"A truly expansive and valuable book that challenges the assumptions and constraints of current leadership thinking... Its focus on integrating theory and practice is particularly helpful in linking its key ideas to current public sector management concerns."-Gareth Morgan, Author of Images of Organization "While other authors have offered general principles of systemic leadership or given readers single approaches, Hobbs is much more ambitious: she brings together diverse, well-tested theoretical, methodological and practical approaches to provide today's leaders with a multifaceted resource that can aid them in thinking systemically. In this respect, her book is a significant advance on previous offerings, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to leaders, aspiring leaders and leadership academics around the world."-Gerald Midgley, University of Hull, UK "This is an impressive and innovative work that draws together the disparate strands of complexity theory, systems thinking and operational research to build an adaptive social learning approach for local governance, helping to shift it from a service-led to systemic-deliberative model. This is essential reading for local government actors, students of local policy and for the public policy generalist."-Robert Geyer, Lancaster University, UK Addressing matters of complexity systemically rather than mechanistically is now an ethical and practical paradigm-changing challenge for public policy. This optimistic book explores how action could be led in a joined-up way, signposting resources to thinking differently. Attention is paid to leading the design of adaptive social learning around what matters, re-connecting with public purpose to enable tailoring towards contemporary needs and constraints. Relevant to postgraduates, academics, local government managers, curious practitioners and the wider public, private and third sectors where there is interest in interpreting leadership via the cognitive capabilities of Systems Science.

Featuring a unique storytelling approach, A Trek through American and Texas Government follows a fictional character named Champ Cove as he visits various government agencies and affiliated organizations in Texas and the United States. Through the eyes of Champ, students learn foundational information about the role and operation of state and federal government in an engaging way. Section I covers American governing foundations, political geography, political culture, the impact of demographic shifts on government, our founding governing documents, federalism, and the history of politics in American and Texan experiences. In Section II, students learn about ways to influence the political process, elections from the perspective of voters and candidates, interest groups, and political parties. Section III provides insight on the various government agencies found in the country at the local, state, national, and international levels, as well as how they might interact with one another. The final section discusses domestic policy, foreign policy, civil liberties, government fiscal policy, and political symbols. Highly educational and an entertaining read, A Trek through American and Texas Government is ideal for introductory courses in government.

The checks and balances built into the U.S. Constitution are designed to decentralize and thus limit the powers of government. This system works both horizontally - among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches - and vertically - between the federal government and state governments. That vertical separation, known as federalism, is intended to restrain the powers of the federal government, yet many political observers today believe that the federal government routinely oversteps its bounds at the expense of states.In Safeguarding Federalism, John D. Nugent argues that contrary to common perception, federalism is alive and well - if in a form different from what the Framers of the Constitution envisioned. According to Nugent, state officials have numerous options for affecting the development and implementation of federal policy and can soften, slow down, or even halt federal efforts they perceive as harming their interests. Nugent describes the general approaches states use to safeguard their interests, such as influencing the federal policy, contributing to policy formulation, encouraging or discouraging policy enactment, participating in policy implementation, and providing necessary feedback on policy success or failure. Demonstrating the workings of these safeguards through detailed analysis of recent federal initiatives, including the 1996 welfare reform law, the Clean Air Act, moratoriums on state taxation of Internet commerce, and the highly controversial No Child Left Behind Act, Nugent shows how states' promotion of their own interests preserves the Founders' system of constitutional federalism today.

Framing Borders addresses a fundamental disjuncture between scholastic portrayals of settler colonialism and what actually takes place in Akwesasne Territory, the largest Indigenous cross-border community in Canada. Whereas most existing portrayals of Indigenous nationalism emphasize border crossing as a site of conflict between officers and Indigenous nationalists, in this book Ian Kalman observes a much more diverse range of interactions, from conflict to banality to joking and camaraderie. Framing Borders explores how border crossing represents a conversation where different actors "frame" themselves, the law, and the space that they occupy in diverse ways. Written in accessible, lively prose, Kalman addresses what goes on when border officers and Akwesasne residents meet, and what these exchanges tell us about the relationship between Indigenous actors and public servants in Canada. This book provides an ethnographic examination of the experiences of the border by Mohawk community members, the history of local border enforcement, and the paradoxes, self-contradictions, and confusions that underlie the border and its enforcement.

England is ruled directly from Westminster by institutions and parties that are both English and British. The non-recognition of England reflects a longstanding assumption of 'unionist statecraft' that to draw a distinction between what is English and what is British risks destabilising the union state. The book examines evidence that this conflation of England and Britain is growing harder to sustain, in light of increasing political divergence between the nations of the UK and the awakening of English national identity. These trends were reflected in the 2016 vote to leave the European Union, driven predominantly by English voters (outside London). Brexit was motivated in part by a desire to restore the primacy of the Westminster Parliament, but there are countervailing pressures for England to gain its own representative institutions, and for devolution to England's cities and regions. The book presents competing interpretations of the state of English nationhood, examining the views that little of significance has changed, that Englishness has been captured by populist nationalism, and that a more progressive, inclusive Englishness is struggling to emerge. We conclude that England's national consciousness remains fragmented due to deep cleavages in its political culture, and the absence of a reflective national conversation about England's identity and relationship with the rest of the UK and the wider world. Brexit was a (largely) English revolt, tapping into unease about England's place within two intersecting Unions (British and European), but it is easier to identify what the nation spoke against than what it voted for.

Transoxania, Khurasan, and Tukharistan - which comprise large parts of today's Central Asia - have long been an important frontier zone. In the late antique and early medieval periods, the region was both an eastern political boundary for Persian and Islamic empires and a cultural border separating communities of sedentary farmers from pastoral-nomads. Given its peripheral location, the history of the 'eastern frontier' in this period has often been shown through the lens of expanding empires. However, in this book, Robert Haug argues for a pre-modern Central Asia with a discrete identity, a region that is not just a transitory space or the far-flung corner of empires, but its own historical entity. From this locally specific perspective, the book takes the reader on a 900-year tour of the area, from Sasanian control, through the Umayyads and Abbasids, to the quasi-independent dynasties of the Tahirids and the Samanids. Drawing on an impressive array of literary, numismatic and archaeological sources, Haug reveals the unique and varied challenges the eastern frontier presented to imperial powers that strove to integrate the area into their greater systems. This is essential reading for all scholars working on early Islamic, Iranian and Central Asian history, as well as those with an interest in the dynamics of frontier regions.

Using a traditional historical-institutional approach, The Canadian Regime introduces students to the idea of the regime, which is a lens through which they can see how institutions interact with the basic principles of the political order. The authors explain how the Canadian liberal democratic regime was founded on the fundamental principles of liberty, equality, and consent and discuss the ways in which Canada's institutions have developed and operate in accordance with these principles. The authors also examine how the regime has at times failed to follow these principles, particularly with respect to Canada's Indigenous peoples in Canada, and how reforms to Canada's governing institutions challenge historical assumptions concerning parliamentary government and federalism. Now in its seventh edition, The Canadian Regime continues to provide the most accessible introduction to Canadian politics, making Canada's unique government and systems clear to students. This edition is updated with the results of the 2019 federal election.

Using a traditional historical-institutional approach, The Canadian Regime introduces students to the idea of the regime, which is a lens through which they can see how institutions interact with the basic principles of the political order. The authors explain how the Canadian liberal democratic regime was founded on the fundamental principles of liberty, equality, and consent and discuss the ways in which Canada's institutions have developed and operate in accordance with these principles. The authors also examine how the regime has at times failed to follow these principles, particularly with respect to Canada's Indigenous peoples in Canada, and how reforms to Canada's governing institutions challenge historical assumptions concerning parliamentary government and federalism. Now in its seventh edition, The Canadian Regime continues to provide the most accessible introduction to Canadian politics, making Canada's unique government and systems clear to students. This edition is updated with the results of the 2019 federal election.

Between 1956 and 1967, justice was for sale in Oklahoma's highest court and Supreme Court decisions went to the highest bidder. One lawyer, O. A. Cargill, grew rich peddling influence with the justices; a shady company, Selected Investments, protected its illegal practices with bribes; and Supreme Court justice N. S. Corn, one of two justices who would ultimately serve time in prison, cheated his partners in crime and stashed vast amounts of ill-gotten cash in a locker at his golf course. Author Lee Card, himself a former judge, describes a system infected with favoritism and partisanship in which party loyalty trumped fairness and a shaky payment structure built on commissions invited exploitation. From petty corruption at the lowest level of the trial bench to large-scale bribery among Supreme Court justices, Card follows the developing scandal, introducing the bit players and worst offenders, the federal prosecutors who exposed the scheme, and the politicians who persuaded skeptical Oklahoma voters to adopt constitutional reforms. On one level, Corruption and Reform is a compelling story of true crime and punishment set in the capitol of an agricultural, oil-producing, conservative state. But on a deeper level, the book is a cautionary tale of political corruption - and the politics of restoring integrity, accountability, and honor to a broken system.

Effective governance is vital for all nations and can be made easier with advanced technology and communication. Through various collaborative efforts and processes, developing nations can enhance their economies with multi-level governance. Multi-Level Governance in Developing Economies is a collection of innovative research on the applications and theories of multi-level governance in the developing world. It illustrates the practical side of multi-level governance by emphasizing special policies such as immigration, innovation, climate, local government, and construction. While highlighting topics including Europeanization, politics of the developing world, and immigration policies, this book is ideally designed for academicians, policymakers, government officials, and individuals seeking current research on the usage and impact of multi-level governance in emerging economies.