally, accountability, trust and legitimacy problems, along with numerous other concerns of the type examined in the first three articles, raise important questions about the education and training of public officials. The contributions to this debate will be summarized on this web page and published in full in the International Review of Administrative Sciences .