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This paper argues that the search for a theory of public budgeting has proceeded mainly on assumptions of the rationalist paradigm. This approach yielded mostly technical explanations for budgeting phenomena. These explanations fail to capture the complexities of public budgeting and yield incomplete theories. Without attempting to break new ground, the authors argue that budgeting theory should be guided by heuristic concepts borrowed from open systems theory. This offers greater potential for reconciling the rational and non-rational aspects of budgeting and permits constructive synthesis of insights from extant theories of budgeting without rejecting the rationalist paradigm. This approach views budgeting as only one of the complex functions governments perform to cope with their environment and to maintain stability.

This article identifies major public financial management developments in the European Community (EC). Despite a certain degree of disparity, the EC member countries have had a number of common developments in public financial management. In general, central governments of most EC member countries were faced with resource constraints, growing spending demands and large budget deficits. Moreover, fiscal changes had to be made in order to reach the single European market goal targeted by 1992. Thus, several fiscal policy and management initiatives were developed including tax reforms, changes in spending programs, improve-ments of government performance, and fiscal harmonization. The results of these initiatives are reflected in the patterns of central government receipts and outlays in the EC member countries.

This article revisits two vital questions largely ignored in the scholarly literature devoted to professionalism in government. First, is the public purchaser a professional? And second, is public purchasing a profession? Our reexamination of the first question led us to conclude that a public purchaser that meets certain requirements in government purchasing practices distinct from traits reserved for recognized traditional professions such as law, medicine and clergy can be a professional. Furthermore, when we analyzed the basic criteria that characterized a profession such as the existence of esoteric knowledge, rigorous formal training, codes of ethics, representative association, autonomy in practice, and criteria for admission into the occupation, we concluded that public purchasing is a profession.

This study examines distinctive economic reform measures pursued in post-independent Zambia and ethical problems which plagued the reform process. The study begins with a review of the philosophy of Zambian Humanism, the ideology which guided Zambia’s early reform initiatives. Specific reform measures pursued within the framework of humanism focused on: increased state control of the economy; indigenization of the public and private sectors, accelerated development of the rural sector, and use of a series of policy measures to curb domestic exploitation. Beginning in the mid-1980s, deepening economic crisis forced the government to retract most humanist-based reform measures in favor of World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) induced reforms within the framework of structural adjustment and economic liberalization. Post-Humanism reform initiatives built on previous World Bank and IMF formulated framework, but stalled due in part to increase in ethical misbehavior in higher levels of government.

Government procurement has been a neglected area of study in higher education and research. This symposium is one of the first efforts in examining government procurement. This article will provide a brief overview of government procurement developments and summarize major themes of manuscripts included in the symposium.

This symposium examines recent developments in public financial management in the European Community (EC). Prior to 1994, this community had twelve country members. It is almost impossible to cover all aspects of the public financial management development of all EC country members. Moreover, the sympo-sium does not cover the most recent changes made by each EC member in order to reach a fiscal unification set for 1992. Five of the six articles for the symposium cover Denmark, Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain. The sixth article examines common features of public financial management developments as well as revenue and outlay trends in all EC countries.