Why do some policies succeed so well while others, in the same sector or country, fail dramatically? The aim of this book is to answer this question and provide systematic research on the nature, sources and consequences of policy failure. The expert contributors analyse and evaluate the success and failure of four policy areas (Steel, Health Care, Finance, HIV and the Blood Supply) in six European countries, namely France, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, Spain and Sweden. The book is therefore able to compare success and failure across countries as well as policy areas, enabling a test of a variety of theoretical assumptions about policy making and government. The book also sheds more light on the legitimacy of governance in Western Europe and goes beyond understanding the concepts of success and failure to explaining their genesis empirically. Success and Failure in Public Governance will be of interest to academics and researchers of political science, public policy and public administration as well as to practitioners of public policy.

When environmentalists fail to persuade us that there is an imminent threat of environmental disaster, they typically invoke the "precautionary principle" in order to justify their calls for more regulation. This work challenges the claim that the precautionary principle (PP) is an appropriate guide to public policy decisions. The fundamental problem is that it is impossible to prove a negative, so the PP can be used to justify any regulation limiting emissions of any substance. Taken in its extreme form, the PP would end civilisation. In its more practical form, the PP is about taking a hyper-cautious approach to emissions of substances into the environment. This means imposing very strict controls on the licensing of new technologies and cutting back drastically on emissions of substances into the environment. Although not as devastating as Leggett's philosophically dubious proposal, this more practical approach has serious drawbacks The opening brace of papers discusses the dubious philosophical foundations of PP, and consider the consequences of applying it in various policy contexts relating to scientific controversies.

"Ethics and Integrity in Public Administration" presents cutting-edge perspectives on the role of ethics in public sector management - what it is and where it is going. The contributors include a cross-section of authoritative authors from around the globe, and from both the academy and government. They cover a wide range of topics, diverse theoretical and conceptual paradigms, and global examples, and provide a broader view than what is typically offered in other books. The book includes both theoretical insights and commentaries grounded in practice. Chapters are divided into three parts: Ethical Foundations and Perspectives, Ethical Management and Ethical Leadership, and International and Comparative Perspectives.

In Active Duty: Public Administration as Democratic Statesmanship, a distinguished group of contributors examines the role of the American civil service under the Constitution. The common concern that unites the otherwise diverse approaches of the authors is the conception of public administration as a particular form of political activity. The contributors relate administrative issues to the broader questions of political life, such as political judgment and responsibility, the Constitution and constitutionalism, and the promotion of human liberty and the common good. They aim to encourage the administrator to become a democratic statesman. Present and prospective American civil servants, as well as political scientists and political philosophers, will find this book of interest.

Hardbound. This volume is a comprehensive treatment of a variety of public sector applications of OR methods. The papers are directed at bridging the gap between theory and practice, with an emphasis on a clear statement of where these methods have been used and were useful. The technical level is appropriate for the general reader, with a specific interest in either a particular subject area (military, urban services, crime and justice, health and administration, air and water quality, natural resources management, apportionment), or methodology (hazardous facility siting, voting theory and paired comparisons, competitive bidding, and theories of measurement).

Managing the Next Generation of Public Workers is a fresh and energetic look at the changing climate of diversity in the public and nonprofit workplace. The workforce of the twenty-first century represents unparalleled complexity: Baby Boomers, GenX, GenY, and Millennials. Although that diversity may be challenging and often overwhelming for public managers, Madinah Hamidullah emphasizes the potential strengths that can be drawn from complex multigenerational relationships. This handbook offers public and nonprofit managers the tools necessary to address generational differences and questions such as: * How do the newer generations in the workplace differ on such fundamentals as work ethic, family values, and retirement horizons? * Are they recruited differently and do they expect a different mix of benefits-perhaps a better work-life balance as a tradeoff for a lower salary? * How can diverse, generational perspectives in the workplace add value by questioning old, traditional assumptions? * Will approaches to organizational decision making necessarily change as new generations take over? The book is for public and nonprofit managers who recognize the challenges of managing a multigenerational workforce, and are therefore seeking helpful insights. This volume is a roadmap not only for human resource (HR) managers, but for all managers who must address the complexities of the human condition-complexities that are complicated by the most rapid succession of workforce generations that we have yet seen.

"Strategic Planning for Public Service and Non-Profit Organizations" is the 12th volume in the "Best of Long Range Planning Series", and focuses on strategic planning for public and non-profit purposes such as government, public agencies and non-profit or voluntary organizations.;The book also addresses how strategic planning differs from other kinds of planning and how strategic planning for public and non-profit purposes can be tailored to fit differing circumstances.

The New Public Service: Serving, not Steering provides a framework for the many voices calling for the reaffirmation of democratic values, citizenship, and service in the public interest. It is organized around a set of seven core principles: (1) serve citizens, not customers; (2) seek the public interest; (3) value citizenship and public service above entrepreneurship; (4) think strategically, act democratically; (5) recognize that accountability isn't simple; (6) serve, rather than steer; and (7) value people, not just productivity. The New Public Service asks us to think carefully and critically about what public service is, why it is important, and what values ought to guide what we do and how we do it. It celebrates what is distinctive, important, and meaningful about public service and considers how we might better live up to those ideals and values. The revised fourth edition includes a new chapter that examines how the role and significance of these New Public Service values have expanded in practice and research over the past 15 years. Although the debate about governance will surely continue for many years, this compact, clearly written volume both provides an important framework for a public service based on citizen discourse and the public interest and demonstrates how these values have been put into practice. It is essential reading fo students and serious practitioners in public administration and public policy.

Governments of today need to be future-oriented. The seismic disruptions in demographics, economic and political upheavals, increasing fragmentation between the haves and have-nots, leap-frog societal transformations, climate change, and technological innovations will be critical drivers impacting the context of how governments operate and function. Public sector organizations must be able to deliver services that are affordable, efficient and effective and can compete with the private sector. Governments must not only work towards safeguarding their people and resources, but take a more extensive look at the increasingly inter-connected world. They must work with the private sector and embrace the citizen who is demanding to be included in the decision-making process. This volume presents a series of case studies of countries, including the UAE, Germany, Estonia, Iceland, Finland, Chile and China, and their experiments with policy under five broad themes: government foresight, future orientation, regulatory reforms & strategy, the happiness agenda and the sharing economy. Each case, written by a leading expert in the field, presents the challenges and opportunities of the future and will provide key insights that will support policy makers, strategists and decision makers in mapping out their plans for tomorrow.

This is a study of papal bureaucracy during the Renaissance, a time when the Pope was among the most powerful of European rulers. The men who ran the Renaissance Papacy were an important and talented group, including among their number luminaries of Italian humanist literature and scholarship, distinguished church leaders, and statesmen of far-reaching influence. Based on extensive research in Italian archives, The Pope's Men explores the bureaucracy of an early modern state, and the patronage network which permeated and in many ways controlled it. Peter Partner sets the ruling elite of the Renaissance Papacy in its social and political context, and analyses its composition and the ways it operated. He shows the struggle for power in Rome among the competing Italian regions and families. This is a fascinating and scholarly study of men who could be scholars, poets, thinkers, and patrons of the arts, as well as servants of a state of great spiritual and temporal power.

Divided into four sections-public safety agencies, key issues like interoperability and cybercrime, management skills, and emerging trends like the transfer of military technologies to civilian agencies, Managing Public Safety Technology illustrates how essential managing technology is to the success of any project. Based on the authors' years of experience dealing with information systems and other tools, this book offers guidance for line personnel, supervisors, managers, and anyone dealing with public safety technology. Designed for current or future public safety personnel, especially those in management, Managing Public Safety Technology can also be used for undergraduate and graduate public safety management and leadership programs.

At last - a textbook on the public sector for students of social policy, public policy, political science and sociology. This book explains why we have a public sector and what tasks it is expected to perform. Bent Greve presents the key strengths and weaknesses of the public sector in modern European societies in a clear and straightforward fashion. He also highlights the new challenges the sector faces, including changes in global development, demography and technology. Public and private sectors are highly interdependent and Greve explores this relationship and the consequences of choosing different public expenditures and financing. He addresses differences across affluent European economies and demonstrates how countries can develop society as desired whilst ensuring that their economies remain resilient to external crises, such as the financial crisis of 2008 or the Covid-19 pandemic. Highly accessible and informative, this book will be a valuable resource for lecturers and students of social policy, public policy, political science and economic sociology. It is also essential reading for students of public sector management and administration who need to understand the fundamentals of public sector economics and political economy. Its novel interpretation of the broader role of the public sector will also be beneficial for practitioners and policy makers.

The application of complexity theory to management and the social sciences has been a key development in theory and practice over the last decade. This approach questions the possibility of finding universal methods of practice, and proposes a pragmatic and humanistic management style that evolves out of a reflective method. The focus is on practitioners observing patterns of similarity and being adaptable in decision-making. Bringing complexity theory into management reveals the importance of organizational culture and effective communication because people, their values and their objectives are at the heart of this method. Information technology provides a framework for complex communication and knowledge use, but it cannot replace highly developed professional negotiations and cooperation. This book argues that the complexity of the public service world limits the usefulness of classical and rational scientific management approaches such as New Public Management. Excessive marketization threatens a collaborative approach and overly rigid approaches to performance management and strategic management can be dysfunctional. Managing Complexity in the Public Services 2nd Edition advances a method of management practice that copes with the stark realities of the complex and unpredictable public policy world. It develops pragmatic management practices from action research that will be valuable to both academics and practitioners. The result is a new value-based practice for the post-crisis public service world.

To keep government operating smoothly, changes in public management policy and strategy usually follow the old rule of change--that it must evolve in a systematic and incremental fashion. But in today's unpredictable world of shrinking budgets, demands for better service, and greater accountability, playing by the old rules just doesn't make sense.
In this book, L. Douglas Kiel presents a framework that addresses the new chaotic reality of public management and the need for responsive change and innovation. By acknowledging the potential for positive change and renewal that can arise from uncertainty and instability, Kiel offers managers a paradigm for transforming government performance.
In easy to understand terms, the author offers an overview of the concepts of chaos theory and the science of complexity and he demonstrates how public administrators can apply these concepts to create a new vision of organizational change. The book presents a range of both traditional and innovative management techniquesshaping organizational cultures, flattening hierarchies, and re-engineering work--and evaluates their capacity to allow organizational systems to respond to change.
Written for public administrators and the faculty and students of public management, this book describes the importance of disorder, instability, and change and examines how new chaos theories are applied to public management. Drawing on data from the author's case studies, the book is filled with charts, graphs, and practical computer spreadsheet exercises designed to give public managers and students of public management hands-on experience to meet the challenges of organizational change.

Shows government agencies how to meet the needs of customers seamlessly, that is, in a smooth, effortless, responsive manner. Details a step-by-step approach to assess, design and implement significant change in all levels of government?and how to overcome resistance along the way.

This volume accesses governance in public and non-profit organizations. Building on and challenging recent research in this area, this volume critically examines the contextual, behavioural and historical factors of governance.

The Public Sector: Managing the Unmanageable offers practical advice to public sector managers on how to develop techniques to deal with the challenges they face, particularly in the areas of accountability, setting targets, risk management/encouraging innovation, managing people, decision making and working with politicians. Based on original interviews with politicians and senior public sector managers, including the last four cabinet secretaries, it is full of anecdotes, actionable lessons and insights. Each chapter takes a specific aspect of management and starts by explaining why it is different in the public sector, then sets out ways for public sector managers to handle those differences and ends with an executive summary and a checklist to prompt managers to think about how they might change what they currently do. The book has a foreword by Peter Mandelson and insights based on interviews with more than sixty successful public sector managers including: Michael Bloomberg, Brendan Barber, Sir Michael Barber, Lord (Michael) Bichard, Lord (John) Browne, Lord (Robin) Butler, Helen Carter, Sir Merrick Cockell, Charles Clarke, Lord (Geoffrey) Dear, Brian Dinsdale, Charles Farr, Lord (Charles) Guthrie, Lord (Chris) Haskins, Lord (Michael) Heseltine, Ken Livingstone, Paul Martin, Lord (John) Monks, Lord (Gus) O'Donnell, Sir Robert Naylor, Jan Parkinson, Sir Hayden Phillips, Jonathan Powell, Heather Rabbatts, John Ransford, Gill Rider, Paul Roberts, Sir Peter Rogers, Stephen Taylor, Lord (Andrew) Turnball, Sir Robin Wales, Nick Walkley, Ian Watmore and Lord (Richard) Wilson.

In this revised and enlarged edition of their established textbook, Gavin Drewry and Tony Butcher bring their wide--ranging, critical survey of the Britsh civil service fully up--to--date, concluding with an examination of the nature and significance of the a Next Stepsa programme which is currently transforming the structure and management of the civil service.

..".this is going to be a very useful book. It provides an authoritative overview of approaches to quality management contextualised to health and social care." - Joe Walsh, Independent Management Consultant, formerly Assistant Director of Social Services at the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames
..".the author's wealth of knowledge of the public sector is drawn upon to provide an array of interesting and apposite case studies which illustrate his main themes. As a consequence the book will be useful, not only to those who want an academic perspective, but to anyone concerned with improving the service that they provide." - David Fillingham, Director of NHS Modernisation Agency
Many organizations in health and social care are striving to implement the ideas of organizational excellence, performance measurement and process improvement, in the context of a large number of government initiatives including the NHS Plan, Best Value, Clinical Governance and Quality Protects. This book provides a clear explanation of the whole area and includes a wide variety of case studies and examples within health and social care, including the Voluntary Sector.
The book gives extensive guidance on the use of the Excellence Model, but it does much more than just describe how to use the Model. It provides practical guidance on how to deliver services focussed on patients and service users, on how organizations can lead, motivate and involve their staff, on partnerships and user involvement, and the vital area of process improvement. There is also a major section on performance measurement.
Written by a senior lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, who is also a Director of South Yorkshire Excellence, and a member of Trent Regional Health Authority's Modernisation Board, Delivering Excellence in Health and Social Care will be of considerable value to managers at all levels in health and social care.

Good governance is one of the UK's fundamental values, and citizens are entitled to expect that public officials, both elected and non-elected, behave according to the highest standards of ethical behaviour. However, such lofty aspirations are not enough to root out corruption. If integrity in public life is to be maintained, the core principles behind it must be constantly sustained and strengthened. This new Haus Curiosities volume, published in collaboration with Westminster Abbey Institute, looks at the place and meaning of integrity in the individual public servant, in public service institutions, and in the wider public they purport to serve. It tries to answer the fundamental questions of what integrity means in public life, what lasting value it has, and why it has such a critical part to play in the constitution of Britain. The book also explores how people in public service institutions can cease to behave with humanity when those institutions deny the individual human spirit. On the other hand, the authors argue for the critical importance of institutions in upholding values when fallible humans forget them, as we have witnessed in the Civil Service's steadfast and stabilising response to the Brexit referendum and its uncertain aftermath. Integrity in Public Life provides a critique of and an essential guide to integrity, leaving the reader with some hope for its continued place in public life.

This book covers more than a hundred years of chess in the Civil Service, with information about the clubs, the individuals, the events they contested, the successes, and the arguments that sometimes resulted. Clubs regularly featured leading players of the day and the Civil Service representative team frequently beat strong counties in 50-board matches, as well as participating in a mammoth 500-board match against the rest of England. Names of chess clubs bring a whiff of nostalgia, with India Office, War Office and Civil Service Rifles no longer in existence. Leading players served their country not only in their departments, but at establishments like Bletchley Park in the Second World War. Several civil servants represented their country in international matches. Over a thousand players participated in the league at one stage.

This book analyses the economic consequences of the regional government of Catalonia's challenge to democracy and the rule of law in Spain. This process, started in 2010, culminated in a coup d'etat in the autumn of 2017. The book has three parts. First: The circumstances behind the challenge: economic structure, social and political aspects. Second: The economic impacts of the resulting huge political instability and social polarisation, and the downturn in GDP, investment, competitiveness, Barcelona's appeal, and flight of companies and banks to Madrid. Third: Independence would mean collapse of trade with the rest of Spain and the EU, expulsion from the eurozone, fall of GDP, plummeting tax revenue, soaring unemployment and, finally, conversion of this hypothetical new Catalonia into a failed, vassal and totalitarian state. This book is destined to be the foremost work of reference on the consequences of the separatist threat to Spain, including Catalonia's current decline.

Public sector organizations are in one of the most challenging environments they have ever had to face as they bear much of the cost of the recession. More than ever before, public sector leaders need to instil strong performance improvement disciplines into their organizations that enable these leaders to fully understand: key outcomes and priority deliverables, how to allocate reduced financial resources and where to reduce costs and improve efficiencies without jeopardizing service delivery.
Written in an accessible and practical style, this fully-updated second edition addresses the efficiency drive using models, tools and ideas more commonly found in the corporate world, such as balanced scorecard and Lean. It also includes new case studies and real-life examples, from Audit Scotland, Belfast City Council, Brisbane City Council, City of Charlotte, Civil Service College (Singapore) FBI, NHS, Ministry of Works (Bahrain), Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the US Postal Service.