Under New Sail: MMP and Public Servants is the lastest in a series of books from the Institute of Policy Studies on public sector and electoral reform in New Zealand.

The new politics of proportional representation - caretaker ministers, coalitions, minority governments, coalition negotiations, consultation with other parties - presents challenges to and opens up opportunities not just for politicians but also for public servants. These were discussed at three series of forums of senior public servants, academics, politicians and private sector analysts and lobbyists organised by the Institute of Public Policy in association with the State Services Commission in 1994-96. A seminar of public secotr chief executives was organised in early 1997 on the period of caretaker government in late 1996.

From these discussions, Colin James, who chaired the meetings, has distilled public servants' experiences, reactions and expectations and the evolving guidelines and rules - and set these in the wider political and public sector management contexts. This book is a useful and succinct guide for observers, analysts, public servants and politicians.