Despite obvious cross-national political and cultural differences, civil service reform policies exhibit strong similarities. An examination of reform efforts in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia emphasizes the centrality of politics and political processes to administrative reform. This is true for mechanical or procedural reform, structural reform and what we termed “relational reforms,” or, reforms aimed at restructuring the relationship between politicians and career civil servants. The overriding influence of politics reduces policy design considerations and often results in solutions that do not match the problems being addressed. The outcomes are new bureaucratic problems and the need for additional reforms.