As 300 million Americans squeeze into our country, and as single-person households outnumber parents with children, it's time to rethink our land use laws that favor the single-family house. This provocative book visits sites of recent controversies--from an immigration dispute in a Virginia suburb, to eminent domain in New York City, to illegal apartments in the backyards of California. Boudreaux explores how we could scrap the old housing bias in favor of affluent homeowners, and in its place harness the free market to provide for a greater variety of residences--apartments, townhouses, and mobile homes - for the twenty-first century.

Nation states around the globe are increasingly raising the 'federalism' card as a means of explaining their commitment to democracy, self-determination, and recognition of the rights of all peoples. Yet, the term federalism does not convey the same set of institutions, values and beliefs to all people at all times. This collection of essays is designed to help scholars and practitioners understand the fluid and dynamic nature of federalism, with particular emphasis on the federal system in the United States. The book is written to aid our understanding of the contemporary question 'which federalism?'

The contributors assess to what extent regional organizations in Europe and Latin America provide a space for the regulation and provision of social policies in the area of social protection, higher education and health. They analyse the impact of regional organizations on social citizenship following political struggle and contestation.

Although difficult, complicated, and sometimes discouraging, collaboration is recognized as a viable approach for addressing uncertain, complex and wicked problems. Collaborations can attract resources, increase efficiency, and facilitate visions of mutual benefit that can ignite common desires of partners to work across and within sectors. An important question remains: How to enable successful collaboration? Inter-Organizational Collaboration by Design examines how these types of collaborations can overcome barriers to innovate and rejuvenate communities outlining the factors and antecedents that influence successful collaboration. The book proposes a theoretical perspective for collaborators to adopt design science (a solution finding approach utilizing end-user-centered research, prototyping, and collective creativity to strengthen individuals, teams, and organizations), the language of designers, and a design attitude as an empirically informed pathway for better managing the complexities inherent in collaboration. Through an integrated framework, evidence-based tools and strategies for building successful collaboration is articulated where successful collaboration performance facilitates innovation and rejuvenation. This volume will be essential reading for academics, researchers, leaders and managers in nonprofit, private, and government sectors interested in building better collaborations.

Koven examines how political philosophy shapes public policy. In particular, he emphasizes the influence of ideology on one policy area--budgeting in the public sector. That political beliefs greatly affect the type of policy implemented appears obvious, as would the benefit of rational--not ideological--policymaking. Yet, the question of whether policy is developed by politically biased appointees or by neutral administrators is not so easily answered. Koven asserts that government policy determined by philosophical factors directly contradicts the view that public policy should be developed by policy experts via rational analysis. He concludes that through the recognition and control of confounding influences, objective policy can--and should--be formulated.

J. Phillip Thompson III, an insider in the Dinkins administration, provides the first in-depth look at how the black mayors of America's major cities achieve social change. Black constituents naturally look to black mayors to effect great change for the poor, but the reality of the situation
is complicated. Thompson argues that African-American mayors, legislators, and political activists need to more effectively challenge opinions and public policies supported by the white public and encourage greater political inclusion and open political discourse within black communities. Only by
unveiling painful internal oppresssions and exclusions within black politics will the black community's power increase, and compel similar unveilings in the broader interracial conversation about the problems of the urban poor. Tracing the historical development and contemporary practice of black
mayoral politics, this is a fascinating study of the motivations of black politicians, competing ideologies in the black community and the inner dynamics of urban social change.

Technological innovation, the globalization of exchange, greater marital instability, and new environmental and health challenges are reshaping the world in which we live. This edited volume analyzes current and projected future socioeconomic trends in the context of New York State, a state that has historically played an important role in public policy innovation. The contributors identify major trends, compare New York State to the United States as a whole, and indicate the need for new social policy at the local, state, and federal levels. Among the issues discussed are the distribution of income, trends in land use, recent immigrants, and family living arrangements.

In the era of globalization, comparative government and politics have come to the forefront due to the transformations of the social welfare state and the subsequent social, economic, political, cultural, technological and administrative changes. Taking a particular look at local government systems can uncover new perspectives on issues related to globalization, localization, governance, new democracy movements, managerial reformation, and privatization. Comparative Studies and Regionally-Focused Cases Examining Local Governments is a pivotal reference source for the latest scholarly research on the role played by local governments in overall administration, types and models of government at the local level, consequences of managerial reformations, and new develops regarding structure, process, personnel, and policymaking aspects of government. Highlighting relevant perspectives from comparative research and case studies, this book is ideally designed for students, government officials, politicians, civil society representatives, and academicians.

In their tenth co-authored study, Brennan and Hahn propose both a new method of biographical study for students of political communication and a new way of evaluating candidates for presidential office. The authors argue that given the biases inherent in the print and broadcast media, the only way to obtain accurate assessment about presidential candidates is to analyze information from the primary sources--the candidates themselves. They show how careful listening and rigorous analysis can enable the reader to extract reliable clues to presidential competence from the speeches, debates, press conferences, and advertising spots of the candidates. Challenging traditional rhetorical criticism in which biography is used to help evaluate speeches, Brennan and Hahn demonstrate that speeches can be effectively used to arrive at reliable evaluations of speakers. In order to establish the need for a new approach, the authors begin with a critique of the major extant methods of political analysis (biography, psychobiography, political biography and rhetorical biography). They then respond to that need by focusing on methods of analyzing information directly from political speeches and other utterances, identifying five major arenas for evaluating candidates: personality orientation, leadership ideal, ideology, epistemology, and axiology. Each of the arenas is divided into theory and application sections, providing the reader with both the methods in practice and an understanding of why they work. The final chapter examines the relationship of the media to political analysis. A comprehensive bibliography completes the work.

"Redesigning the Work of Human Services" explores alternative organizational designs for the delivery of human services--designs that emphasize collaborative governance and partnerships among public and private agencies, local control and responsibility for results, and the use of innovative information, planning, and community capacity-building technologies. This book redefines the debate about whether human services should be privatized or not. The author suggests that the basic task of human services--to enable families to socialize the young--is one that can neither be fulfilled effectively by the state nor by private agencies. Rather, carefully crafted public-private partnerships, when combined with new accountability mechanisms and the sophisticated use of emerging information technologies, are likely to offer more in the way of effective, efficient, and appropriate human services. Because this work is solidly grounded in the literature on both human and business services, the author's suggestions for major redesign are comprehensive and intelligently qualified.

A political economy analysis of the history of food security in the Arab world, including the role played by the global food price crisis in the Arab Spring and the Arab response aiming at greater food sovereignty via domestic food production and land acquisition overseas - the so-called land grab.

What is the current state of local government in Britain and where is it going? Edited by two leading experts and with an all-star cast of contributors, British Local Government into the 21st Century brings together a set of specially-commissioned and tightly-edited chapters to provide a comprehensive assessment of the issues and challenges facing local authorities as they search for a new role in a new century.

Africa is changing and it is easy to overlook how decentralization, democratization, and new forms of illiberalism have transformed federalism, political parties, and local politics. Chapters on Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and South Africa help fill an important gap in comparative institutional research about state and local politics in Africa.

This book provides up-to-date coverage of developments in British government and politics written by a team of leading experts. An indispensable reference book, it covers the entire political year and includes chapters on the constitution, government and administration, the law, Parliament, public policy, devolution, foreign policy, relations with the EU, local government, elections and public opinion, the party system, pressure politics, the media and democracy, plus a statistical appendix.

During the 1990s, the structure of local government in Scotland and Wales was completely reorganised by Acts of Parliament. Under other legislation, and in response to recommendations from the Local Government Commission, there was a partial reorganisation in shire England. This is the only study which examines these reforms in one volume. Running through this study is the contrast between the rhetoric used to justify replacing counties and districts by new unitary authorities and the realities of local government. The book reviews the reasons for the reforms, the processes and outcomes in the three countries, and the nature of the evidence which was available for the advantages and disadvantages of reorganisation. Two chapters compare the prior assessments with the actuality, and the final chapter discusses some important lessons for national governance. This is the only study written by someone who was directly involved in the structural review, as a member of the Local Government Commission, and it combines this special experience with a wealth of information from many sources. The book will be a key text for teachers and students of local government and also important for those studying public administration, government and politics at the second or third year undergraduate level. There should also be a wide readership in local government circles and among MPs and those concerned with public life. -- .

In January 2014, for the first time in the history of federal farm legislation going back to the Great Depression, all four members of the US House of Representatives from Kansas voted against the Farm Bill, despite pleas by the states agricultural leaders to support it. Why? The story of the Agricultural Act of 2014, as it unfolds in Framing the Farm Bill, has much to tell us about the complex nature of farm legislation, food policy, and partisan politics in present-day America. Framing the Farm Bill is an enlightening look at federal agricultural policy-its workings, its history, and its present state-as well as the effect federal legislation has on farming practices, the environment, and our diet, in a thoroughly readable primer on the politics of food in America.

Most African economies range from moderately advanced capitalist systems with modern banks and stock markets to peasant and pastoral subsistent systems. Most African countries are also characterized by parallel institutions of governance – one is the state sanctioned (formal) system and the other is the traditional system, which is adhered to, primarily but not exclusively, by the segments of the population in the subsistence peasant and pastoral economic systems.

Traditional Institutions in Contemporary African Governance examines critical issues that are largely neglected in the literature, including why traditional institutions have remained entrenched, what the socioeconomic implications of fragmented institutional systems are, and whether they facilitate or impede democratization. The contributors investigate the organizational structure of traditional leadership, the level of adherence of the traditional systems, how dispute resolution, decision-making, and resource allocation are conducted in the traditional system, gender relations in the traditional system, and how the traditional institutions interact with the formal institutions.

Filling a conspicuous gap in the literature on African governance, this book will be of great interest to policy makers as well as students and scholars of African politics, political economy and democratization.

Table of Contents

1. Institutional Fragmentation in Africa and its implications

2. Leadership Structures and Adherence Levels of Traditional Institutions

3. Traditional Institutions of Governance in a democratic South Africa

4. Traditional Institutions of the Booranaa and the Nuer in Ethiopia

5. Traditional Institutions in Somaliland

6. Traditional Institutions of the Gurage People

7. Traditional Institutions of the Meru, Pokot, and Mijikenda Communities in Kenya

8. Eritrea’s Experience in Reconciling the Formal and Traditional Institutions in Its judicial system

9. The relevance of Lesotho’s chieftainship system to contemporary governance

10. "Civil Chieftaincy" in African Governance

11. Relevance of Traditional Institutions and How they might be Reconciled with the Formal Institutions

12. Conclusion: Lessons Learned and Policy Implications

This book considers the extent to which, and in what circumstances, political parties affect public policy. It explores the regional level in Germany; using case studies in the areas of education, childcare and family, and labour market policy. In particular, the author explores whether party politicians make a difference to policies.

This volume contains the most significant and still timely articles on urban economics, metropolitan and regional planning, real-estate economics and housing written by the noted urban economist Anthony Downs over the past four decades. The book has a new autobiographical introduction outlining Downs's extensive experience as a real estate and urban affairs consultant and policy analyst for hundreds of private firms and government bodies since 1959. The articles in this book set forth fundamental policy analyses concerning all of the major elements of urban policy. Written in Downs's exceptionally clear and compelling style they focus on the space-related dimensions of urban affairs, ranging from traffic congestion to telecommunications, education, and housing, with additional analyses of key aspects of real estate finance. Together, these essays form a veritable handbook of how to conduct urban policy analysis in many fields. The analysis and conclusions are directly relevant to the urban problems which are intensifying throughout the world today. This important book will be an essential companion to scholars and students of housing, urban planning, transport, regional science and real estate, it will also be useful to policymakers and government officials.

The small unpopulated islands in the East China Sea that the Chinese call the Diaoyu and the Japanese call the Senkaku, have long been a source of contention. This volume will undertake an examination of the controversy as it plays out in legacy and new social media in China, Japan, and the West.

Local governments encounter mammouth problems, and although there is not one panacea that works internationally, this book argues that there are mechanisms to improve the local situation and theer is evidence that this can suceed. By considering a number of key case studies from Latin America, Africa and Asia, the authors review best practices in good governance, thereby demonstarting that things can improve at the local level.

This study of 19th-century local government examines the role of local government officials and the social origins of this growing bureaucracy. As the predecessor of the London County Council, the Metropolitan Board of Works was an important body and its officials formed a large and significant professional group, not hitherto studied in such depth.

Divisions in the EU are considered, as well as the conflicts that have arisen from enlargement and foreign policy concerns. Leading specialists on European politics and society reflect on the nature of consensus and competition between elites, and whether the EU may be able to provide a sense of common identity and purpose for its citizens.

"God, Government and Orthopedics" is a three part book. Part one describes some of the author's observations and theories about God, attempting to create some hypothetical links between God and science. Part two is an editorial critique of U.S. government offering a few suggestions for future trends. The appendix is a collection of orthopedic poems rewarding popular songs.