New Handbook Surveys Public Sector Ombuds

The just-published Research Handbook on the Ombudsman, edited by Marc Hertogh and Richard Kirkham, looks at Public Sector Ombudsman and their work as important administrative justice institutions in many countries around the world. The publisher's blurb says: 

This international and interdisciplinary Research Handbook brings together leading scholars and practitioners to discuss the state-of-the-art of ombudsman research. It uses new empirical studies and competing theoretical explanations to critically examine important aspects of the ombudsman’s work. This comprehensive Handbook is of value to academics designing future ombudsman studies and practitioners and policymakers in understanding the future challenges of the ombudsman.

Here are the contents

PART I FUNDAMENTALS OF THE OMBUDSMAN

The history and evolution of the ombudsman model — Sabine Carl
Ombudsmen and public authorities: a modest proposal — Nick O’Brien
The private sector ombudsman — Christopher Hodges

PART II THE EVOLUTION OF THE OMBUDSMAN

Ombudsmen: ‘hunting lions’ or ‘swatting flies’ — Carol Harlow
The politics of the ombudsman: the Hong Kong experience — Johannes Chan and Vivian Wong
The ombudsman and the rule of law — Benny Y. T. Tai
The European Ombudsman and the Court of Justice of the European Union: competition or symbiosis in promoting transparency? — Milan Remáč
The rule of law in the European Union: standards of the ombudsman, judge, and auditor — Alex Brenninkmeijer and Emma van Gelder
Ombudspersons in developing countries: the case of Indonesia — Adriaan Bedner
The transposition of the ombudsman model to the human rights model domain: its role as a policy entrepreneur — Carlos Alza Barco
Fifty years of the ombudsman in Africa — Victor O. Ayeni
Ombuds institutions: strengthening gender equality, women’s access to justice and protection and promotion of women’s rights — Linda C. Reif

PART III EVALUATION OF THE OMBUDSMAN

The profile of complainants: how to overcome the ‘Matthew effect’? — Bernard Hubeau
How do complainants experience the ombuds procedure? Detecting cultural patterns of disputing behaviour: a comparative analysis of users that complain about financial services — Naomi Creutzfeldt and Ben Bradford
What can government learn from the ombudsman? — Chris Gill
Ombudsmen and prisons — Matthew Groves
The National Ombudsman of the Netherlands and proper police conduct — Yvonne van der Vlugt
The use of own-initiative powers by the ombudsman — Laura Díez
Effectiveness and independence of the ombudsman’s own-motion investigations: a practitioner’s perspective from the Netherlands — Maaike de Langen, Emily Govers and Reinier van Zutphen

PART IV OMBUDSMAN OFFICE AND PROFESSION

Administering access to the public ombuds institution: a case study on the Austrian Ombudsman Board — Julia Dahlvik and Axel Pohn-Weidinger
Ombuds can, ombuds can’t, ombuds should, ombuds shan’t: a call to improve evaluation of the ombudsman institution — Anita Stuhmcke
The ombudsman in Australia: flourishing, expanding, diversifying, innovating — John McMillan
Ombudsman values – a guide to practice — Rob Behrens
The twenty-first century Ombudsperson: a guarantor of democracy — Manuel Lezertua
What’s in a name? A discussion paper on ombud terminology — Varda Bondy and Margaret Doyle

PART V CONCLUSION

An agenda for future research: towards a general ‘ombuds-science’ — Marc Hertogh and Richard Kirkham

Although the book looks at Classical Ombuds, Organizational Ombuds will find substantial value in many chapters. For example, the chapter on Ombuds terminology is especially relevant. (Elgar Online.)