This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature.

Aids and Local Government in South Africa studies the impact of HIV/AIDS on the political system of 12 local municipalities in South Africa. This exploratory study by democracy institute Idasa investigates the epidemic's effect on accountability, effectiveness and legitimacy amongst directly elected councillors, against a back-drop of extreme dissatisfaction with local government performance by historically disadvantaged South Africans.

The central concern of this study is the politics of inclusion of women in Ugandas local government. The legally prescribed numerical representation of women in local government decision-making structures has led to changes, increasing significantly womens public presence in community politics. Together with the decentralisation process, this has created a new political landscape which calls for a gendered understanding of local-level politics and the inclusive potential for local democracy in Uganda. The author explores local democracy as a process within which gender power relations are a constitutive rather than a contingent part. She sets out the complex and dynamic problems, and finds, contrary to public perception, that decentralisation does not necessary enable more participation by the unprivileged, including women. Josephine Ahikire is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Social Science, Department of Women and Gender Studies at Makerere University; a senior research fellow tih the Centre for Basic Research in Kampala; and a visiting scholar at the University of Oldenburg in Germany. She is widely published on gendered constructions of public politics, labour and popular culture.

In the summer of 1959, A. J. Liebling, veteran writer for the New Yorker, came to Louisiana to cover a series of bizarre events that began with Governor Earl K. Long's commitment to a mental institution. Captivated by his subject, Liebling remained to write the fascinating yet tragic story of Uncle Earl's final year in politics. First published in 1961, The Earl of Louisiana recreates a stormy era in Louisiana politics and captures the style and personality of one of the most colorful and paradoxical figures in the state's history. This updated edition of the book includes a foreword by T. Harry Williams, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Huey Long: A Biography, and a new introduction by Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Jonathan Yardley that discusses Liebling's career and his most famous book from a twenty-first-century perspective.

Some states are governed better than other states. Whatever it is that state governments do, some do it more effectively and more consistently than other states. And that is a difficult message to share. "Problem states" simply do not want to hear about it. They do not want to be compared, head on, with states that do better at governing than they do. They want to say: "It's all about money " And money is a problem, but it's more than money. It's attitudes and history, and more. Much more As we have tried to think this problem through, we have slowly become aware of something that may be related to this whole problems area: the reluctance of many state officials to acknowledge that they have problems of any kind, except those that pertain to money. Each of the three monograph-type documents included in this book examine a specific problem area by separating the states into high and low groups on a given variable, then comparing those two groups of states on hundreds of other variables. These are simple but powerful analyses, and the results highlight how the two groups of states differ. Some persons are uncomfortable looking at "good states" and "bad states," as they describe these groups that we compare, but comparisons are important. There are difficulties with making comparisons that are helpful, but comparisons highlight pros and cons, problems and possibilities, rights and wrongs, and comparisons of states can help citizens make more informed and better choices about who they want to exercise power on their behalf. "People who do not know" have problems, but "people who do not know that that do not know" have very serious problems that are generally insurmountable, unless theyhave a system that "helps them know" more fully and more accurately exactly what their problems are. People can cope with problems, if others help them, but when they do not even know that they have a problem, that in itself makes it difficult to resolve things satisfactorily (i.e., for the benefit and welfare of all involved). And when citizens are force-fed ideologies and platitudes rather than facts, discernment of right from wrong and good from bad is difficult beyond belief.

Performance based oversight and accountability can serve as an important antidote to government corruption, inefficiency, and waste. This volume provides an analytical framework and operational approaches needed for the implementation of results-based accountability. The volume makes a major contribution to the literature on public management and evaluation. Major subject areas covered in this book include: performance based accountability, e-government, network solutions to performance measurement and improvement; institutions of accountability in governance; legal and institutional framework to hold government to account; fighting corruption; external accountability; ensuring integrity of revenue administration; the role of supreme audit institutions on detecting fraud and corruption; and the role of parliamentary budget offices and public accounts committees.

Transparent and prudent local financial management has come to be recognized as critical to the integrity of local public sector and to gaining and retaining trust of local residents. Such integrity and trust is sometimes lacking in some local governments in developing countries, especially in the Africa region. This volume attempts to provide practical guidance to local governments interested in establishing sound financial management systems. Leading international experts have contributed to all relevant aspects of local public financial management - cash management, internal controls, accounts, audits, and debt management.

Local budgeting serves important functions that include setting priorities, planning, financial control over inputs, management of operations and accountability to citizens. These objectives give rise to technical and policy issues that require open discussion and debate. The format of the budget document can facilitate this debate. This book provides a comprehensive treatment of all aspects of local budgeting needed to develop sound fiscal administration at the local level. Topics covered include fiscal administration, forecasting, fiscal discipline, fiscal transparency, integrity of revenue administration, budget formats, and processes including performance budgeting, and capital budgeting.

Through illuminating case studies of reform efforts in Alabama, California, Colorado, Florida, New York, and Virginia, this book--the first of three volumes--provides the first systematic analysis of the political obstacles to state constitutional reform. For those seeking constitutional reform, this useful resource can spell the difference between success and failure, and for those interested in state politics or constitutional politics, it offers rare insight into a distincive aspect of American constitutionalism. Written by eminent scholars who were, in many cases, also active participants in the reform campaign, the essays provide practical experience, expert analysis, and lessons for future constitional reformers.

A prominent Louisiana political scientist makes plain the reasons for the state's political peculiarities. In the popular American imagination, Louisiana may come closer than any other state to offering the experience of a foreign culture--a Spanish-moss-draped netherland filled with friendly but vaguely threatening Cajuns, seething creature-infested swamps, the whirling masked chaos of Mardi Gras, seductive N'awlins cadences, and most vividly, even pruriently, the train wreck of Louisiana politics: cash-under-the-table shenanigans, fat and sassy environmental polluters, devil-and-the-deep-bluesea electoral choices like the 1991 gubernatorial runoff between the Klan-tainted David Duke and the criminally indicated Edwin Edwards. Wayne Parent sees all of this clearly with both an entertainer's eye and a social scientist's rigor. He subjects Louisiana's politics to rational and empirical analysis, seeking and finding coherent reasons for the state's bizarre spectacle without resorting to vague hand-waving about "exoticism," while at the same time bringing to life the juicy stories that illustrate his points. Parent's main theme is that Louisiana's ethnic mix, natural resources, and geography define a culture that in turn produces its unique political theater. He gives special attention to immigration patterns, Louisiana's abundant supply of oil and gas, and the variations in political temperaments in the state. Most important, he delivers thorough and concise explanations of Louisiana's unusual legal system, odd election rules, overwrought constitutional history, convoluted voting patterns, and unmatched record of political corruption--while at the same time noting signs of change in theoffing. Rich in historical facts, gripping tales, and comparative data, Wayne Parent's primer on Louisiana politics will satisfy anyone agog at the state's saga.

This book provides a new institutional economics perspective on alternative models of local governance, offering a comprehensive view of local government organization and finance in the developing world. The experiences of ten developing/transition economies are reviewed to draw lessons of general interest in strengthening responsive, responsible, and accountable local governance. The book is written in simple user friendly language to facilitate a wider readership by policy makers and practitioners in addition to students and scholars of public finance, economics and politics.

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.

In the past two decades powerful economic, social, and fiscal forces have buffeted America's major cities. The urbanization of poverty, the shift in employment from manufacturing to services, middle-class flight to the suburbs and Sunbelt, the tax revolt, and cuts in federal aid have made it difficult for many cities to pay for such basic services as police and fire protection, sanitation, and roads.

In "America's Ailing Cities" Helen F. Ladd and John Yinger identify and measure the impact of these broad national trends. Drawing on data from 86 major cities, they offer a rigorous and innovative analysis of urban fiscal conditions. Specifically, they determine the impact of a wide range of factors that lie outside municipal control, including a city's basic economic structure and state-determined fiscal institutions, on a city's underlying fiscal health--the difference between potential revenue and the expenditure needed to finance public services of acceptable quality. Concluding that the fiscal health of America's cities has worsened since 1972, the authors call for new state and federal urban policies that direct assistance to the neediest cities.

"The Mayors: The Chicago Political Tradition" taps America's most qualified observers to scrupulously assess the city's mayors within the vigorous and tumultuous history of Chicago government. This revised and updated edition features extensive commentary on the enduring mayoral influence of Richard M. Daley.

"In the seventeen years since "The Mayors" was first published," editors Paul M. Green and Melvin G. Holli write in the Preface to this edition, "Chicago politics has become more genteel, more docile, and more predictable. This dampening of the city's once red-hot political coals is due to domination by one man: Mayor Richard M. Daley." Also providing a political roadmap through the complex and fascinating labyrinth of Chicago politics are essays on other recent mayors: Richard J. Daley, Michael A. Bilandic, Jane M. Byrne, and Harold Washington.

Green and Holli's popular study maintains that the key to the mayor's office is power: the power to reward and the power to punish that comes with occupying the fifth floor of city hall in Chicago. Beginning with Joseph Medill, the "Tribune" publisher who guided the city in its rise from the ashes after the Great Fire of 1871, "The Mayors" takes readers through the terms of some of the city's most colorful leaders: from the progressive Carter Harrison II and the radical Edward F. Dunne to the politically reticent Fred A. Busse and the loudmouth Big Bill Thompson. The essays collectively tell a riveting story of structures wherein aggressive power brokers surmount even massive corruption and scandal, and those who fail to seize the office's inherent authority have short, uncomfortable tenures.

In addition to Green and Holli, contributors include David L. Protess, Edward R. Kantowicz, John D. Buenker, Maureen A. Flanagan, Douglas Bukowski, John R. Schmidt, Roger Biles, Arnold R. Hirsch, William J. Grimshaw, Monroe Anderson, Steve Neal, Steve Rhodes, and Laura S. Washington.

It's like being in a small town right in the middle of a big city. People belong to their neighborhood first, and that neighborhood belongs to the city. -- Karen Boyle, Seattle neighborhood activist. Neighborhoods and a place where citizens take an active role in finding solutions to the problems of urban life. The efforts of Seattle's neighborhood-based councils and not-for-profit organizations were also seen as part of a national neighborhood movement that achieved prominence in the 1960s and 1970s. history and directions of the neighborhood movement, In the City of Neighborhoods was written and produced by award-winning journalist Arthur J. O'Donnell. The series also highlighted economic survival skills for non-profit organizations during an era of budget constraints. exploration of neighborhood activism with later articles covering the Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY) syndrome. This special section, called It's My Backyard, Too, provides insights into the arguments and tactics of those who oppose power plants, transmission lines and other energy developments.

It seems that only a short time ago, numerous academics and practitioners in the field were somewhat blinded by the successes of the dot-com developments in the private sector, and some of them enthusiastically claimed that public administration was to be revolutionized. But that did not happen, and also the dot-com soap bubble burst. This suggests that there is much yet to be learned about innovation in public administration, especially about innovations at the cornerstones of technological and institutional transformations. New and more fully developed formulations of theory into practice are needed. The goal of the editors of this book is to contribute to some aspects of the understanding of e-government. In order to understand electronic government, one has to scrutinize the various environments and contexts in which e-government is developed and implemented. As such, it builds upon the biological and environmental lines of reasoning that have been suggested by authors like Bonnie Nardi and Vicky O'Day, and Thomas Davenport and Laurence Prusak.

As performance management has evolved, it has encompassed many different tools and approaches including measurement, data analysis, evidence-based management, process improvement, research and evaluation. In the past, many of the efforts to improve performance in government have been fragmented, separated into silos and labeled with a variety of different names including performance-based budgeting, performance-informed management, managing for results and so on. Making Government Work: The Promises and Pitfalls of Performance-Informed Management by Katherine Barrett and Rich Greene is loaded with dozens of stories of what practitioners are currently working on-what's working and what's not. The benefits are ample, so are the challenges. This book describes both, along with practical steps taken by practitioners to make government work better. Readers will discover that while the authors strive to meet the documentation standards of carefully vetted academic papers, the approach they take is journalistic. Over the last year, Barrett and Greene talked to scores of state and local officials, as well as academics and other national experts to find out how performance management tools and approaches have changed, and what is coming in the near-term future. Performance management has been in a state of evolution for decades now, and so Barrett and Greene have endeavored to capture the state of the world as it is today. By detailing both the challenges and conquests of performance management in Making Government Work: The Promises and Pitfalls of Performance-Informed Management, Barrett and Greene insure readers will find the kind of balanced information that is helpful to both academics and practitioners-and that can move the field forward.

1891. Kipling, English short-story writer, novelist and poet, who celebrated the heroism of British colonial soldiers in India and Burma, he was the first Englishman to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907. An account of America from Rudyard Kipling while visiting San Francisco in the late 1800s. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.

All male citizens over twenty-one years of age who have been residents of the State for two years, and of the county, city, or town in which they reside for one year next preceding their being summoned to serve as such and competent in other respects, are WELL QUALIFIED to SERVE as jurors within the State. But certain persons are disqualified as not competent, such as idiots, lunatics, and persons convicted of bribery, perjury, embezzlement of public funds, treason, felony or petit larceny.

Almost 9 million people live in London and its Mayor holds the UK's biggest directly elected mandate. London is a wonderful city, diverse, rich and full of talents but is it the best that it could be? More than a third of its citizens fear crime on the streets, 28% are in poverty, and the richest can expect to live 20 years longer than the poorest. The next mayoral election will be in May 2016 and the primary contests to choose the candidates will be in summer 2015. By voicing their ideas, hopes and aspirations for the new Mayor at this time Londoners have the opportunity to set a different agenda and to break new ground. To that end, the authors set up a Changing London website in November 2012 and invited contributions. This was to be a platform for generating and debating ideas, drawing on the experiences of other cities but also on the creativity and innovation of Londoners. The ideas and the discussion flowed freely. This book brings it all together under five big visions for London. Changing London didn't start with mayoral candidates and nor does it finish with them.The authors believe the business of change is a concern for us all, all of the time, and this book describes a new way for people to engage in the very real politics of their own environment. The ideas here, and the way they were captured, should inspire others way beyond London.

The papers included in this publication represent windows through which others can view candid debates and discussions by Chinese scholars and public servants about current, pressing issues challenging their national and local governments. The papers address a wide range of challenging issues-from the design of training for the Chinese civil service to experiments with marketing and mixed economies, responsiveness of government to citizens, how to carry on "the democracy experiment" in China, transparency and openness in government, building rule of law, autonomy of local governments, and selection of leaders. Naturally, these papers do not cover all the changes taking place in the Chinese national and local governments as a result of the reforms, but the issues discussed here suggest the breadth and depth of changes that have occurred in recent years, and they offer insights, rare in English, into modern Chinese public administration.