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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Central government > General
Corruption and anti-corruption are now mainstream public policy challenges. Politicians and the public alike now discuss corruption with the type of rhetoric that they never did before. Perhaps surprisingly, however there remains little detailed, cross-national analysis of which anti-corruption strategies work and which don't. This book aims to make a contribution towards redressing this imbalance.Through case studies in six countries (Bangladesh, Kenya, Germany, Poland, South Korea and the UK) this book illustrates that those looking to fight corruption must understand that quality of governance and successful anti-corruption strategies are indelibly linked. Only when this relationship is understood, will progress in tackling corruption be made. The book is empirically rich and theoretically driven, and should be core reading for anyone interested in understanding why corruption flourishes and what works in trying to fight it.
A legal scholar details the creation and function of the Homeland Security Department, placing it in historical context. In response to the brutal attack of September 11, 2001, the administration created the Department of Homeland Security. Some question whether the powers granted the department are too broad and dangerously curtail civil liberties. What is the department, and how does it compare to historical responses to internal and external threats? A concept so important, it is among the first words of the U.S. Constitution, the defense of our borders is as essential today as it was 230 years ago. administration sponsored the USA Patriot Act and created the Department of Homeland Security. Critics of those actions claim these measures give too much power to the government and impermissibly impinge on civil liberties; supporters claim they are necessary for national security. From the 1798 Alien and Sedition Acts to the present, the government has aggressively discharged its duty to ensure domestic tranquility, including jailing dissidents and forcing Japanese citizens into internment camps. In this book, a leading legal scholar explains in detail the present federal actions and places them in historical context.
In response to the September 11th terrorist attacks, Congress authorized "war" against al Qaeda in the statute known as the 2001 AUMF (Authorization for the Use of Military Force). Meant to be a temporary grant of powers to allow the President to retaliate against the perpetrators of the attack, two administrations have used the 2001 AUMF to justify controversial policies such as the indefinite detention of terrorist suspects at the Guantanamo Bay prison facility, domestic surveillance without a warrant by the National Security Agency, and the lethal targeting of terrorist suspects using drone strikes in countries with which the United States is not at war. Shoon Murray explores the debate that has emerged about whether it is time to repeal the 2001 AUMF. She documents how the Bush and Obama administrations have used this "war" authority and warns against the sources of inertia--organizational interests, psychological biases, and political incentives--that could make it permanent.
The Fundamentals of Developing Operational Solutions for the Government guides professionals on how to use operations research to solve problems and capture opportunities for government customers. The governments of modern democratic nations manage large complex societal operations to offer national defense, social services, infrastructure sustainment, law enforcement, monetary control, and other benefits for their citizens. The United States government alone spends over $1 trillion per year on these discretionary activities. Within all the spending, deliveries, and oversight, some operational needs require solutions to improve processes, architectures, technologies, and human factors. Without such effective and comprehensive solutions, the most eloquent proposal for government work could end in defeat and the most well-funded government programs could yield operational disruptions and performance failures. There are many books on how to write winning proposals to the government, but this book places winning in the context of deeply understanding government operations and innovatively solving government problems. There are also some books on convincing the government to adopt new transformational processes, but this book seeks to first try to fix current government processes before demanding risky transformation. Finally, there are massive tomes dedicated to the theories and mathematical models of operations research, but this book is devoted to making operations research simple enough for professionals to apply throughout the course of developing proposals and delivering products and services. Presenting the methods and techniques for quickly developing solutions is thus the central focus.
Why are some states able to deliver public services to their citizens while others cannot? Why are some states beset by internal conflict that leaves many impoverished? Much of what has become known as the failed states literature attempts to engage with these questions, but does so in way that betrays a particular bias, engaging in advocacy for intervention rather than analysis. The Idea of Failed States directly challenges existing thinking about conventional state strength as it finds that institutional approaches to state strength obscure as much as they reveal. The question of why some states are strong and others weak has traditionally been addressed using measures of economic growth, resources, and quality of life. This book compares the dimensions of state strength characterised by community, society, and nation and uses social capital concepts to further illuminate them. Applying this approach across forty-two countries shows 'weak' states exhibiting a consistent and unique patterns of relationships between community, society, and nation as well as equally consistent and unique relationships in strong states. A blend of theory and empirics, The Idea of Failed States present a new way to think about the state - one that applies to both strong and weak alike. This work should be of interest to students and scholars researching social capital, public policy, international development and security studies.
When and to what extent external actors, especially the EU, contribute to induce legal and administrative changes and help domestic authorities address the disconnect between good governance standards and corrupt practices? Comparing external promotion of anti-corruption norms and provisions in civil administration, public finance management and public procurement in Turkey this book identifies the domestic conditions under which external actors can affect real-world outcomes. Providing a comprehensive, empirical account of Turkey's fight against corruption, the book's cross-sectoral analysis explores the power relations between major political actors and bureaucratic state elites, and examines how structural administrative factors filter external pressure for anti-corruption reforms and determine the prospects for institutional change in the Turkish public sector. This welcome addition to literature on Europeanisation and external good governance promotion makes an important contribution to the academic and policy debate regarding the "politics" of anti-corruption reforms in Turkey.
The 2012 French Presidential elections marked a watershed moment for the French Left, marking their return to a full term of executive power for the first time since 1981. From early in the campaign, the victory of Francois Hollande appeared inevitable, given the unpopularity of the Right-wing incumbent, Nicolas Sarkozy, and the economic crisis afflicting France. This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the lead-up to the Presidential elections, including the political landscape, the candidate selection and the campaign. It looks at how each of the ten candidates set out their policy alternatives, and how the Right in particular failed to present the united front necessary to defeat a coherent Left challenge. It also examines the events and outcomes of the subsequent legislative elections, to understand whether these constituency elections now represent anything more than an early plebiscite for the newly elected president.
Although many developments surrounding the Internet campaign are now considered to be standard fare, there were a number of newer developments in 2020. Drawing on original research conducted by leading experts, The Internet and the 2020 Campaign attempts to cover these developments in a comprehensive fashion. How are campaigns making use of the Internet to organize and mobilize their ground game? To communicate their message? How are citizens making use of online sources to become informed, follow campaigns, participate, and more, and to what effect? How has the Internet affected developments in media reporting, both traditional and non-traditional, of the campaign? What other messages were available online, and what effects did these messages have had on citizens attitudes and vote choice? The book examines at these questions in an attempt to summarize the 2020 online campaign.
When actions of the past clash with the values of today. Millard Fillmore Caldwell (1897-1984) was once considered one of the greatest Floridians of his generation. Yet today he is known for his inability to adjust to the racial progress of the modern world. In this biography, leading Florida historian Gary Mormino tackles the difficult question of how to remember yesterday's heroes who are now known to have had serious flaws. The last Florida governor born in the nineteenth century and the first to govern in the atomic age, Caldwell was beloved in his time for leading the state through the hard years of World War II. He was wildly successful in a political career that may never be matched, serving as governor, congressman, state legislator, and chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court. He passed important educational reform legislation. But his attitudes toward race and citizenship strike Americans today as embarrassing, if not shocking. He refused to address black leaders by their titles. He argued for segregated bomb shelters. And he accepted lynching as part of the southern way of life. Mormino measures the contributions of Caldwell alongside his glaring faults, discussing his complicated role in shaping modern Florida. In the current debates surrounding public memorials and historical memory in the United States, Millard Fillmore Caldwell is a timely example of one man's contested legacy.
What does it take to design effective government institutions and sustain positive changes? What have we learnt about the attempts to deliberately design and redesign public sector institutions in different countries? What works and what doesn't, and why? What happens when reforms fail? This book looks at what the existing academic literature tells us about these questions, and intends to answer these questions to generate and define theoretical and practical knowledge about deliberate (vs. evolutionary) public sector institutional change. It analyzes lessons from changes implemented by international development agencies working to reform public sector institutions in developing countries over the last five decades. The book details reforms in one such country; Kyrgyzstan, one of the more diligent nations in undertaking donor-guided reforms since its independence in 1991. It then presents a conceptual framework and analytical tools essential for understanding the processes used in deliberate institutional change, and in planning for and implementing institutional reform.
The institution of the prime minister in France remains understudied. There are many personalized accounts of the work of individual prime ministers and their relations with presidents and government ministers. However, there has been no rigorous attempt to analyse the prime minister's overall influence in the decision-making process. This study aims to examine the contemporary role of the prime minister in the French political system. By so doing, the book provides a systematic analysis of the prime minister's influence over the policy-making process from 1981-1991. There is also new evidence on the student demonstrations of 1986. Robert Elgie has published articles for journals such as "Governance", "West European Politics" and "Modern and Contemporary France".
How do Russian leaders balance the need to decentralize governance in a socially and politically complex country with the need to guarantee political control of the state? Since the early 2000s Russian federal authorities have arranged a system of political control on regional elites and their leaders, providing a "police control" of special bodies subordinated by the federal center on policy implementation in the regions. Different mechanisms of fiscal federalism and investment policy have been used to ensure regional elites' loyalty and a politically centralized but administratively decentralized system has been created. Asking clear, direct, and theoretically informed questions about the relationship between federalism, decentralization and authoritarianism, this book explores the political survival of authoritarian leaders, the determinants of policy formulation, and theories of federalism and decentralization, to reach a new understanding of territorial governance in contemporary Russia. As such, it is an important work for students and researchers in Russian studies and regional and federal studies.
Presidents are surrounded by political strategists and White House counsel who presumably know enough to avoid making the same mistakes as their predecessors. Why, then, do the same kinds of presidential failures occur over and over again? Why Presidents Fail answers this question by examining presidential fiascos, quagmires, and risky business-the kind of failure that led President Kennedy to groan after the Bay of Pigs invasion, 'How could I have been so stupid?' In this book, Richard M. Pious looks at nine cases that have become defining events in presidencies from Dwight D. Eisenhower and the U-2 Flights to George W. Bush and Iraqi WMDs. He uses these cases to draw generalizations about presidential power, authority, rationality, and legitimacy. And he raises questions about the limits of presidential decision-making, many of which fly in the face of the conventional wisdom about the modern presidency.
The elimination of the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) in 1995 came during a storm of budget cutting and partisan conflict. Operationally, it left Congress without an institutional arrangement to bring expert scientific and technological advice into the process of legislative decisionmaking. This deficiency has become increasingly critical, as more and more of the decisions faced by Congress and society require judgments based on highly specialized technical information. Offering perspectives from scholars and scientists with diverse academic backgrounds and extensive experience within the policy process, Science and Technology Advice for Congress breaks from the politics of the OTA and its contentious aftermath. Granger Morgan and Jon Peha begin with an overview of the use of technical information in framing policy issues, crafting legislation, and the overall process of governing. They note how, as nonexperts, legislators must make decisions in the face of scientific uncertainty and competing scientific claims from stakeholders. The contributors continue with a discussion of why OTA was created. They draw lessons from OTA's demise, and compare the use of science and technological information in Europe with the United States. The second part of the book responds to requests from congressional leaders for practical solutions. Among the options discussed are expanded functions within existing agencies such as the General Accounting or Congressional Budget Offices; an independent, NGO- administrated analysis group; and a dedicated successor to OTA within Congress. The models emphasize flexibility -- and the need to make political feasibility a core component of design.
It is a well-known fact that Prime ministers are fond of talking, in fact at times it seems impossible to get them to do anything else. The reason for this constant talking is that Prime Ministers are all too aware of the importance of frequently talking to and communicating with the electorate. Political rhetoric has a central function that goes far beyond the need to rouse people at election time or in times of great crisis but rather persuasive political talk by prime ministers is central to the practice of modern government itself.This book argues that there are institutionalised patterns in the speeches that prime ministers give. Like an old-style jukebox, there are only a certain number of records in the prime ministerial machine. Inevitably, each prime minister will play the same songs in the same order as their predecessor. This repetitive rhetoric has an impact not just on the minds of voters, but also on day-to-day governance in Westminster system democracies.
This book analyzes why the Rehnquist Court never fulfilled expectations for the reversal of liberal judicial decisions from the Warren and Burger Courts. At its conservative high point in 1991-1992 the Supreme Court was dominated by seven justices who had dependably conservative voting records over the course of their early careers. Five of these justices were appointed in the 1980s and early 1990s by Reagan and Bush, presidents who made concerted efforts to appoint judicial officers who would undo liberal precedents. This is the first book to focus on scholars' growing recognition that the Rehnquist Court has not been as conservative as most presumed it would be. In focusing on Justice Antonin Scalia, whose role inadvertently contributed to the Court's failure to achieve conservative goals, the study examines how individual justices can affect Supreme Court decisions through their judicial behavior.
The Imperiled Presidency: Presidential Leadership in the 21st Century calls for a dramatic re-evaluation of the American president's role within the separation of powers system. In contrast with claims by academics, pundits, media, and members of Congress, this provocative new book argues that the contemporary American presidency is too weak rather than too strong. Cal Mackenzie offers the contrarian argument that the real constitutional crisis in contemporary American politics is not the centralization and accumulation of power in the presidency, but rather that effective governance is imperiled by the diminished role of the presidency. The product of more than three years of research and writing and nearly four decades of the author's teaching and writing about the American presidency, The Imperiled Presidency is the first book-length treatment of the weaknesses of the modern presidency, written to be accessible to undergraduates and interested citizens alike. It engages with a wide range of literature that relates to the presidency, including electoral politics, budgetary politics, administrative appointments, and the conduct of foreign affairs. It would be a useful complement to courses that rely primarily on a single textbook, as well as courses that are built around more specific readings from a range of books and articles.
In 2016, Barter was named Acadia National Park's first-ever Poet Laureate, in honor of the park's Centennial year. Barter has been honored with many prestigious awards and accolades, including the Isabella Gardner Award from BOA Editions; the 2014 Maine Literary Award for the year’s best book of poetry published in Maine; a 2010 residency fellowship at The McDowell Colony; a 2009 residency fellowship at Yaddo; a 2008-2009 Hodder Fellowship at Princeton University; finalist for the 2006 Lenore Marshall Prize; and finalist for the 2005 Independent Publishers’ Book of the Year. Barter's poetic voice, with allusive monologues and rich lyricism undercut by deep skepticism, can be likened to such modernist luminaries as T.S. Eliot, Philip Larkin, Robert Lowell, Michael Broek, and Frank Bidart. His long monologues and the ways in which his speakers talk can, at times, feel utterly outside of poetry. This collection borrows heavily from Eliot’s methods in The Wasteland, particularly the way he mixes voices, contrasting high and low diction throughout. There is something ironically refreshing about Barter's preference for modern fundamentals versus contemporary, that his work shows more influence by Lowell, Eliot, and Frost than, say, Sharon Olds and Terrance Hayes. Barter's work is deeply reminiscent of our poetic predecessors.
This book explores goal-oriented action and describes the variety of options offered by strategic management in guiding public organisations. The book is based on the idea that planning is only one option in orienting the functioning of public organisations and applies resource-based and network studies to the public sector. Whilst most of the existing literature on strategic management relates to local government, this book examines developments within central governments and public agencies external to government hierarchies. The book also addresses the strategic distinction between politics and administration often neglected by existing research, and illustrates the connection between goal setting and actual performance of government organisations.
In Search of Federal Enforcement is a call to investigate the history of federal oversight to secure and preserve black Americans' voting rights over a ninety-five-year interregnum. This book satiates the reader's harboring curiosity as to why the national government was culpably negligent in protecting the exercise of the franchise for black Americans until the 1965 Voting Rights Act. As Holloway explains, much of this problem stemmed from Southern Democrats operating in tandem with the power of private actors to circumvent the Fifteenth Amendment. This mutual-advantage partnership codified disfranchisement, safeguarded the interests of recalcitrant Southern states and localities, and defended local systems of privilege. In the pages of this timely study, Holloway lays bare the abject failure of the national government and critically evaluates how the Southern status quo stimulated chaos at the national level. Despite market paradigms, In Search of Federal Enforcement confronts this historical conundrum and offers keen observations about voting manipulations and electoral abuse by both incumbents and private actors.
The book uses an original language-based bilayer theory to throw
light on the secretive structure of power in the Japanese Diet, its
national parliament, and relates its findings to Japanese
parliamentary democracy in historical perspective. In so doing, the
book answers questions about the latent policymaking process of
Japanese politics that resulted in a reduction of social alienation
and disorganization while Japan industrialized. Industrialization
significantly reduced poverty and increased the size of the middle
class, enabling the nation to move towards democracy. The reader
will see why socialists were so quixotically dogmatic toward
conservatives to the point of absurdity during the Cold War period.
Yet, they were able to form a coalition government following the
end of Cold War era.
This title was first published in 2001. With the collapse of Communism in Central and Eastern Europe, the legitimacy of one-party, and often one-person rule in other parts of the world has been fundamentally challenged. It appears that for the first time parliamentary democracy has become the universally accepted model to adopt or to be perfected. Newer democracies have started to build the institutions and capacity necessary to sustain democracy, while established democracies continue to refine their democracy, sometimes introducing full-scale reforms. This book examines whether elements of the perfect democracy can be identified and how democratic structures and practices can be improved.
There is a broad consensus that 1937 marked a turning point in the history of the Supreme Court. This is the first comprehensive treatment of the Court's decision-making in the civil liberties/civil rights sphere in the years preceding that watershed. Professor Braeman refutes the widely held assumption that the post-1937 justices were writing upon a largely blank slate in dealing with civil liberties/civil rights issues, arguing instead that much of what the Modern Court has done, when viewed in a long-term perspective, appears as incremental expansions of precedents laid down by the Old Court. |
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