Government at a Glance is a new publication series produced by the OECD that explores emerging public governance issues and sets out indicators in a range of areas that, when examined together, constitute important building blocks of a wellfunctioning public management system. Chapter I – the special feature chapter – describes some key public governance issues that are important to governments’ capacity to address the long-term effects of the current financial and economic crises and links them to indicators presented further in the publication. It also raises some fundamental questions facing governments as they look to further transform their public governance systems to better adapt and respond to unpredictable environments. Chapters II-X provide a set of indicators that show the current role and reach of government, and focus on important aspects of government’s public management capacity. This new publication builds upon 20 years of expertise at the OECD in the area of public governance (defined as the exercise of political, economic and administrative authority) and public management, particularly in describing and analysing government activities, developing benchmarks and internationally comparative data, identifying good practices and monitoring results. It also benefits from a practitioner focus: the OECD’s unique access to senior-level officials in member governments provides perspective on how public administration works to support sectoral policies such as health or education, which are dealt with in other OECD At a Glance publications.