Since the first elections of 1994, the South African constitution officially guarantees and promotes a wide range of political and civil rights and institutionalizes the separation of powers with an independent judiciary. This has made South Africa a political symbol of change, hope and democracy in Africa and around the world. However, since the introduction of free and fair electoral processes and with ANC dominating the presidency and the parliamentary seats, the political scene has been scattered by democratic challenges. South Africa remains a flawed democracy, combining free elections and respect for basic civil liberties with problems of governance, an underdeveloped political culture, and low levels of public participation. Today, South Africa stands at a crossroads. While the constitutional democracy has survived, South African democracy seems to have weakened by state capture, internal ANC implosion, corruption, societal polarization, social exclusion, xenophobia, and threats of state economic bankruptcy. South Africa faces growing discontent symbolized in intensified societal and political debates, protests and demonstrations providing for the question if this is a sign of dissatisfied citizens demanding deeper democracy or activities questioning the established constitutional democracy from an anti-democratic, populist, and radical point of view. South Africas Democracy at the Crossroads explores the question; what are the challenges to future democratization in South Africa?

The Capitol Press Corps is a study of the interaction of New York State legislators, senior public officials, and the Capitol press corps during the three years following Nelson Rockefeller's departure. It analyzes media/government relations at a time of chronic fiscal crisis, divided party control of the Legislature, and a succession crisis in the formerly cohesive Republican party of New York State. The author ends his analysis with some prescriptions for better media/government relationships in New York State, and he provides an epilogue which updates developments in this arena into mid-1977.

The first book of its kind, this is a collection of essays on the financing of transportation in non-metropolitan areas in the United States. It reviews basic demographic trends and conditions of infrastructures at the present time while exploring a wide range of alternatives for improving them. Including contributions from local finance personnel, engineers and other government officials, Financing Local Infrastructure in Nonmetropolitan Areas is an exhaustive study of the problems facing local infrastructure, providing an invaluable resource for scholars, administrators, and laypersons whose jobs are affected by infrastructure issues, such as agricultural and business personnel.

Drawing from workers' applications, testimonies, and other primary documents, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Civil Service recreates the white-collar world of middle-class workers from the Civil War to 1900. It reveals how men who worked in federal agencies moved from being self-employed to salaried workers, in the process placing at risk the independence that lay at the core of middle-class male values; while women assumed the kind of independence that threatened their positions as delicate, middle-class ladies deserving the protection and care of men. Introducing a cast of characters who worked as federal clerks in Washington, Arons examines the nature of being a civil servant--from the hiring, firing, and promotion procedures, the motivations for joining the federal workforce, and the impact of feminization on the workplace to the interpersonal aspects of office life such as attitude towards sex, manners, and money-lending--and provides an imaginative look at what it meant to be among the ladies and gentlemen who formed part of the first white-collar bureaucracy in the United States.

The death of Georgia governor-elect Eugene Talmadge in late 1946 launched a constitutional crisis that ranks as one of the most unusual political events in U.S. history: the state had three active governors at once, each claiming that he was the true elected official. This is the first full-length examination of that episode, which wasn't just a crazy quirk of Georgia politics (though it was that) but the decisive battle in a struggle between the state's progressive and rustic forces that had continued since the onset of the Great Depression. In 1946, rural forces aided by the county unit system, Jim Crow intimidation of black voters, and the Talmadge machine's "loyal 100,000" voters united to claim the governorship. In the aftermath, progressive political forces in Georgia would shrink into obscurity for the better part of a generation. In this volume is the story of how the political, governmental, and Jim Crow social institutions not only defeated Georgia's progressive forces but forestalled their effectiveness for a decade and a half.

China's commitments in Central Asia illustrate how regional foreign policy works and how long-standing principles of Chinese foreign policy might be revised in the near future. China's rise has 'moved' Asia, which is why it seems that what we have traditionally regarded as the geographic and political scope of Asia might actually considerably change in the near future. Nadine Godehardt gives crucial insights into the Chinese expert discourse on Central Asia - analyzing how Chinese experts define Central Asia when they talk and write about policy issues related to China's immediate Western neighbourhood. In this context, she gives an inside perspective on Chinese voices whose meanings are rarely examined in Chinese International Relations studies.

Counties generally fulfill three service roles: traditional or state-mandated; local or municipal; and regional or urban. Benton has written the first scholarly treatment of county governments as providers of all three of these types of services, dispelling the notion that counties are mere providers of services they are mandated to perform by their state governments. County governments in the United States have become increasingly important as service providers over the past several decades, vis-a-vis municipalities and townships. These services change over time and vary from region to region.

Variations in the roles that county governments play in the provision of traditional, local, and regional service are explained. Therefore, in addition to examining multiple indicators of service roles for all 3,043 counties in the United States, the analysis is extended to investigate the influence of political, state constitutions, statutes, and financial aid, population growth patterns, metropolitan/non-metropolitan status, and form of government.

Why are regional nationalisms threatening the old nations? This book explores examples such as why Scotland might become independent, why Wales wants more autonomy, and why Catalonia emphasizes its distinctive language and institutions but does not want separation from Spain. Stateless Nations explores the historical roots of modern nationalisms.

State and local governments emerged as important interest groups in the 1960s, as that decade witnessed a rapid expansion of federal social programs administered at the state and local levels. The 1970s and 1980s were distinguished by attempts to give states and localities more responsibility over such programs. The present day is marked by an even more purposeful return of responsibility and policymaking to state and local governments, both because of severe deficits at the federal level and an ideological shift toward federalism. This work examines the impact state and local governments have had and can have on the federal government, asserting that they can be important factors in the creation of policy. The author looks at the intergovernmental lobbying tactics--successful and unsuccessful--of five states and local lobbying groups: the National League of Cities, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National Association of Counties, the National Conference of State Legislatures, and the National Governor's Association. Her study will be of interest to scholars and policy-makers at the local, state, and federal government levels.

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen documents the startling rise of the Arab Gulf States as regional powers with international reach and provides a definitive account of how they have become embedded in the global system of power, politics, and policy-making.

This volume clearly demonstrates the diversity of our field. Twenty-two scholars have contributed thirteen unique pieces of research on a wide variety of topics including public management innovation; organizational learning; revenue forecasting; finance; qualitative research and research methods; intergovernmetnal relations; training and management information systems; bureaucratic responsibility; citizen participation; political influence of the bureaucracy; critiques of policy making; public administration research. This collection makes a rich contribution of knowledge to our field.

This book provides rare insights into the nature of contemporary, technologically-facilitated government. Its multidisciplinary approach demonstrates that information technology is more than a tool for politicians and policy-makers. E-government has reconfigured public administration, policy, power and citizenship.

This pioneering biography breaks new ground about Colonial America and about James Glen, correcting major misconceptions. Glen was appointed royal governor of Colonial South Carolina in 1738 and came to the colony in 1743 to serve until 1756, the longest tenure of any governor during its Colonial period. Two major themes are stressed: first, Glen had to protect the royal prerogative and follow the dictates of his commission in the face of persistent challenge from the assembly; and second, his role in Indian affairs was critical and dominated much of his time and energy, because Glen had a keen interest in and an aptitude for Indian negotiations.

This completely updated and revised edition of Levy's highly regarded work examines the important changes in the economic world faced by communities since publication of the first edition in 1981. Much new material has been added to reflect the increasingly important role of state government, heightened intermunicipal competition, rising foreign investment, the diminished availability of federal development funds, and more. Like the previous edition, this is designed as a how-to book for the practitioner as well as a resource for students of public administration, planning, and development economics. The author provides a general framework for considering the pros and cons of various economic development approaches, offers an overview of the new federal role in local economic development and the rationale for national economic development policy, and presents a systematic discussion of local economic development techniques, strategy, financing and tax abatement, federal and state programs, and marketing and promotion.

Following a general introduction, Levy looks at the political context of economic development, local government organizations and personnel, and recent economic changes-- including the deindustrialization issue and foreign trade-related matters. Chapters on the role of the states, reasonable expectations, and local economic development in the national context are new to this edition, as is a chapter that surveys actual practitioner experience in order to identify what does and does not work in local economic development. Subsequent discussions focus on the use of public relations, advertising and marketing in local government; assessing economic development potential; development planning and financing; and labor markets and fiscal impacts. An important addition to this edition is the inclusion of a simple, generic PC-based fiscal impact model. Indispensable for anyone involved in local economic development, this new edition offers a comprehensive look at the development situation faced by communities as we move into the 1990s.

ASEAN's role as a security provider remains largely a matter of scholarly debate. Through the lens of the concept of regional security partnership, this book uncovers a more nuanced understanding of ASEAN capacity, highlighting both its merits and fragilities in coping with traditional and emerging security problems.

This volume examines how urban stakeholders in China - particularly city governments and social actors - tackle China's urban environmental crisis. The volume's case studies speak to important interdisciplinary themes such as new tools and instruments of urban green governance, climate change and urban carbon consumption, green justice, digital governance, public participation, social media, social movements, and popular protest. It lays out a unique theoretical framework for examining and discussing urban green governance. The case studies are based on extensive fieldwork that examines governance failures, challenges, and innovations from across China, including the largest cities. They show that numerous policies, experiments, and reforms have been put in place in China - mostly on a pragmatic basis, but also as a result of both strategic policy design, civil participation, and protest. The book highlights how China's urban governments bring together diverse programmatic building blocks and instruments, from China and elsewhere. Written by experts and researchers from different disciplines at leading universities in China and the Nordic countries in Europe, this volume will be of interest to researchers and students who are interested in Chinese politics, especially urban politics, governance issues, and social movements. Both students and teachers will find the theoretical perspectives and case studies useful in their coursework.The unique green governance perspective makes this a work that is empirically and theoretically interesting for those working with urban political and environmental studies and urbanization worldwide.

Regional economic organizations of developing countries have a mixed record of success. The author examines national decisions, regional institutions and selected cases using a cognitive framing model in order to better understand the reasons behind their failures and successes. Case studies are included on Chile (Andean Pact), Nigeria (ECOWAS) and the Philippines (ASEAN). This study will interest researchers and graduate-level students of regional economic integration, political economy of developing countries, as well as specialists in Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia.

Over the past twenty years, a number of factors, including the attempts to reduce the size of the federal bureaucracy, have contributed to a growing concern over the federal government's ability to attract, motivate, and retain a talented and committed workforce. This book is devoted to exploring the question of what it takes to attract and maintain such employees, and does so by focusing on the Presidential Management Intern Program, which brings young people with graduate degrees into federal service. The study takes a close look at the program and its interns from 1978 to 1984, detailing the percentage who have remained in the federal workforce and the reasons that have prompted others to leave the public sector.

The work takes into consideration the current employment status of 1978-1984 interns, the factors that explain why interns have stayed in or left federal positions, and the conclusions that can be drawn concerning the recruitment and retention of a highly motivated federal workforce. Following an introductory history and description of the PMI program, Gail Johnson focuses on the particulars of the interns' employment, including the current status of PMIs in government, and when and where those who left went. She next concentrates on the met and unmet expectations that provide a link between what the interns expected, what they experienced, and their decisions to stay in or leave public service. These expectations are also contrasted with those of other federal employees. Finally, conclusions are drawn about the utility of the intern model as a recruitment vehicle, methods to improve the PMI program, and the larger implications for the federal government. This work will be a valuable resource for federal government and public service recruiters, as well as for students of public administration and public personnel. It will also be an important addition to public, college, and university libraries.

The burden of addressing the problems of urban society fall increasingly on cities as the federal government cuts back domestic spending. This book examines the roles of mayors, councils, and administrators in governing and managing their cities. Positing that the internal dynamics of city governments are largely shaped by their structures, the author shows how council-manager governmental structures often foster more cooperation than do mayor-council structures. Svara provides contrasting models of interaction among officials in the two forms and shows how conflict and cooperation affect the performance of officials in the two structures; he contends that proper understanding of the roles and behavior appropriate to each will lead to equal effectiveness between the two.

Memories of Robert Davis's fascinating life as a member of the leadership team at Westminster Council for nearly twenty years and a councillor for over thirty-six years. From dining at Buckingham Palace with Nelson Mandela to an A-list private dinner with Boris Johnson and the Mayor of New York, from an appearance in an Oscar-winning film to a private drink with Robert De Niro in New York, Robert Davis has led an amazing, eclectic, and exciting life. Robert became not only the longest-serving councillor in the city's history but the youngest Lord Mayor of Westminster and the longest-serving Deputy Leader. He also accumulated nearly two decades leading the planning team of the most significant planning department in the country. With behind-the-scenes anecdotes of numerous leadership and other battles at the most important local authority in the country, this book also includes numerous amusing stories of incidents that have, until now, remained untold. His year as Lord Mayor of Westminster is told with fascinating insights into life in the Establishment. Added to this are the stories of how he met his husband, Sir Simon Milton, and how they were outed by a full front page of the Evening Standard. The book also deals with Simon's battle with leukaemia and his rise to become the senior Deputy Mayor of London in Boris Johnson's mayoralty and describes anecdotes of Simon's close relationship with Boris Johnson. Amusing, interesting, revealing and absorbing, this book gives a colourful insight into the way central London is governed as well as Robert's life in the fast lane.

"Solving Problems Without Large Government" circumvents sterile discussions of federalism and privatization by discussing the potential role of sub-local government-assisted entities in providing effective and fair access to services. Some readers will be astonished at the numerous examples of vital social functions which have already been handled at this level, in a variety of societies throughout history. The proper use of small institutions, Liebmann argues, can actually serve to foster greater economic equity and political power.