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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Local government
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.
Why do business organisations contribute to climate change governance in areas of limited statehood? In many countries, governments are too weak and often also not willing to set and enforce climate change regulations. While companies have the capacities to fill the resulting governance gap, conventional wisdom expects them to take advantage by relocating their production sites in order to escape strict national regulation. Studies on South Africa, Kenya and Germany demonstrate that business contributions to the mitigation and adaptation to climate change vary significantly between countries, sectors and firms. In order to explain these variations, the contributors bring together two important literatures that rarely speak to each other - governance and business management - arguing that the threat of public regulation has an important role in motivating business efforts.
This book describes the institutions and process through which the Georgia General Assembly adopts a budget, the executive-legislative branch politics that transpire during the process and the tax and spending policies that the process produces. It argues that the state's budget is developed by fiscal conservatives within a culture of fiscal conservatism that is conducive to low taxes and low spending. It identifies the patterns and trends of taxing and spending over several decades and during the administrations of nine governors. Its chapter on the line-item veto illustrates the nature of executive-legislative budget relationships in the state. It concludes with an examination of the important milestones in the evolution of Georgia budgeting and a comparison of Georgia with other states on several dimensions. The book offers insights and assessments that will be of interest to budgeting scholars, students of state government, and citizens who want to know more about how government taxing and spending decisions are made.
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.
Public broadcasting has changed dramatically since its founding in 1967. The growing equation of marketplace efficiency with the public interest has, in Tom McCourt's analysis, undermined the value of public goods and services. In addition, political and cultural discourse is increasingly beset by fragmentation. Public radio provides an exemplary site to examine the prospects and problems of contemporary public life. Beginning with a description of the events that led to the creation of National Public Radio, McCourt discusses the relationship between NPR and its affiliate stations and the ways in which struggles over funding and programming have affected public radio's agenda. He also examines how public radio incorporates the roles of public representatives into its operations and how its methods to determine the needs and interests of the public have changed across the systeM's history. The social, political, and economic pressures that have impacted the mission and practices of National Public Radio, McCourt asserts, are manifest in all areas of American life. Through extensive historical research, he examines whether American public broadcasters, as represented by NPR, have succeeded or failed to engender an enlightened, participatory democracy.
This volume intends to make sense of the current 'puzzle' that international parliamentary institutions represent. Their rapid growth in numbers and under a diversity of forms in the post-Cold War emerging new order is a worldwide phenomenon, even if its first expression dates back to the end of the 19th century. Their objectives vary from creating a permanent institutional structure for the peaceful settlement of disputes to promoting transparency in international politics, including the reinforcement of civil society participation in regional integration schemes. Are these goals kept nowadays? Are they being achieved? Which means and interests define the work within these assemblies? The three parts of the book include analyses of supranational and non-supranational regional parliaments and the specific case of the inter-regional relations established by the European Parliament.
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.
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.
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.
African Americans have suffered intensely at the hands of America's dominant group, but the roles played by urban planning, land use policy, and the free market are not well known. Presenting a new conceptual approach, this book considers their "locking effect" on African Americans, showing, for instance, that one-acre zoning and similar policies in upscale neighborhoods lock African Americans out while market mechanisms in decaying neighborhoods lock them in. Arguing that the locking effect leads to the disenfranchisement of African Americans, Bobo shows how wealth is channeled to the dominant group and African Americans' life choices are denuded, creating a volatile situation. Although classical economic theory holds that a free market allocates scarce resources in the best interest of society, in reality market mechanisms do not work to the advantage of African Americans. Nor does public regulation of land use operate in their interest, although public policy is presumed to produce equitable and favorable outcomes for all members of society. This book explores how a combination of government regulation of land use and free market forces have created the locking effect, which has cultivated and sustained a process of disenfranchisement of African Americans.
An interdisciplinary group of scholars from the global North and South critically explore the global deepening of market economy models. In case studies including Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, they examine the associated tensions of livelihood and ecology in the current context of global economic crisis, considering issues of natural ecology, water use, health, childcare, technology and work, migration, and economic growth. The analysis of the complex connections between domestic and global dynamics across diverse cases and issues helps reveal that state-centric approaches are still hovering over the politics of restructuring through which conformity to economic growth is addressed.
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 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 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.
These essays by no means cover all areas of interest in long-term care programs, but they offer new insights (and intriguing questions for future research) about how differently policies in this important area can be carried out in different countries.
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.
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.
This book examines comparatively the US and the UK governments' management of Y2K and considers the extent to which such management can be understood as responses to market pressures, public opinion and organized interests. It concludes by providing valuable lessons to those concerned about managing risk and critical infrastructure today.
Fixing Broken Cities explores the planning, execution, and impact of urban repopulation and investment strategies that were launched in the wake of two crises: late twentieth-century economic disinvestment and the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Because past practices could no longer serve as a reliable guide to future outcomes in this uncertain environment, any new initiatives had to involve a significant level of risk-taking. Based on the author's experience as a policymaker and practitioner, this book provides detailed insights into the origins and outcomes of these high-risk strategies, along with an explanation of why they succeeded or failed. This new edition examines policy initiatives from a fresh perspective, based on an awareness that (1) real estate ventures are best evaluated over the long term, rather than shortly after the completion of construction activity; (2) policies that had guided the allocation of public-sector resources during past decades of urban disinvestment need to be reconsidered in light of the economic resurgence that many American cities are now experiencing; and (3) the places described in this book are representative of other municipalities, of all kinds, where the pandemic has led to a fundamental rethinking of the relationship between home and workplace. A key theme of the book is equitable development, the question of who should benefit from the allocation of scarce public capital, and what investment policies are most likely to support this principle over the long term. The author provides realistic guidance about pursuing the best opportunities for improvement in highly disadvantaged, resource-starved urban areas, with reference to several key issues that are pressing concerns for members of urban communities: enlivening downtown and neighborhood commercial areas, stabilizing and strengthening residential communities, eliminating industrial-age blight, and providing quality public education options. This new edition will be of great use to planning, housing and community development professionals, both regionally and nationally, as well as to students on Urban Politics and Planning courses.
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 UK public sector faces an unprecedented long-term challenge. A decade of plenty in the public finances has been followed by a decade and more of austerity. Public services are undergoing long-term annual spending cuts even as demographic changes create soaring demand in health, education and adult care. The challenge for the public sector is how to radically transform and adapt to the new era while avoiding the mistakes of previous reform programmes. In this first comprehensive 'bird's eye' account of public sector reform supported by studies from over 400 official sources, the book offers an invaluable practical guide to all those in the public, private and voluntary sectors grappling with the twin challenges of public spending austerity and the pressure to transform public services and ensure they are 'fit for purpose.' |
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