Democracy in California: Politics and Government in the Golden State is a readable and thought-provoking textbook, which clearly explains the politics and character of California's governmental institutions and the dynamics affecting the lives of Californians. In addition to thorough coverage of California's constitution and development, this book also examines each branch of government as well as local systems. As Janiskee and Masugi explore the nature of public opinion, parties, and campaigns, they show the effects that the state's diverse population has on all levels of politics and government. The fourth edition is updated throughout and includes analysis of the 2012 and 2014 elections and discussion of recent events such as *immigration reform, *Jerry Brown's second term, *the new primary election system, *revised term limits, *and the revision of the "three strikes" law. New case studies in each chapter bring ideas to life and challenge students to become active participants in California politics. Perfect for courses in American government and state and local politics, Democracy in California is a succinct guide to the governmental intricacies of our nation's most populous state.

Drawing on the history of state and local government in the New York Tri-State metropolitan region, the authors present a pathbreaking new theory about the values reformers must understand and balance in order to tackle the hard challenges of reforming and regionalizing local governance in the complex, dynamic world of American politics and public policy. Their examination of the way 2,179 local governments in the Tri-State region have evolved over more than a century pays special attention to New York City, but is applicable to other metropolitan areas. It brings to life ideas that are crucial to a subject that in the academic literature is often treated in a way that is abstract and hard to grasp. This is a valuable book for scholars, political leaders, and students interested in regionalism in metropolitan America and in the fascinating history and governance of the nations largest city and its vast metropolitan region.

Local government employees have a higher propensity to engage in collective bargaining than do private sector employees. This springs from the tight competition in the local budgeting process among those requesting, paying for, and providing services. Spengler looks at this trend using a fiscal discontent hypothesis. This approach suggests that the taxpayer revolts during the 1970s and 1980s limited the budget discretion of elected officials and forced public sector employees to turn to collective voice and action to better compete for scarce public resources.

Two levels of employee collective voice are examined: the weaker form of organizing and the stronger collective bargaining model. Substantial differences in the use of each are analyzed based on employee occupation, state, and type of local government. Scholars, business practitioners, policy makers, and researchers in public administration, labor relations, public policy, and local government will find this study an important contribution to understanding the phenomenon of organized collective voice.

Democracy in California: Politics and Government in the Golden State is a readable and thought-provoking textbook, which clearly explains the politics and character of California's governmental institutions and the dynamics affecting the lives of Californians. In addition to thorough coverage of California's constitution and development, this book also examines each branch of government as well as local systems. As Janiskee and Masugi explore the nature of public opinion, parties, and campaigns, they show the effects that the state's diverse population has on all levels of politics and government. The fourth edition is updated throughout and includes analysis of the 2012 and 2014 elections and discussion of recent events such as *immigration reform, *Jerry Brown's second term, *the new primary election system, *revised term limits, *and the revision of the "three strikes" law. New case studies in each chapter bring ideas to life and challenge students to become active participants in California politics. Perfect for courses in American government and state and local politics, Democracy in California is a succinct guide to the governmental intricacies of our nation's most populous state.

A bright portrait of modern Africa that pushes back against harmful stereotypes to tell a more comprehensive story.

You already know these stereotypes. So often Africa is depicted simplistically as an arid red landscape of famines and safaris, uniquely plagued by poverty and strife.

In this funny and insightful book, Dipo Faloyin offers a much-needed corrective. He examines each country's colonial heritage, and explores a wide range of subjects, from chronicling urban life in Lagos and the lively West African rivalry over who makes the best Jollof rice, to the story of democracy in seven dictatorships and the dangers of stereotypes in popular culture.

By turns intimate and political, Africa Is Not A Country brings the story of the continent towards reality, celebrating the energy and fabric of its different cultures and communities in a way that has never been done before.

This book focuses on the training, education, and assistance needs of municipal governments as they prepare to face the challenges of the 21st century. These crises include increased citizen demands, dwindling financial support, technological advances, and demographic trends which result in the additional layering of diversity in the work force. The authors argue that an investment in training represents a commitment to the future of the municipal organization as well as the community itself. An important resource for public administrators and academics.

Under pressure from both the Federal government and private citizens, local and state governments are restructuring their services, including the areas of education, highway, and transportation. While the federal government wants to reassign responsibilities to local governments, voters want greater efficiency and lower taxes via privatization. This edited collection considers these pressures, the responses from state and local governments, and specific experiments in privatizing local services.

The book's opening chapter presents an overview of the changing landscape, while the following chapters consider possibilities in both education and highway services. In education, interdistrict school choice and state-local structures are considered. Highway services are seen in federal-state and state-private relationships. Reporting on a variety of experiments, each chapter illustrates a type of service or arrangement for restructuring governmental services.

The level of government responsible for implementing policies affects intent, services provided, and ultimate outcomes. The decision about where to locate such responsibility is the federal design dilemma faced by Congress. Taking a new approach to this delegation and decentralization, The Federal Design Dilemma focuses on individual members of Congress. Not only are these legislators elected by constituents from their states, they also consider the outcomes that will result from state-level versus national executive branch implementation of policies. Here, Pamela J. Clouser McCann documents congressional intergovernmental delegation between 1973 and 2010, and how individual legislators voted on decentralization and centralization choices. Clouser McCann traces the path of the Affordable Care Act from legislative proposals in each chamber to its final enactment, focusing on how legislators wrestled with their own intergovernmental context and the federal design of health insurance reform in the face of political challenges.

Since 1980 Richard Steier has had a unique vantage point to observe the gains, losses, and struggles of municipal labor unions in New York City. He has covered those unions and city government as a reporter and labor columnist for the "New York Post" and, since 1998, as editor and featured columnist of the "Chief-Leader," a century-old independent newspaper that covers city and state government in greater detail than today s mainstream news organizations. Drawing from his column with the "Chief-Leader," Razzle Dazzle, "Enough Blame to Go Around" describes in vivid terms how the changed economy has drastically altered the city s labor landscape, and why it has been difficult for municipal unions to adapt. There can be no doubt, he writes, that public employee unions have contributed to the problems that confront them today, including corruption and failed leadership. But at the same time and for all their flaws, he believes unions represent the best chance for ordinary people to receive fair economic treatment."

A study of how civic culture shaped policy responses to the demographic and economic transformations of Dallas, Texas. Civil Culture and Urban Change analyzes Dallas government's adaptation to shifts in the city's demography and economic structure that occurred after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. The book examines civic culture as a product of a governing regime and studies the constraints civic culture has placed on the city's capacity to adapt to changes in its population, economy, and distribution of political power. Royce Hanson traces the impact of civic culture in Dallas on the city's handling of major crises in education, policing, and management of urban development over the past forty years and shows the reciprocal effect of responses to crises on the development of civic capital. Hanson relates the city's civic culture to its economic history and political institutions by following the progression of Dallas governance from business oligarchy to regency of professional managers and federal judges. He studies the city's responses to school desegregation, police-minority conflicts, and other issues to illuminate the role civic and organizational cultures play in shaping political tactics and policy. Hanson builds a profile of political life in Dallas that highlights the city's low voter turnouts, sparse civic and political networks, and relative lack of multiracial institutions and mechanisms. Civic Culture and Urban Change summarizes the "solution sets" Dallas employs in dealing with major issues and discusses the implications of those findings for the future of effective democracy in Dallas and other large cities.

This book examines the success of the US rebalancing (or pivot) strategy towards Asia, placing the US pivot in a historical context while highlighting its policy content and management dilemmas. Further, the contributors discuss the challenges and opportunities that each regional state confronts in responding to the US rebalancing strategy. In 2011, President Barack Obama laid out the framework for a strategic pivot of US policy towards the Asia Pacific region. Writers in this volume focus specifically on Asian perception of the strategy. Among the topics they explore are: China's desire to be seen as equal to the US while maintaining foreign policy initiatives independent of the US strategic rebalance; the strengthening of Japan's alliance with the US through its security policies; the use of US-China competition by South Korea to negotiate its influence in the region; and Australia's embrace of the strategy as a result of foreign direct investment that provides economic benefits to the country.

This book examines the impacts of fiscal decentralization reforms on the efficiency of local governments in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. By offering a comparative perspective and by applying econometric methods and regression models, it analyses various reform trajectories and their effects on individual CEE countries. Furthermore, the book discusses input and output indicators for evaluating the efficiency of municipalities. Readers will learn about the common features of these countries, the impact of path dependence, and future prospects for decentralization reforms. In closing, the book discusses modern management and administration methods, opportunities for cooperation between municipalities, co-creative service delivery, and other measures that could improve the efficiency of public service provision.

Based on cutting-edge research, this edited volume examines how citizens and political elites perceive the legitimacy of regional integration in Europe and the Americas. It analyses public opinion and political discourse on the EU, NAFTA and MERCOSUR, arguing that legitimation patterns shape the development of regional governance.

Technological innovation, the globalization of exchange, greater marital instability, and new environmental and health challenges are reshaping the world in which we live. This edited volume analyzes current and projected future socioeconomic trends in the context of New York State, a state that has historically played an important role in public policy innovation. The contributors identify major trends, compare New York State to the United States as a whole, and indicate the need for new social policy at the local, state, and federal levels. Among the issues discussed are the distribution of income, trends in land use, recent immigrants, and family living arrangements.

Designed to present insiders' views on how consular activities work, this collection of oral history interviews with consular officers is an invaluable resource for diplomatic historians and political scientists. The interviews reveal the tasks these officials perform and how they view the substance of the consular function as part of the American role in international affairs both in the Department of State and at embassies abroad. Among the multitude of topics covered are leadership, training, junior officers, Communist regimes, the political milieu in which the consulates operate, American communities abroad, the protection and welfare of American citizens, narcotics problems abroad, visa matters, and passport concerns. These first hand accounts are provided by both retired and presently working consular officials and reflect a broad range and variety of experience. The interviews have been edited and arranged topically into areas of consular specialization or related interests. Explanatory introductions written by the editors provide needed background information. Although much has been written about the history of consular affairs, there has been little else to date about consular operations and achievements. This book fills that gap.

This book examines the governance arrangements in Northern Ireland through a multi-level lens, particularly in the period since the new institutions established through the 1998 Agreement became more firmly embedded.

Filling a crucial gap in research on the presidency and presidential communication, "Within These Walls" goes beyond the study of presidential speeches and examines the organizational structure, systems of information flow, and communication styles in the administrations of Franklin Roosevelt through Ronald Reagan. Focusing principally on the post-Watergate presidents, this book illustrates that a primary dimension of presidential communication is not that which is spoken during public addresses but that which takes place between the chief executive and his senior staff. Patricia Witherspoon's exhaustive research includes archival material from the Ford and Carter presidential libraries as well as information obtained from interviews with President Ford and several former senior aides in the Ford, Carter, and Reagan White Houses.

Applying organizational theory to her study of the modern presidency, Witherspoon reveals that the White House, as we know it today, began its evolution into a modern organization during the FDR administration. It shares a variety of characteristics common to other organizations, including formal and emergent structures, formal and informal systems of information flow, and decision-making processes and managerial and communication styles selected and/or assumed by the organizational leader (the president). Students and scholars of political communication, political science, history, management and public policy, or any informed reader concerned with the modern presidency will find "Within These Walls" a source of valuable insight.

Journalists have thoroughly documented David Duke's rise to prominence in Louisiana politics, but until now, few intensive analyses of the Duke phenomenon have been undertaken. This new collection identifies the significant junctures of Duke's political career, from its earliest beginnings to his recent campaigns for Governor, the Senate, and the Presidency. Through a variety of methods and approaches, the contributors to this work advance our understanding of what made this former Klansman a significant political force, and of how and why he very nearly succeeded in his attempts to gain higher office. The authors contend that the racial overtones of the 1950s and 1960s, both explicit and implicit, have returned in the 1990s in a more subtle, polished, and somehow socially acceptable way. They argue convincingly that changes in electoral politics throughout the South provide the structural basis for this "rebirth" of racially charged political campaigns. Even as messenger supplanted message in the rise of David Duke, however, one simple observation remained true: The politics of the South - and Louisiana in particular - remain rooted at least partly in, as V.O. Key phrased it, "the Negro question". The first work to study Duke and the politics of race entirely from a rigorous political science perspective, this collection makes a considerable contribution to our understanding of Duke's popularity, his constituencies, and the reasons for both his successes and his failures.

The chapters in this anthology combine discussion of two currently hot' topics in public administration--privatization and entrepreneurship. . . . Perhaps the most attractive aspect of this book is that it is not merely an unbridled emotional paean to privatization and entrepreneurship but an objective introduction to these issues. The editor selects an array of essays that address not only theory and practice but also the pragmatic issues and problems associated with implementing these new policy initiatives. This book would be a welcome addition to libraries wishing to remain current with the expanding literature on privatization and entrepreneurship. "Choice"

Privatization encompasses the many ways in which the private sector assumes functions that were previously the province of government. These may range from the sale of state enterprises to contracts with private firms to provide governmental services. In each case, services which were once subsidized to some extent by the government are instead offered by the private sector at prices reflecting their actual cost. This collection of original essays by internationally recognized scholars in economics, government, and management, provides a readable, state of the art discussion of the promises and problems of privatization. In addition to synthesizing current data and experiences in the field of private entrepreneurship, this collection of articles breaks new ground by suggesting innovative areas for private activity in the public sector.

From their experience in nonprofit operations and their understanding of the realities of urban politics, the editors of this wide-ranging volume and their contributors dig into issues seldom explored in the literature. They study the role of nonprofits in local governing coalitions, the potential of nonprofits to replace social welfare programs, their efforts to restructure key elements of the local political process, and the unanticipated internal impacts of the changing roles of nonprofit organizations in the urban community. The result is a compelling argument that to understand life in contemporary American cities, we must take into account the expanding role of nonprofit organizations, their response to increased service demands, and their participation in common efforts to direct policy choices.

Hula, Jackson-Elmoore, and their panel of scholars, researchers, and close observers of urban policymaking focus on the delivery of social services to illustrate the complex and important set of roles that nonprofits have assumed. As social programs are cut at all levels of government, it is often believed that nonprofits can and should take up the slack and restore at least some portion of the cutbacks in such services. They examine how some nonprofit organizations have taken a proactive stance in this regard by implementing efforts that do not simply react to political and social change, but attempt to initiate and guide it instead. They attempt to change the political environment in which they operate, and the result has been to change the face of local politics in many jurisdictions. Each chapter of their book explores these expanding and emerging roles. Themes and focuses vary, which in turn reflects the variation and complexity within the nonprofit sector itself. At the same time, each chapter presents an emerging political or policy role now being played by today's nonprofits and voluntary associations, and a theoretical context in which such activities and behavior can best be understood. Scholars and advanced students in public administration, economics, and nonprofit management, as well as executive-level nonprofit managers, will find here an important update on what is happening in their special worlds, and the knowledge they need to make sense of it.

From the first "Cheese Day" in 1874 to the "Great Limburger War" of 1935, author Duane H. Freitag peers into the nooks and crannies of the tumultuous political history of Green County, Wisconsin.

In this previously untold story, Freitag pulls back the curtain to uncover how the Swiss immigrants who settled in southern Wisconsin influenced Green County politics from 1845 to 1945. Buffeted by wars, dairy industry economics, murders, epidemics, the temperance movement, and LaFollette progressivism, this immigrant group was heavily involved in each major election, asserting their political will in candidates and through the polls.

In addition to exploring the politics of the region, Freitag also discusses what caused shifts in Wisconsin's political winds throughout this period by placing Green County elections against the larger context of political landscape of the United States as a whole. In doing so, he examines the history of America and demonstrates how Swiss immigrants and other Wisconsin cultural groups responded to the events that shaped the nation.

From the abolition of slavery to prohibition, the Great Depression, and concerns about America's involvement in two world wars, "Sauerkraut, Suspenders, and the Swiss" demonstrates the remarkable story of Wisconsin-and American-politics.