The increasing importance of civil society and civil society actors in recent decades has ensured that they now feature prominently in the European Union's enlargement strategy with the EU now possessing a series of policies on civil society in line with its perceived importance in the expansion of the Eurozone. Drawing on interviews with civil society organizations and in conjunction with an examination of EU Civil Society Policy and the legal and institutional environment in Turkey, this book questions the impact that these policies have had on Turkish civil society suggesting that it is, at best, limited. Instead this book argues that the EU could not accomplish its expected objectives within the framework of its civil society policy in Turkey due to a universalist understanding that ignores the current domestic structure of Turkish civil society as well as disregarding its political nature and the autonomous character of Turkey's civil society actors. The result is one of the most wide-ranging and in-depth studies on Turkish civil society and European Union, as such it is an important text for students and scholars of EU enlargement and civil society.

First published in 1984. This book is a detailed study of the way in which the growing Labour movement gradually ousted the Liberals in West Yorkshire between 1890 and 1924. It demonstrates the basis of old Liberalism and the strength of local non-conformity, and its powerful links with the textile and engineering industries. It shows how the Liberalism of this district was dominated by small groups of well-to-do leaders involved in these main industries. This study also shows the gradual breakdown of the political consensus established between the Liberal party and the working classes and explains how the increasing opposition to Liberalism was channelled into the socialist movement. In all, the authors present a thorough and extensive study of the political changes in a particularly interesting part of the British Isles.

At the center of this investigation is the great modernization effort of a West German state, Bavaria, in the 1970s and 1980s, by means of a reform of the smaller units of local government. The reforms were meant to abolish all autonomous local governments serving populations of fewer than 3,000, thereby reducing the number of local governments in Bavaria from more than 7,000 to less than 2,000. Based on interviews, surveys, and statistical research, this study chronicles fifteen communities and their challenges, developments, and social changes from post-1945 up to the present. While this book explores the decline of the iconic village community, it also reveals the survival of medieval towns in a contemporary world, and despite the modern desire for comprehensive and well-integrated services, there remains a seemingly perennial appeal of small town and village life.

Religion and Politics in America's Borderlands brings together leading academic specialists on immigration and the borderlands, as well as nationally recognized grassroots activists, who reflect on their varied experiences of living, working, and teaching on the US-Mexico border and in the borderlands. These authors demonstrate the groundbreaking claim that the borderlands are not only a location to think about religiously, but they're also a place that reshapes religious thinking. In this pioneering book, scholars and activists engage with Scripture, theology, history, church practices, and personal experiences to offer in-depth analyses of how the borderlands confront conventional interpretations of Christianity.

Beginning in the 1970s, the public has turned to the media for information and guidance in selecting their presidents. Television has become the primary means of getting to know the issues and candidates. This monograph examines the mediazation of the U.S. presidency, as exemplified by President Reagan's role as the great communicator. Specifically, Denton analyzes the use of television as an instrument of image-making and governing, the role of the media in contemporary politics, the impact of television on presidential politics, and the future of the presidency in the age of television. Scholars of communications studies, political science, and American politics will welcome this critical analysis of the primetime presidency.

Over the last decade, the oil and gas industry has garnered a lot of support from the United States federal and state governments in the name of energy independence and economic prosperity. More specifically, hydraulic fracturing or fracking is said to not only make the production of affordable energy possible but also reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by substituting coal with natural gas in the utility sector. Behind the facade of many socio-economic and political benefits, the process of fracking causes serious environmental concerns. Dismissing the negative externalities of fracking simply raises the question, to what extent have communities close to fracking sites been adversely impacted by it? In this book, Sarmistha R. Majumdar studies four communities close to fracking well sites in Texas to help illustrate to what extent fracking regulations have been developed in Texas and how effective these regulations have been in safeguarding the interests of individuals in local communities amidst the lure of economic gains from the extraction of oil and natural gas from shale formations. Majumdar has developed a model to show stage by stage community actions to regain their quality of life and the consequences of their actions, if any, on state and local regulations and ordinances, and the oil and gas industry. This book will be an important resource for scholars of environmental and natural resource politics and policy in the United States.

While many introductory public administration textbooks contain a dedicated chapter on ethics, The Public Administration Profession is the first to utilize ethics as a lens for understanding the discipline. Analyses of the ASPA Code of Ethics are deftly woven into each chapter alongside complete coverage of the institutions, processes, concepts, persons, history, and typologies a student needs to gain a thorough grasp of public service as a field of study and practice. Features include: A significant focus on "public interests," nonprofit management, hybrid-private organizations, contracting out and collaborations, and public service at state and local levels. A careful examination of the role that religion may play in public servants' decision making, as well as the unignorable and growing role that faith-based organizations play in public administration and nonprofit management at large. End-of-chapter ethics case studies, key concepts and persons, and dedicated "local community action steps" in each chapter. Appendices dedicated to future public administration and nonprofit career management, writing successful papers throughout a student's career, and professional codes of ethics. A comprehensive suite of online supplements, including: lecture slides; quizzes and sample examinations for undergraduate and graduate courses containing multiple choice, true-false, identifications, and essay questions; chapter outlines with suggestions for classroom discussion; and suggestions for use of appendices, e.g., how to successfully write a short term paper, a brief policy memo, resume, or a book review. Providing students with a comprehensive introduction to the subject while offering instructors an elegant new way to bring ethics prominently into the curriculum, The Public Administration Profession is an ideal introductory text for public administration and public affairs courses at the undergraduate or graduate level.

Today, cities are being intensively reshaped by unexpected dynamics. The rise and growth of the digital economy have fundamentally changed the relationship between the urban fabric and its resident community, overcoming the conventional hierarchy based on production priorities. Moreover, contemporary society discovers new labour conditions and ways of satisfying needs and desires by developing new synergies and links. This book examines cultural and urban commons from a multidisciplinary perspective. Economists, architects, urban planners, sociologists, designers, political scientists, and artists explore the impact and implications of cultural commons on urban change. The contributions discuss both cases of successful urban participation and cases of strong social conflict, while also addressing a host of institutional contradictions and dilemmas. The first part of the book examines urban commons in response to institutional constraints from a theoretical point of view. The second and third parts apply the theories to case studies and discuss various practices of sustainable planning and re-appropriation in the urban context. In closing, the fourth part develops a new urban agenda as artists imagine it. This book will appeal to scholars interested in the social, economic and institutional implications of cultural and urban commons, and provide useful insights and tools to help local governments and policymakers manage social, cultural and economic change.

The study of the political economy of development in India is significant as India has emerged as one of the fastest-growing countries during the last three decades and the rate of economic growth and poverty reduction have not been matched in India's subnational states. Although the Union Government has introduced and implemented several economic reforms since 1991 to enhance the economic development, the results of implantation have varied. Governance and Development in India compares two Indian subnational states, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar. The book does not consider the state as an aggregate entity; rather, it disaggregates the state relationally and spatially. Concentrating on the micro-institutional variables and the role of regional elites, the author investigates the political roots of the divergence of development trajectories among India's subnational states since liberalization, as an essential aspect of the political economy of development in India. The book explores the black box of the multi-layered state of India and interactions among the Central Government, the states, regional leaders and other stakeholders and explains why the regional leaders have pursued divergent economic strategies using the analytical narrative research method and the subnational comparative research method. Firmly based on the theoretical foundations of the neo-institutional rational choice model of governance, polycentric hierarchy theory and the strategies for regional elite strategy analysis, combined with empirical research, this book is a valuable contribution to the fields of comparative political economy, state politics in India, governance and development in developing countries, and South Asian comparative politics.

Using the way of storytelling, this book examines the petitions of the migrants of a dam in China. With the intensive and thorough analysis of the unique logic behind the petitions, it explores the complex relationship between Chinese peasants and governments, where people may find the key to the mysteries of Chinese society. As the first academic monograph which systematically studies petition, the peculiar Chinese social phenomenon, this book describes the collective action of the rural migrants who had fallen into poverty due to the construction of a dam in China's Three Gorges area. By investigating the ups and downs of the petitions, it reveals the operating mechanism of Chinese counties, the conflicts between the officials and the masses, as well as Chinese political culture, especially the subtle process of the contest of powers. It observes that the peasants' pursuit of justice not only temporarily maintains the balance of interests, but also makes the legitimacy of the party-state been reproduced. With substantial first-hand materials and empirical analyses, this book will be a valuable reference for scholars and students to study Chinese politics and society.

In 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act rocked America's schools with new initiatives for results-based accountability. But years before NCLB was signed, a new movement was already under way by mayors to take control of city schools from school boards and integrate the management of public education with the overall governing of the city. "The Education Mayor" is a critical look at mayoral control of urban school districts, beginning with Boston's schools in 1992 and examining more than 100 school districts in 40 states. The authors seek to answer four central questions: What does school governance look like under mayoral leadership? How does mayoral control affect school and student performance? What are the key factors for success or failure of integrated governance? How does mayoral control effect practical changes in schools and classrooms? The results of their examination indicate that, although mayoral control of schools may not be appropriate for every district, it can successfully emphasize accountability across the education system, providing more leverage for each school district to strengthen its educational infrastructure and improve student performance. Based on extensive quantitative data as well as case studies, this analytical study provides a balanced look at America's education reform. As the first multidistrict empirical examination and most comprehensive overall evaluation of mayoral school reform, "The Education Mayor" is a must-read for academics, policymakers, educational administrators, and civic and political leaders concerned about public education.

Regions are difficult to govern - coordinating policies across local jurisdictional boundaries in the absence of a formal regional government gives rise to enormous challenges. Yet some degree of coordination is almost always essential for local governments to effectively fulfill their responsibilities to their citizens. State and local governments have, over time, awkwardly, and with much experimenting, developed common approaches to regional governance. In this revolutionary new book, authors David Miller and Jen Nelles offer a new way to conceptualize those common approaches: Regional Intergovernmental Organizations (RIGOs) that bring together local governments to coordinate policies across jurisdictional boundaries. RIGOs are not governments themselves, but as Miller and Nelles demonstrate, they do have a measure of political authority that allows them to quietly and sometimes almost invisibly work to further regional interests and mitigate cross-boundary irritations. Providing a new conceptual framework for understanding how regional decision-making has emerged in the U.S., this book will provoke a new and rich era of discussion about American regionalism in theory and practice. Discovering American Regionalism will be a future classic in the study of intergovernmental relations, regionalism, and cross-boundary collaboration.

This book is based on an empirical research on the governance and reform of the contemporary township system in China. It provides an insightful and innovative understanding of China's township system. The book consists of four parts. The first part discusses the historical changes, present situation and practical operation of China's township system. The second part compares several practice models of reform, and analyses the motivational forces, path and trend of the reform process. The third part studies the reconstruction of modern township governance system and other relevant institutional innovations. The fourth part focuses on the investigation and case analysis of the actual operation of the township system at multi-dimensional levels.

Urbanization is giving rise to a vibrant and volatile urban India. The urban local self-government (ULSG) is struggling to provide efficient, effective, inclusive and responsive urban services. Most ULSGs are too fragile to perform the mandated functions for enhancing the quality of life and making cities and towns livable. The book traces evolution of ULSGs, its decline after Independence, and steps taken to strengthen them, especially through the big-bang decentralization initiative of 1992 for their empowerment, by enacting the 74th Constitution Amendment Act (74th CAA). Analyzing facets of the decentralization initiative, views of two review Commissions, policy responses to it and processes for implementation of constitutional provisions, it alludes to conspicuous gaps at three levels such as (i) gaps and deficiencies in the 74th CAA (ii) gaps in the post-74th CAA municipal Acts that were required to conform to the constitutional provisions, and (iii) gaps due to half-hearted implementation of even the mandatory constitutional provisions. Empowerment and strengthening of ULSG being in the nature of an imperative, it explores plausible options within the constitutional autonomy of states. Empowerment denotes authority, power and clarity in municipal functional and fiscal domain. Therefore it also specifies experiential based rational framework and a strategy for strengthening ULSGs that must look beyond the existing predilection for mere training. It fills an existing void in ULSG literature on the subject. Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

The concept of community development is often misunderstood, holding different meanings across different academic disciplines. Moreover, the concept of community development has been historically abstracted, not only in the way the concept has been conceptualized in academic studies, but also by the way in which practitioners use the term in the vernacular. Departing from traditional definitions of community development, this volume applies the New Public Service (NPS) perspective of Public Administration to community development to illustrate how public administrators and public managers can engage in community development planning and implementation that results in more equitable and sustainable long-term outcomes. This book will be of interest to practitioners and researchers in public administration/management, public administration theory, community development, economic development, urban sociology, urban politics, and urban planning.

Urban Politics After Apartheid presents an understanding of gendered urban politics in South Africa as an interactive process. Based on long-term fieldwork in the former townships 20 years after the end of apartheid, it provides an in-depth analysis of how activists and local politicians engage with each other. Sandrine Gukelberger contributes to the ongoing debate on urban governance by adding a new historicising perspective as an entry point into the urban governance arena, based upon the political trajectories of ward councillors and activists. Integrating urban governance studies with new perspectives on policy and social movements provides insight on the everyday events in which people engender, negotiate, and contest concepts, policies, and institutions that have been introduced under the catch-all banner of democracy. By conceptualising these events as encounters at different knowledge interfaces, the book develops a locus for an anthropology of policy, highlighting everyday negotiations in urban politics. Urban Politics After Apartheid dissects the social life of policies such as Desmond Tutu's rainbow nation metaphor beyond national symbolism, and academic and public discourse that largely portray participation in South Africa to be weak, local politicians to be absent, and social movements to be toothless tigers. Proving the inaccuracy of these portrayals, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of South African politics, urban studies, political anthropology and political sociology.

Tensions between central authorities and subnational units over centralization and fiscal autonomy are on top of the political agenda in many developing federal countries. This book examines historical changes in the balance between the resources that presidents and governors control and the policy responsibilities they have to deliver. It focuses on Argentina and Brazil, the most decentralized federal countries in Latin America, with the most powerful sub-national governments in the region. Using formal modelling, statistical tools, and comparative historical analyses, it examines substantive shifts in the allocation of resources and the distribution of administrative functions and explains under which conditions these changes occur. In doing so, it presents theoretical and comparative implications for the study of fiscal federalism and the functioning of developing federal democracies. This text will be of key interest to scholars and students of federalism, intergovernmental relations, decentralization, and sub-national politics and more broadly to those studying comparative politics, democratization, political elites, public policy and economics.

Combining scholarly literature with elected experience at the local governmental level, Barry E. Truchil addresses the inner workings and politics of local government in small town and suburban settings in The Politics of Local Government. This book explores issues involving development and implementation of budgets, regulation, and control of development (including conversion of open space to housing and business buildings), as well as the initiation of progressive changes such as the use of green energy and control of corruption. Given the limited available research in this area, this book fills a void for scholars in the field, undergraduate and graduate students as well as those interested in the politics of local government.

In Japan, the main local administrative affairs are traditionally allotted to prefectures and municipalities, while communal disposal systems, fire-fighting and regional development takes secondary importance. However, two new changes to the frame of local governments have altered the main frameworks of national and provincial governance. With decentralization reforms taking effect, more local bodies are gaining autonomy and departing from uniformity. This has allowed methods of cooperation between governing bodies to diversify- trends which augur a dissolution of uniformity in Japanese local administration. If left alone, it may eventually lead to disparities between principal and peripheral bodies, and thus complicate the administrative systems further. How will these changes affect future community development? This book aims to address the dynamism of concepts of wide area public service in Japan. It advocates the use of flexible strategies to ensure service standards are best suited to each regional demand. This concept can be called "departure from uniformity". This book also examines the advantages and disadvantages of these shifts for the future of Japanese public policy, and suggests various strategies to prevent further complications; e.g. autonomous settlement zone. Regional Administration in Japan: Departure from uniformity will interest researchers of Japanese public policy and public administration. This book will also engage researchers of Japanese politics and Japanese studies in general.

In light of the ongoing war against terrorism, can the United States maintain its dedication to protecting civil liberties without compromising security? At stake is nothing less than the survival of ideas associated with the modern period of political philosophy: the freedom of conscience, the inviolable rights of the individual to privacy, the constitutionally limited state, as well as the more recent refinement of late modern liberalism, multiculturalism. Contributors evaluate the need to reassess the nation's public policies, institutions, as well as its very identity. The struggle to persist as an open society in the age of terrorism will be the defining test of democracy in the twenty-first century.

As recently as the mid-2000s, Catalonia was described and analysed by scholars as exhibiting a non-secessionist nationalism and was seen within Europe and beyond as a role model for successful devolution which had much to teach other parts of the world. The Spanish state seemed to be on a journey towards an authentic federal order and was generally admired. However, the new century has been marked by an ever-growing independence movement, with 47.8 per cent of Catalonia voting in favour of independence in September 2015. Pro-independence mobilization has produced a rupture in political relations with the rest of Spain leading to a sovereignty struggle with Madrid. This book explores how an accumulation of long-, medium- and short-term factors have produced the current situation and why the Spanish territorial model has been unable or possibly, unwilling, to respond. The Catalan question is not purely a Spanish problem: it has direct implications for the traditional nation-state model, in Europe and beyond.

This book examines town and country planning policy in twentieth-century Britain as an important aspect of state activity. Tracing the origins of planning ideals and practice, Gordon Cherry charts the adoption by state, both at the central and local level, of measures to control and regulate features of Britain's urban and rural environments.
The author examines how town planning first took root as a professional activity and an academic discipline around the turn of the last century, largely as a reaction to the apparent problems of the late Victorian city. He shows, too, that this impetus for change coincided with a new perception amongst political thinkers of state planning as a legitimate and necessary function of Government's intervention in social and economic affairs. Town planning, as a state activity in land use regulation, housing, industrial location, roads and transport, became an important beneficiary of these developments.
The book highlights developments in planning policy over subsequent decades. The final part of the book focuses on the breakdown of consensus from the mid-1970s and how the new market orthodoxy has affected planning policy in the 1980s and 1990s.

According to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, adopted in 1993, local autonomy is one of the fundamental principles of the constitutional system. The Politics of Local Government in Russia aims to provide a dedicated and comprehensive discussion of the pursuit of local self-government in contemporary Russia where "local" refers to the third tier of government beyond federal and regional governments. Some of the ablest scholars in the field focus on the existing institutional and social climate for municipal and district level government in Russia while placing recent reforms in a comparative and historical perspective.

We hear the term "sustainability" everywhere today. In the context of city management, the term often refers to environmental concerns, both locally and globally. Managing the Sustainable City examines not only how cities can prepare to weather the local effects of climate change, but also how urban centers can sustain themselves through other modern management challenges, including budgeting and finance, human resource management, public safety, and infrastructure. This clearly written and engaging new textbook provides a comprehensive overview of urban administration today, exploring the unique demographics of cities, local government political structures, intergovernmental relations, and the full range of service delivery areas for which cities are ever more responsible. Throughout the book, two important components of city management today-the use of technology and measuring performance for accountability-are highlighted, along with NASPAA accreditation standards and competencies. Particular attention is paid to incorporating Urban Administration standards to provide students using the text will have a thorough understanding of: The ethics of local government management The roles and relationships among local and elected/appointed government officials, as well as what makes local institutions different from other institutions Strategies for engaging citizens in local governance The complexities of intergovernmental and network relationships to develop skills in collaborative governance How to manage local government financial resources as well as human resources Public service values such as accountability, transparency, efficiency, effectiveness, ethical behavior, and equity and emphasized throughout the text, and discussion questions, exercises, and "career pathways" highlighting successful public servants in a variety of city management roles are included in each chapter. Managing the Sustainable City is an ideal textbook for students of public administration, public policy, and public affairs interested in learning how cities can be sustainable-in their management, their policies, and their interactions with their citizens-as well as in preparing for and managing the impacts of climate change.

Policy Making in the Public Interest is the first text and workbook to provide a short and firmly focused introduction to local government policy making techniques. Each chapter introduces core policy concepts and competencies and concludes with exercises that encourage the reader to apply the theme of the chapter to a practical policy issue in local government, such as city-planning, community-economic development, public safety programming, utility planning, developing regional partnerships, and sustainable growth and development. The exercises explore issues students are likely to analyze as interns or observe in a service learning assignment with local government. For practitioners and elected officials, the exercises focus on issues commonly confronted on the job. This unique approach is designed specifically to lead the reader to a complete and multi-dimensional understanding of 'the public interest' and to provide tools for identifying and adopting local government policies that will support it. An accompanying eResource page contains grading forms to evaluate verbal presentations and analytical work, PowerPoint slides, downloadable forms for students and practitioners, as well as links and resources. Policy Making in the Public Interest is an essential text and workbook for classes in public policy or local government operations, a vital self-guided handbook for managers and elected officials, and a useful resource and instructional guide for workshops.