International Journal of Public Sector Management

Purpose – The paper aims at contributing to the cutback management and organizational decline streams of research by providing an in-depth analysis of the main challenges that public managers have to address in managing public spending and activity cutbacks as a response to the current financial crisis.

Design/methodology/approach – After a literature review of the field, an analysis of the activities of international cooperation between public managers is carried out and the strategies adopted at the global level are compared to the challenges and complexities identified by the literature.

Findings – Recovery policies adopted at the international level follow some literature indications such as the clear long-term forward-looking focus and the attention to post-crisis challenges. In turn, the crisis is perceived to have politicized decision making. There are concerns that the pressure to reduce levels of staff and services poses the risk that the public sector will not have the ability to manage future crises.

Originality/value – Much of the discussion on the crisis focuses on macroeconomic policies and the business sector. Public sector policies are a powerful instrument to overcome the crisis. The article compares recommendations from the theory on crisis management, both in the public and in the private sector, with concrete strategies adopted at the international level.