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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Central government
The concept of `economic planning' was a central theme of the popular economic policy debate in the 1930s. Dr Ritschel traces the many interpretations of planning, and examines the process of idealogical construction and dissemination of the new economic ideas. He finishes with an explanation of the planners' retreat, later in the decade, from the economics of planning towards the far less ambitious (but also less contentious) alternative - the `middle way' of Keynesian economics.
One of the longest and seemingly most intractable civil wars in
Latin America was brought to an end by the signing of the Peace
Accords between the Guatemalan government and the Unidad
Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG) in December 1996. The
essays in this volume evaluate progress made in the implementation
of the peace agreements and signal some of the key challenges for
future political and institutional reform. The volume opens with a
chapter by Gustavo Porras, the government's main negotiator in the
peace process. The first section then examines the issue of
demilitarization. This is followed by aspects of indigenous rights
in the peace process, including conceptual frameworks for rights
advancement, the harmonization of state law and customary law, and
the challenges of nation-state and citizenship construction. The
next section examines issues of truth, justice, and reconciliation,
and assesses prospects for the Truth Commission. The volume closes
with an analysis of different aspects of political reform in
Guatemala and includes comments made on the chapters and developed
in the debate which took place at the conference on which it is
based. The contributors are Marta Altolaguirre*, Marta Elena
Casa?s*, Demetrio Cojt?*, Edgar Guti?rrez*, Frank La Rue, Roger
Plant, Gustavo Porras*, Alfonso Portillo*, Jennifer Schirmer,
Rachel Sieder, David Stoll, Rosalina Tuyuc*, Anna Vinegrad, Richard
Wilson (* chapters in Spanish).
Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful
introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and
law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to
be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of
the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject
areas. In this updated second edition, internationally renowned
scholar B. Guy Peters provides a succinct introduction to public
policy and illustrates the design approach to policy problems.
Peters demonstrates how decision-makers can make more effective
choices and why a design approach to public intervention can
improve policy formulation. Key features of the second edition
include: Analytical identification and evaluation of the vital
components of policy design Reflections on the challenges posed by
Covid-19 and public policy solutions An expanded overview of
evaluation and behavioral public policy analysis Critical
discussions of alternatives to cost-benefit analysis. Offering a
timely and concise approach to the field, this book will be crucial
for high-level students who are new to public policy, as well as
scholars and researchers hoping to improve and advance their
understanding of the design perspective. Its analytic and
theoretical grounding will also prove useful for policy
practitioners, enabling sophisticated solutions to common policy
problems.
Just as Latin American countries began to transition to democracy
in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the region also saw gains in
social, cultural and economic gender equality. In accordance with
modernization theories, women in the region have also made
significant inroads into elected office. However, these gains vary
a great deal between countries in Latin America. They also vary
significantly at different levels of government even within the
same country. Inside government arenas, representation is highly
gendered with rules and norms that advantage men and disadvantage
women, limiting women's access to full political power. While one
might expect these variations to map onto socioeconomic and
cultural conditions within each country, they don't correlate. This
book makes, for the first time, a comprehensive comparison of
gender and representation across the region - in seven countries -
and at five different levels: the presidency, cabinets, national
legislatures, political parties, and subnational governments.
Overall, it argues that gender inequality in political
representation in Latin America is rooted in democratic
institutions and the democratic challenges and political crises
facing the region. Institutions and political context not only
influence the number of women and men elected to office, but also
what they do once in office, the degree of power to which they gain
access, and how their presence and actions influence democracy and
society, more broadly. Drawing on the expertise of scholars of
women, gender, and political institutions, this book is the most
comprehensive analysis of women's representation in Latin America
to date, and an important resource for research on women's
representation worldwide. The causes, consequences, and challenges
to women's representation in Latin America are not unique to that
region, and the book uses Latin American patterns to draw broad
conclusions about gendered representation in other areas of the
world.
Deborah Posel breaks new ground in exposing some of the crucial
political processes and struggles which shaped the reciprocal
development of Apartheid and capitalism in South Africa. Her
analysis debunks the orthodoxy view which presents apartheid as the
product of a single `grand plan', created by the State in response
to the pressures of capital accumulation. Using as a case study
influx control during the first phase of apartheid (1948-1961), she
shows that apartheid arose from complex patterns of conflict and
compromise within the State, in which white capitalists, the black
working class, and popular movements exercised varying and uneven
degrees of influence. Her book integrates a detailed empirical
analysis of the capitalist State and its relationship to class
interests.
Stem cell therapy is ushering in a new era of medicine in which we
will be able to repair human organs and tissue at their most
fundamental level- that of the cell. The power of stem cells to
regenerate cells of specific types, such as heart, liver, and
muscle, is unique and extraordinary. In 1998 researchers learned
how to isolate and culture embryonic stem cells, which are only
obtainable through the destruction of human embryos. An ethical
debate has raged since then about the ethics of this research,
usually pitting pro-life advocates vs. those who see the great
promise of curing some of humanity's most persistent
diseases.
In this book Cynthia Cohen agrees that we need to work toward a
consensus on the issue of how we treat the embryo. But more broadly
she claims that we need to transform and expand the ethical and
policy debates on stem cells (adult and embryonic). This important
and much-needed book is both a primer and a means by which to
understand the implications of this research. Cohen starts by
introducing readers to the basic science of stem cell research, and
the core ethical questions surrounding the embryo. She then expands
the scope of the debate, looking at the moral questions that will
crop up down the line, such as e.g. the use of therapeutic cloning
to overcome the body's immune resistance to stem cells; the ethics
of using animals to test stem cells; how to disentangle federal and
state legal and regulatory policies in pursuit of a coherent
national policy; and how to develop an ethics of stem cell research
that will accommodate new techniques and controversies that we
cannot even foresee now. Her final chapter develops a concrete plan
for an oversight systemfor this research.
This is the first single-author book that addresses the many broad
ethical and legal issues related to stem cells, and it should be of
great interest to bioethicists, researchers, clinicians,
philosophers, theologians, lawyers, policy makers, and general
readers.
Green issues are rising rapidly up the agenda in Latin America and
the Caribbean as governments struggle to reconcile the demands of
globalization with the quest for equitable and sustainable growth.
This second volume of Environmental Politics in Latin America and
the Caribbean reveals how the region is becoming a laboratory of
change - and a source of inspiration in global affairs - as states,
multilateral agencies and the private sector seek sustainable
solutions to its pressing problems. This volume explains the roles
institutions, policies and political actors play in green
policymaking and builds on the introduction to the historical,
political and economic context in which they have evolved provided
in Volume I. It examines how democratization in the 1980s gave new
space to environmental and indigenous activists, and surveys the
ideas inspiring them to forge a new kind of politics. As
institutional change has become a defining feature of political
development throughout this region, new environmental ministries
and agencies have established new standards of regulation and
enforcement. Policymakers are advancing innovative ways to tackle
complex environmental problems and constitutions, laws and treaties
are enshrining new green rights that increasingly assertive courts
are upholding. Together, both volumes of Environmental Politics in
Latin America and the Caribbean provide the framework for a modular
course on this essential topic, with each chapter structured to be
the basis of a single teaching unit. Using tables, boxes and maps
to support the student, the two volumes offer an accessible way of
understanding the background and context of environmental politics
in the region as well as theoretical debates and key developments.
Why do some countries appear to be far more centralized than
others? In some countries local government has responsibility for a
wide range of public services, while in others these services are
delivered by national and other non-local bodies. Moreover national
government oversees the operation of local government with varying
degrees of stringency. In addition, local politicians in some
countries seem to have greater influence over their national
counterparts than those in others. The answer to this question can
be found in the distinctive patterns of development experienced in
southern and northern Europe. Differences in national-local
relations also have direct implications for patterns of
policy-making at the local level. This book examines the legal and
political bases of relationships between national and local
government in Britain, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, and
Spain, and assesses the causes and consequences of differences in
such relationships.
This enlightening book scrutinizes the shifting and overlapping
governance paradigms that inform public administration reforms.
Exploring the models that shape and reshape the daily operation of
public organizations, it explains the core features of public
bureaucracy and professional rule in the modern day. From the rise
to supremacy of New Public Management to the growing preference for
alternatives, such as Digital Era Governance, Public Value
Management and New Public Governance, four world-renowned authors
launch a powerful and systematic comparison of the competing and
co-existing paradigms. Advancing the 'public governance diamond' as
a critical tool for comparing the core features of governance
paradigms, this insightful book discusses the underlying
behavioural assumptions of these models and the challenges faced by
leaders when managing in a public sector. Informed by both key
theory and empirical analysis, this book will be crucial reading
for students and researchers seeking an authoritative voice on
competing and co-existing modes of governance. Public leaders and
managers, as well as public employees, will also benefit from its
insights into the varying and multifaceted dynamics of public
governance.
Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful
introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and
law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to
be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of
the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject
areas. Jon Pierre and Guy Peters expertly guide the reader through
governance - one of the most widely used terms in political science
- and its differing interpretations, with comprehensive discussion
of the key issues covering global as well as local level
governance. A detailed look into what constitutes 'good
governance', whether produced by a government or by more informal
means, is also explored. Key features include: examination of what
governance is, how it is created and the differing styles of
governance how governance is becoming more collaborative between
governments and the private sector an investigation into the
governance process and outcomes, including topics such as
bargaining, negotiation and the use of political power. This
insightful Advanced Introduction will be an excellent resource for
both graduates and undergraduates studying governance and political
science. It will also be a useful guide for academics who are
interested in governance and who need a concise introduction.
This timely Handbook considers the increasing struggles facing
international development in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. It
investigates the role global co-operation must play in resolving
the multiple crises of the pandemic, resultant economic devastation
and existing climate changes and external-debt concerns.
Contributions identify the need to question current assumptions and
approaches to international development in the context of how
markets are constructed, states reformed and resources distributed.
Split across four thematic parts, this thought-provoking Handbook
explores the concept and politics of development, development and
contested globalization, the politics of development agendas and
global actors in the politics of development. Chapters examine the
politics of: developmental regionalism, crime, law and development
in historical perspective, international monetary relations, food,
global health, the global gender agenda, the sustainable
development goals, development in the WTO, and private foundations.
Engaging and accessible, the Handbook on the Politics of
International Development will be a key resource for students and
scholars of international politics and relations, public policy,
geopolitics and development studies.
Examining the increasingly relevant topic of public sector
efficiency, this dynamic Handbook investigates the context of
constrained fiscal space and public funding sources using
cross-country datasets in areas including China, India, sub-Saharan
Africa and OECD economies. Expert contributors evaluate public
sector efficiency for both national and sub-national governments,
analysing important sectors such as education, health,
public-private enterprises and state-owned enterprises. Given
voters' requirements to be more educated and for greater
accountability on the use of public spending, chapters describe
methodology and measurement issues alongside the allocation of
resources to ensure better efficiency and effectiveness.
Forward-thinking, the Handbook provides insights into how improving
efficiency can greatly assist governments when dealing with
unforeseen events such as the recent Covid-19 pandemic and the
conflict in Ukraine. This Handbook will be an important read for
academics and students of public sector economics and public
administration and management. It will also provide an excellent
background for the policy makers of international institutions
looking to help the general public have a better understanding of
how public spending works in order for them to make informed
decisions when voting.
Transportation and the State explores the role of the emerging
national state in the 19th century as an organiser of territory and
a governor of infrastructure. It offers a comparative historical
analysis of eight industrialising nation-states and discusses their
role in the democratisation and economic development of the
industrialising world since the post-Napoleonic era. Hans Keman and
Jaap J. Woldendorp provide a comprehensive analysis of how
nation-states have regulated the economy and society from the 19th
century to the present day, with particular focus on the
development and operation of railway systems. They demonstrate how
states define and direct infrastructure and railway systems as part
of the public domain. By exploring the impact of the railways on
the evolution of the national state, Keman and Woldendorp reveal
the complex interactions between the state, society and the
economy, and how these are situated within their historical
context. Taking a diachronic empirical approach, they challenge
common misinterpretations around the role of the state and argue
for a revision and reformulation of its current format and
capacities. Drawing together the academic fields of political
science, economics and economic history in an innovative way, this
book will be of particular interest to scholars and students
looking to expand their understanding of the ways these disciplines
interlink. It will also be a helpful read for policy-makers working
on improving transport infrastructure in different nations.
This Handbook offers a critical analysis of the major theoretical
and empirical issues in public policy and public administration in
China. Investigating methodological, theoretical, and conceptual
themes, it provides an insightful reflection on how China is
governed. Â Taking a multidisciplinary approach, expert
international contributors explore the complex challenges and
facets of public administration, inwards and outwards civil service
issues, and policy configurations and implementations in China.
Chapters provide in-depth analyses of government capacity-building
and policy making, local bureaucracy, anti-corruption regimes,
civil service evaluation, and the effectiveness of the public
sector. This comparative study uniquely tests Western theories of
public policy and administration in a non-Western country,
evaluating and dimensionalizing the relevance of such perspectives.
Through the examination of key areas of research, the Handbook also
illuminates the present state of research and teaching on public
administration in China and establishes a broad framework for
future studies of the field. Â Offering a detailed discussion
of the characteristics of governance in China, this comprehensive
Handbook will be a valuable resource for academics and students of
public policy and administration, politics, sociology and Chinese
studies. Its focus on management and performance will also be
beneficial for public policy makers and analysts.
Assembling scholarship on the subject of nationalism from around
the world, this Research Handbook brings to the attention of the
reader research showcasing the unprecedented expansion of the
scholarly field in general and offers a diversity of perspectives
on the topic. It highlights the disarray in Western social sciences
and the rise in the relative importance of previously independent
scholarly traditions of China and post-Soviet societies.
Nationalism is the field of study where the mutual relevance of
these traditions is both most clearly evident and particularly
consequential. Chapters explore specific cases (some of them
previously underexplored) across a range of topics, including: the
construction of a national identity, the institutionalization of
nationalism, democracy and self-determination, the roles of class,
ethnicity, religion and race in nationalism, and the connection
between nationalism and the economy. Offering a comparative
perspective on nationalism across different regions and
civilizations, this Handbook also allows the reader to compare and
evaluate different approaches across the social sciences,
re-examining their utility. Political science, sociology and
international relations scholars will find this to be an essential
read in exploring the wide-ranging differences in nationalism
across different countries, and its effects both historically and
in modern times. This will also be a valuable book for
policy-makers looking for different perspectives on the topic.
Based on original empirical data collected from three Gulf
Cooperation Council (GCC) states of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar,
this engaging book offers comprehensive insights into the
institutional environment of public-private partnership (PPP) from
a unique and under-explored context. Drawing on ideas from the
fields of project management, neo-institutional theory and research
on the Gulf rentier states, this book unpacks how individual and
organizational actors engage in several strategies to either enable
the implementation of PPPs or to resist them. It explores why and
how individual and organizational actors in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia
and Qatar seek to disrupt or maintain existing forms of project
organizing. Chapters from this book highlight both the macro- and
micro-dynamics of initiating, implementing or resisting new forms
of project organizing, and offer several theoretical contributions
to project management, PPP literature and neo-institutional theory.
This book will be an essential read for academics and policymakers
interested in broader questions of how the institutional context
affects public sector reforms and the introduction of New Public
Management ideas to non-western contexts. Public policy and
management students and practitioners will also find this book to
be a valuable resource.
This comprehensive textbook explores the policy process from a
multitude of perspectives, including rationalism, culturalism,
institutionalism and from a political point of view. This allows
students to discover key concepts from the policy science
literature and gain a deeper understanding of how public policy is
discussed academically and shaped empirically. Public Policy in
Action gives a detailed breakdown of all stages of the policy
process by discussing the emergence of policy problems affecting
the agenda, the formulation of policy alternatives, the
decision-making process, the implementation of policies and the
progression to evaluation, learning and policy change. The authors
also outline the sets of factors which influence the steps of the
policy process internally and externally. The book is supported by
a wide variety of case studies from a number of national and
international contexts of relevance to an international audience.
Key features include: Up-to-date review of the literature on the
policy process Coverage on all key elements of the policy cycle
Insight into the complexity of policy making in practice Multiple
perspectives of the policy process Critical reflections on the
roles of policy analysts Multiple case studies including water
management, migration and social policies. This extensive and
detailed textbook will be an invaluable resource for undergraduate
and masters students of public policy, policy analysis and public
administration, by providing an insight into the complexity of
policy making in the real world.
In this innovative book, Jacob Torfing, a leading scholar of the
field, critically evaluates emerging ideas, practices and
institutions that are transforming how public governance is
perceived, theorised and conducted in practice. Identifying
cutting-edge developments in public governance, this incisive book
analyses new forms of political leadership, public management,
public organisation, administrative steering, cross-boundary
collaboration, public regulation and societal problem-solving.
Examining some of the most significant instances of public
governance transformation, chapters explore the effects of
transformations from sovereign to interactive political leadership,
from national to multi-level governance, and from hard to soft
power. With a novel focus on the production of innovative public
value outcomes, the book considers how these developments interact
with and are influenced by new digital technologies and increasing
globalisation. Torfing concludes with a reflection on how best to
comprehend, study and take advantage of current and future
transformations in public governance. A novel rethinking of how
current societies are governed, this book will inspire students,
scholars and practitioners of political science, public policy,
regulation and governance, and public administration management to
reconsider how public governance and administration may be
organised in the future to present innovative solutions to societal
problems.
This ground-breaking book investigates the work of policy
professionals. They consist of political actors who, although not
elected to office, are nonetheless employed to affect policy and
politics on a partisan basis. Through an analysis of the influence
and power they wield, this book sheds light on how the growth of
this group represents a major transformation of the organization of
politics and policy making in advanced democracies. Taking a
comparative, longitudinal perspective, Stefan Svallfors examines a
combination of rich qualitative and quantitative data from
countries such as Sweden, the Netherlands, Ireland and Latvia in
order to explore what skills policy professionals deploy, the
motivations that drive them, and the demand and use for their
skills in various organizations. He links his analysis to
fundamental questions about the current state and future of
democracy, demonstrating that the work of policy professionals is
key to understanding how contemporary political influence and
democratic accountability function. Politics for Hire will be a
stimulating read for scholars and advanced students in political
science, public administration, public policy and sociology. It
will also provide useful insights for those working in politics and
governance seeking to understand the impact and influence of policy
professionals.
Through a pioneering analysis of two critical junctures in EU
counter-terrorism, this topical book examines the drivers,
conditions and impediments for policy integration and
information-exchange institutionalisation in EU counter-terrorism.
Taking a deep dive into the key questions surrounding EU
counter-terrorism, Christine Andreeva utilises distinct terrorism
case studies over two decades to investigate the evolution of
information-sharing in EU counter-terrorism. Using an innovative
theoretical framework combining historical and constructivist
institutionalism, the book examines key events in EU
counter-terrorism development: the 2015-2016 Paris and Brussels
attacks and the 2004-2005 Madrid and London attacks. Identifying a
post-2015 paradigm policy shift, the book traces the increased
efficiency of cross-border and inter-agency co-ordination in the
EU's counter-terrorism policy. Andreeva demonstrates how
institutionalisation, information-sharing and improved legislative
frameworks have led to further policy integration and added
significant value to international EU counter-terrorism efforts.
Illustrating the importance of practitioners' perception of EU
added value in counter-terrorism, this book will be essential to
scholars and students of public policy, particularly those studying
EU and international politics and EU counter-terrorism. Its
empirical findings will also be useful to policymakers and
practitioners in security and counter-terrorism fields.
In both Europe and America, the landscape of social policies has
undergone fundamental changes in recent decades, especially in
endeavors to develop new welfare arrangements. How does this affect
citizenship-at-large as defined by the Marshallian triad of
personal, democratic, and social rights?
Taking nine European countries as case studies, the contributions
analyze the ways that citizenship has changed in key areas such as
social security, labor market policies, and social services. Other
chapters concentrate on the theoretical and conceptual challenges
that result from the interrelation of changing social policies with
different notions of citizenship. Trends in welfare reform have
become harder to interpret. They are no longer about simple
reductions in social services and entitlements, or a decline in
social citizenship; the terms of debate have shifted. In a
postindustrial world, individuals are afforded more mobility,
autonomy, and responsibility. Security is being reexamined in light
of the new risks stemming from a worldwide knowledge-based economy.
Behind the diversity of changes there is a unified agenda taking
shape, characterized with concepts like activation, social
investments, concerns with inclusion, and the strengthening of
links between rights and responsibilities. The contributions in
this volume represent an insightful look at the debate between the
determination to curb social spending and a new model of an
activist state ready to make social investments.
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