Organizational development, as an alternative to Reagan administration methods of revamping federal agencies, has been successfully applied in many public sector organizations. "High Performance and Human CostS" focuses on the effective new management approach of one such organization, the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA), and provides perspective on how administrators can move away from outdated bureaucratic models.

The work focuses on public agency dynamics using MARTA as an example. The authors begin by studying emerging practices for high performance and include a detailed look at staff experience and interaction. They evaluate an executive with a look at self-forcing and self-enforcing systems. Other chapters focus on the personal reactions of MARTA executives, provide guides for doing better the next-time-around, and give a small case study of another project. The authors conclude with a comparison of two approaches to high performance: Organizational Development, and the cultural approach popularized by the Peters and Waterman book In "Search of Excellence."

In times of dramatic social, economic and political change, governments around the world are questioning their roles and responsibilities in the public sector. The trend is away from a traditional public-sector market model, but there does not yet exist a universally accepted alternative. The essays offer a comparative analysis of public administration in several OECD countries, including the UK, US, Australia, and Scandinavia, and explores possible future directions.

Managing for Results is a model of organizational reform that utilizes performance indicators, strategic planning, and benchmarks. The model focuses on linking these systems to improve performance and public accountability. This book studies the implementation of Managing for Results on six states identified by the U.S. General Accounting Office as leaders of internal reinvention efforts. Government and business practitioners, as well as scholars and researchers of public administration and policy, will find this book useful in assessment, selection, and measurement of state-level reform efforts.

By comparing the autonomy, control and internal management of public organizations, this book show how New Public Management doctrines work out in three small European states with different politico-administrative regimes. Using survey data on 226 state agencies, hypotheses drawing on organization theory and neo-institutional schools are tested.

This project pulls together classic and modern readings and essays that explore theories of federalism. Spanning the Seventeenth through Twenty-first-centuries of European, U.S. and Canadian thinkers, this attempts to be a comprehensive reader for students in political theory. The emphasis throughout is on the normative argument, the advantages or disadvantages of federal and confederal arrangements compared to unitary states, and on the relative merits of various proposals to improve particular federations or confederations. These also draw on the full range of political science subfields: from political sociology, political economy and constitutional studies to comparative politics and international relations. There are also readings, both contemporary and historical, that attempt to clarify conceptual issues.

There is increasing concern over the possible use of biological weapons. If they are used, an attack will manifest as a disease outbreak among humans, animals or plants. It is thus important to be able to distinguish between natural disease outbreaks and the result of such an attack. The bok discusses the scientific and technical means available to investigate this question and then goes on to consider the agents of concern. The book concludes with a look forward to future developments.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the British Labour Party was broadly supportive of Irish home rule. However, from the end of the First World War, Labour anticipated a place in government, and as a modern, maturing party in British politics, it developed a more calculated set of responses towards Ireland. With contributions from a range of distinguished Irish and British scholars, this collection of essays provides the first full treatment of the historical relationship between the Labour Party and Ireland in the last century, from Keir Hardie to Tony Blair. By widening the lens on Labour's responses to the 'Irish question' over an entire century, it offers an original perspective on longer-term dispositions in Labour mentalities towards Ireland and on the relationship between 'these islands'. It will prove essential reading for those with an interest in modern Irish and British history, Anglo-Irish relations, and the current Northern Ireland peace process. -- .

Friedman discusses a government system that is no longer controlled by "we, the people." Instead of Lincoln's government "of the people, by the people, and for the people," we now have a government "of the people, by the bureaucrats, for the bureaucrats," including the elected representatives who have become bureaucrats.

Learn the crucial ins and outs of the world's largest marketThe U.S government market represents the largest single market--anywhere. Government contract tracking firm Onvia estimates that government business--federal, state, local, and education--represents better than 40 percent of the nation's GDP. While anyone can play in this market, only those with the right preparation can win."Selling to the Government" offers real-world advice for successful entry into the biggest market anywhere. Get proven approaches, strategies, tactics, and tools to make your business stand out, build relationships, understand procedures, and win high-stakes contracts. - Every year thousands of companies enter the massive U.S. Government (BtoG) marketplace, and by the end of the first year, most are gone and less than 10 percent make it to year two - Author has advised hundreds of companies, including Apple, Dell, CDW, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, IT, GTSI, and many small firms, on all aspects of marketing and selling to the governmentFrom the go/no-go decision, through company infrastructure requirements, marketing, sales, business development, and more, this book offers the best advice from the most recognized authority in the market.

Glen O'Hara draws a compelling picture of Second World War Britain by investigating relations between people and government: the electorate's rising expectations and demands for universally-available social services, the increasing complexity of the new solutions to these needs, and mounting frustration with both among both governors and governed.

Benoit provides a comprehensive analysis of presidential television spots from every campaign that used this important message form, from the 1952 campaign through the last national campaign in 1996. More than 1,600 presidential spots are analyzed, from both primary and general campaigns. Republican, Democratic, and third party candidate advertisements are analyzed. He uses the Functional Theory of Political Campaign Discourse, analyzing themes in spots as acclaims (self-praise), attacks (criticism), and defenses (responses to attacks). Themes are classified according to topic. Each of these topics is broken down further (policy: past deeds, future plans, general goals; character: personal qualities, leadership ability, ideals). Contrasts are made between spots from Republicans and Democrats as well as third parties, incumbents and challengers, and winners and losers. The spots from candidates who led, trailed, or were in close races also are contrasted. Spots are becoming more negative over time, Benoit concludes, in both primary and general campaigns. General campaigns are more negative than primary campaigns, Democrats are more negative than Republicans, and challengers are more negative than incumbents. There are no differences between winners and losers. However, candidates who trailed throughout the campaign were most negative, while candidates in close races were most positive. An important analysis for scholars and researchers in political communication and American presidential politics.

With the erosion of the economic boundaries that once defined the American middle class, the United States seems nearer to becoming an economically dichotomous society of rich and poor. While this alarming economic trend has spurred much discussion in the political and economic arenas, the working poor--individuals whose incomes are insufficient to support either themselves or their families--have been overlooked in the current debates about poverty in America. As their numbers continue to swell, however, America's working poor can no longer be ignored. In this wide-ranging volume five economists, three sociologists, an ethicist, and an urban ethnographer examine the changing size, composition, and location of the working poor in the United States. Kathleen Maas Weigert sets the stage by providing a definitional context and overview of the problem. Elijah Anderson then puts a human face on some hard statistics by analyzing the shifting role of the heroic grandmother in the African-American community. Employing a unique data source based on the 1980 and 1990 censuses, John D. Kasarda answers the questions of who and where the working poor are and how their numbers have changed since 1980. Rebecca M. Blank and Rebecca A. London take an in-depth look at the working poor population as it has evolved over the past 15 years and offer a comprehensive examination of the policy options designed to address its shifting needs. Sheldon Danziger and Peter Gottschalk effectively debunk the myth that "anyone who works hard can get ahead in America" by arguing that uneven tides in the economic mainstream leave an increasing number of willing workers behind. Sandra L. Hofferth raises the important issue of child care for the working poor. James P. Sterba argues that the working poor have a right to welfare assistance, and finally, Thomas R. Swartz brings the topic into the current political arena by speculating about the consequences of the various welfare reform proposals that are currently making their way through Congress.

This is the first comprehensive examination of the changing relations between ministers and civil servants in the UK since 1979. Drawing on evidence compiled from more than 150 interviews, this book provides unprecedented insight into the world of Conservative government. The authors also examine the external pressures exerted by factors such as the European Union, and they conclude by arguing that, despite recent claims about the end of the Whitehall model, many of the old features of the British system remain.

This ground-breaking, revisionist collection of essays, based on the most recent research, provides a long-needed reassessment of the legacy of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars upon the governments of Restoration Europe. Traditionally the Restoration has been regarded by historians as a period in which European governments returned to the reactionary policies which prevailed before the upheavals of 1789, and which involved an outright rejection of the reforms of the Napoleonic era. In this book, leading historians challenge this interpretation and emphasize the sometimes surprising loyalty shown to Napoleonic policies of modernization by Restoration governments.The problems of dealing with new ideologies, accommodating the interests of old elites, and keeping the benefits of recent reforms were broadly similar across Europe, and provide a connecting theme throughout the volume. However, the nature of governmental response was never uniform. The essays explore these varieties of response, both through detailed case studies and more general surveys, and address issues such as policing and censorship, revolutionary symbolism, elite formation and bureaucratic structures in France, Spain, Italy, Germany and Poland, making a fascinating contribution to the study of the nature of political change in the modern period.'A dazzling collection of articles by the sharpest young historians in the field [that] overturns much of the received wisdom about Europe after Napoleon'Tim Blanning, Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge

This essay is based on Kenneth Arrow's celebrated impossibility theorem stating that under a few quite reasonable assumptions, collective choice cannot be simultaneously logical and fair. The purpose here is to argue that planning procedures can reduce the likelihood that decision cycles will arise when democracy is pursued. It is examined whether some of Arrow's assumptions can be relaxed under widespread and participatory planning, since planning and public debate may force a minimum of conformity on the stated individual preferences. However, collective choices have to be made in spite of the impossibility theorem. Well-known theories of planning, especially synoptic planning and disjointed incrementalism, are analyzed to assess if they are acceptable ways of organizing decision-making processes in the face of Arrow's impossibilities.

The Brazilian experience is a pace setter in the transition from an authoritarian regime to the establishment of stable and democratically responsible political institutions. This insightful analysis, based on decades of field work, is the very first of its kind on a legislature outside the United States. Moreover, it addresses important issues regarding the role of executive and congressional bureaucracies in the system of government. There is no other book like this. It is very useful for understanding the Brazilian military regime and how Brazil emerged from it. The author, because of long association through a research project of his university with the Brazilian Congress, is in a unique position to study it in depth. Robert Alexander Rutgers University This in-depth report opens with a brief history of the presidential system of government in Brazil, a description of political parties, and the bureaucracy. The first chapters show how the military regime tried to reformulate the political system and how these changes affected Congress and its ability to discharge constitutional mandates. The next chapters analyze the congressional bureaucracy, its modernization of informational capabilities, and the workings of Congress in detail. The final chapters examine changes in Congress when developing new policy and when drafting a new constitution. The study closes with a discussion of the main characteristics of the new constitution and an assessment of the overall performance of Congress and the presidential system in Brazil. This inside analysis is based on decades of field work and is intended for students of comparative government, public policymaking, and Latin American studies.

Explores how a famous trial court judge used rhetorical strategies to engage the public and the legal community in challenging the accepted views of the proper roles for the courts and the community in the pursuit of justice. Analyzes the role of Judge Lord in stimulating public debate about some well-known and controversial cases and in doing so helps enrich our understanding of how trial court judicial rhetoric and opinions can contribute to public understanding and a fruitful discussion of the law, the courts, and their relationship to the community. Judge Lord made his opinions accessible and potentially persuasive to a public auidence through his attention to judicial personal, argument structures that helped to maintain a sense of dramatic narrative, the use of plain language, and the use of substitution, metaphor, and comparison. In addition to offering practical insights into the operation of trial courts, judicial persuasion, and the settlement of some important cases, provides an overview of different judicial approaches to the use of rhetoric. This in-depth study of a noted judge and important trials can serve as a useful text for students in law, communications, public policy, and American studies and will be of interest to scholars and professionals alike.

The book provides a comprehensive account of the scope and variety of the work performed by the departments which are responsible to the Scottish ministers.

"Many Americans are unsatisfied with politics. Simultaneously, we are hesitant to question the basic soundness of our constitutional system. In this refreshingly provocative book, David Orentlicher explains why it is due time for us to reconsider dominant ideas about the presidency, now arguably our most powerful political institution. Challenging the conventional wisdom that the best executive is necessarily a unitary executive, Orentlicher makes a wonderful case for why 'two presidents are better than one.' Sure to be of interest to political scientists, legal scholars, as well as informed citizens justifiably worried about the fate of American democracy, this fascinating book dares to challenge everything you thought you knew about one of our favorite political institutions." -William E. Scheuerman, Indiana University "Can Orentlicher be serious in calling for a plural executive? The answer is yes, and he presents thoughtful and challenging arguments responding to likely criticisms. Any readers who are other than completely complacent about the current state of American politics will have to admire Orentlicher's distinctive audacity and to respond themselves to his well-argued points." -Sanford Levinson, author of Framed: America's 51 Constitutions and the Crisis of Governance When talking heads and political pundits make their "What's Wrong with America" lists, two concerns invariably rise to the top: the growing presidential abuse of power and the toxic political atmosphere in Washington. In Two Presidents Are Better Than One, David Orentlicher shows how the "imperial presidency" and partisan conflict are largely the result of a deeper problem-the Constitution's placement of a single president atop the executive branch. Accordingly, writes Orentlicher, we can fix our broken political system by replacing the one person, one-party presidency with a two-person, two-party executive branch. Orentlicher contends that our founding fathers did not anticipate the extent to which their checks and balances would fail to contain executive power and partisan discord. They also did not foresee how the imperial presidency would aggravate partisan conflict. As the stakes in presidential elections have grown ever higher since the New Deal, battles to capture the White House have greatly exacerbated partisan differences. Had the framers been able to predict the future, Orentlicher argues, they would have been far less enamored with the idea of a single leader at the head of the executive branch and far more receptive to the alternative proposals for a plural executive that they rejected. Like their counterparts in Europe, they might well have created an executive branch in which power is shared among multiple persons from multiple political parties. Analyzing the histories of other countries with a plural executive branch and past examples of bipartisan cooperation within Congress, Orentlicher shows us why and how to implement a two-person, two-party presidency. Ultimately, Two Presidents Are Better Than One demonstrates why we need constitutional reform to rebalance power between the executive and legislative branches and contain partisan conflict in Washington.

This book is the first study of the power of the Russian Parliament in the policy process from 1994-2001, within the context of executive-legislative relations. It challenges the widely held view that between 1994 and 2001 Russia had a presidential system with a strong, authoritarian leader who ruled by decree and a weak parliament which did not have much power.

A critical assessment of the "New Labour" phenomena. It assesses the impact of Labour's "modernizers" in three crucial areas: changes within the Labour party itself; the reformation of the British state; and the influence on particular areas of policy. The essays do not seek to provide unequivocal answers to the questions raised by the arrival of New Labour and their initial period in office, but provide a debate between the contributors over the nature and significance of these changes. The book is a wide ranging and accessible account of the political phenomena which will lead Britain into the 21st century.

One of the commonly stated virtues of modern constitutional democracies is their capacity to insure reliable and accepted methods of political succession through election. This book focuses on one particular, though not uncommon, complication in the democratic mode of political succession: American vice-presidents who assume office as a result of the death, assassination or resignation of a president. Three basic strategies by "accidental presidents" to establish and enhance their legitimacy are identified and evaluated. While none are reliably successful, each provides a lens to study the nature of presidential power and authority as well as to contribute to a democratic theory of succession.

This unique guide helps to answer two important questions for researchers planning to use government information sources. First, over which aspects of individual, organizational, national, and international affairs does the U.S. government exert authority or influence? Second, which units of the federal government are empowered to probe and pursue these matters? The contents and format of Jerrold Zwirn's new research aid offer a concise, yet complete, overview of contemporary public affairs and governmental policy agents. In this guide, Zwirn provides the researcher with comprehensive coverage of the issues and topics addressed by all key units of the national executive and legislative branches. He identifies each entity that exercises jurisdiction over a specific subject in order to facilitate optimum access to the entire domain of federal business and the corresponding sources of federal information. By using a tandem subject and author approach, the guide enables users to focus quickly on functions assigned or implied by a legal mandate. This scheme records and reveals the relationships between formal powers and official authors. Zwirn's immediate aim is to assist those who plan to enter and explore the federal information thicket. His ultimate goal is to devise a framework that can be adapted to the dynamic character of national governance and its information output. Access to U.S. Government Information will be an essential tool for political scientists, legal researchers, librarians, and anyone interested in public policy, policymakers, and the links between them.

In 2008, the economic relationship between the United States and China almost collapsed due to a crisis at two American mortgage corporations, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This book explains how that crisis came about, and analyzes the consequences and implications.