In 1990, the New York Times wrote, ""Government corruption was not invented in West Virginia. But there are people who contend that West Virginia officials have done more than their share over the years to develop state-of-the-art techniques in vote theft, contract kickbacks, influence peddling and good old-fashioned bribery, extortion, fraud, tax evasion and outright stealing."" While investigating such events as the Invest Right scandal, Thomas Stafford, a former journalist for the Charleston Gazette, would find himself in a very precarious position. As a reporter he felt obligated to tell the whole truth, and he believed in the need to serve the public and those West Virginians who were being abused by a political machine. In Afflicting the Comfortable, Stafford relates such tales of the responsibility of journalism and politics in coordination with scandals that have unsettled the Mountain State over the past few decades. His probing would take him from the halls of Charleston to the center of our nation's ruling elite. Guided by his senses of duty, right, and fairness, he plunged head first into the misdeeds of West Virginia's politicians. His investigations would be the preface to the downfall of a governor and an adminstration that had robbed the state and the citizens of West Virginia for years.

1) This book presents a comprehensive analysis of decentralisation in contemporary India. 2) It contains case studies and latest data from across the country. 3) This book will be of interest to departments of public policy and south Asian studies across UK and USA.

Sustainable Public Management explores key issues in public sector sustainable management that span from Nation/State to local government. It highlights state-of-the art articulations of public-private partnerships, public engagement, inter-organizational networks, sustainability policy, strategy, standard setting, and reporting. Sustainable management is an important topic across organizational forms in the private, not-for-profit, and public sectors because of the its practice is tied to some of the most pressing environmental and social problems that exist in the world. The public sector is especially important due to its scale and scope across the globe, the tangible impacts that public service delivery can make in resource efficiency and effectiveness, and in directly tackling critical sustainable development goals. This book will be of great value to scholars, students, and policymakers interested in Public Administration and Management, Sustainable Management and Development. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Public Management Review.

This open access book discusses Rotterdam as clear example of a superdiverse city that is only reluctantly coming to terms with this new reality. Rotterdam, as is true for many post-industrial cities, has seen a considerable backlash against migration and diversity: the populist party Leefbaar Rotterdam of the late Pim Fortuyn is already for many years the largest party in the city. At the same time Rotterdam has become a majority minority city where the people of Dutch descent have become a numerical minority themselves. The book explores how Rotterdam is coming to terms with superdiversity, by an analysis of its migration history of the city, the composition of the migrant population and the Dutch working class population, local politics and by a comparison with Amsterdam and other cities. As such it contributes to a better understanding not just of how and why super-diverse cities emerge but also how and why the reaction to a super-diverse reality can be so different. By focusing on different aspects of superdiversity, coming from different angles and various disciplinary backgrounds, this book will be of interest to students and scholars in migration, policy sciences, urban studies and urban sociology, as well as policymakers and the broader public.

This book explores the ways that institutions play a role--or fail to--in Japanese and American approaches to regional governance in East Asia. It uses recent studies on the logic and dynamics of institutions to determine the logic of order within the East Asia region. The central focus is on bilateral and multilateral regional institutions, how Japan and the U.S. use these institutions, and what we can learn about the future direction of institutions of governance within the East Asia region.

This unique volume takes a very different approach to township or xiangzhen governance. It explores the structural constraints on township governance and the way that these constraints influence the day-to-day behavior of Chinese rural grassroots government leaders. Based on thoroughgoing interviews with township and village cadres and villagers, the book depicts how individual actions affect and are affected by the underlying institutional arrangements and hence captures the dynamic micro functions of grassroots government as well as macro evolutions of overarching political institutions in China. The down-to-earth presentation of this book engages readers to deeply feel the genuine life and dilemmas of cadres at the rural grassroots levels in China. The goal of this book is to analyze the fiscal standing, power structure and public service functions of township governments in the context of its subtle relationships with upper level governments as well as with sub-level villages and the rural grassroots society. Its comprehensive documentation and in-depth discussion provide the best depiction of rural governance in contemporary China.

This book investigates the ways in which young people engage with and contribute to civil society, community development, and local peacebuilding in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Youth engagement and contribution to civil society and local peacebuilding can play a crucial role in development; however, there is often a lack of effective engagement, policies, and opportunities for young people in policy and practice. This book analyses their experiences of civic engagement and community participation and the challenges they face, across diverse areas including youth empowerment, freedom of expression, mobilization, ideologies, conflict resolution, and peacebuilding. Drawing on cases from Yemen, Syria, Iran, Morocco and the Palestinian Territories, this book offers new insights on how youth not only are shaped by, but also react to policies, conflict, constraints, and challenges. The insights drawn from this interdisciplinary collection will be of interest to researchers of civil society, youth, peacebuilding, and development, as well as to policymakers, donors, and NGO staff.

This text presents twelve chapters of case studies, richly detailing key topics from popular state and local politics textbooks. From using Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri to illustrate how the comparative method can be used to understand the similarities and differences between places and how those differences matter, to a look at how state governments have taken the lead on environmental policy, readers will be able to use this detailed and highly readable text to complement their traditional textbook. And, while state and local politics is the obvious course for this text's use, it would also be useful to students of public administration, public policy, urban politics, and intro to American politics.

No student of state and local government is more knowledgeable than Colman, so this substantial book is a welcome contribution. . . . strongly recommended for all college and university libraries. "Choice"

State and local governments already bear, or are increasingly assuming, the primary legal, political, and fiscal responsibility for policy and program areas in which the highest degree of institutional capacity, commitment, competence, and integrity are essential. Among the issue areas that confront these governments over the coming decade are: the changing American economy and the requisite retraining of the labor force, poverty and the growing urban underclass, health care and services, day care, transportation and other physical infrastructure needs, housing, and regulatory and legal systems.

Colman examines the present legal, structural, financial, and political underpinnings of those policy areas of domestic government that nationally appear most critical. He describes the current and emerging agenda of state and local governments and of the growing number of private profit and not-for-profit organizations that are assuming ever-widening responsibility for leadership and performance in state and local affairs. Contrasts are drawn to major changes in the nature, resources, and commitment of national, state and local governments and associated private performers in these crucial areas since the mid-1970s. Demography, labor force, and other socioeconomic data provide quantitative bases for comparison. In ensuing qualitative analyses, two or more sides of the major issues in each of the policy areas are presented, along with evaluations of past and potential state and local government and collaborative private sector responses. Because it provides new information and perspectives on emerging power centers in American domestic governance, this unique reference will be important reading for those occupied or interested in state and local government; intergovernmental and public-private sector relationships; public administration and finance; and urban studies. Public officials and private sector leaders concerned with state, local, and community affairs, as well as research organizations in these fields should find a place for it on their desks or in their libraries.

This volume covers a wide spectrum of governance issues relating to small states in a global context. While different definitions of governance are given in the chapters, most authors associate governance with the setting and implementation of policies aimed at managing a country or territory, and with the related institutional structures and interventions by political actors. Generally, good governance is associated with concepts such as policy effectiveness, accountability, transparency, control of corruption, encouragement of citizens' voice and gender equality-factors which are, in turn, linked with democracy. What emerges from the book is that the societies of small states are being re-shaped by various forces outside their control, including the globalization process and climate change, rendering their governance ever more complex. These problems are not solely faced by small states, but small country size tends to lead to a higher degree of exposure to external factors. The chapters are grouped into four sections broadly covering political, environmental, social and economic governance. Governance is influenced by many, often intertwined, factors; the division of the book into four parts therefore does not detract from the fact that governance is multifaceted, and such division was based on the primary focus of each particular study and its main disciplinary background. The expert authors have, moreover, used a variety of approaches in the studies, the subject of small states being well suited to scholarly work from different disciplines using qualitative, quantitative and mixed approaches to arrive at useful conclusions.

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 title was first published in 2001. Planning today has to deal with a completely different world from the one in which many of the basic ways of thought of the profession were founded. Many traditional planning approaches often seem less relevant when attention is increasingly being focused on sustainable development, deregulation and competitiveness in a global world. Focusing on the changes that are taking place in the realm of planning practice and spatial planning across Europe, this text examines the driving forces for institutional change. It brings together a team of leading planning academics with experience of planning practice and policies, from the UK, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, Italy and Norway. Throughout the 12 chapters of the book, they examine and compare new approaches to planning across Europe at local, metropolitan, regional, national and international levels.

This book explores the relationship between bureaucrats and elected politicians in Bangladesh and discusses how this impacts governance and development in the country from an empirical perspective. It looks at the interplay of politics and bureaucracy in ancient societies, western democracies and in the developing world while highlighting the uniqueness of the Bangladesh experience and its indigenous contexts of local governance. The author presents a historical overview of the nature of political development, shift of regimes in Bangladesh, and the role of various agents and stakeholders. Through a detailed study, the book provides an analytical and theoretical framework to understanding the linkages between politics and bureaucracy, governance and development in South Asia and Bangladesh, with implications for geopolitics and economic growth. This book will be of interest to scholars, researchers and students of political economy, development studies, public administration, comparative politics as well as to policymakers, bureaucrats, government bodies, and especially those concerned with Bangladesh.

This innovative book explores micro-level neighborhood branding and the creation of distinct local identities in neighborhoods. It begins by situating place branding literature at the neighborhood level and then gives consideration to what the core components of a neighborhood brand might be. It does so by drawing on extensive interviews with key actors in the United States, such as government officials, Realtors, economic development professionals, urban planners, and neighborhood residents. Core topics such as belonging and community, identity, nostalgia, idealism, and recreation are explored. The book concludes with a proposed working definition of neighborhood brands and branding that stakeholders can use to promote and market their neighborhoods accordingly - or avoid branding them entirely. This book offers a novel contribution to place branding and destination management literatures by moving beyond the dominant macro-level narratives. It will be of interest to scholars and students studying in urban planning, tourism, destination branding, marketing, public administration and policy, and sociology.

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.

This book explores how governments in multi-level states coordinate immigrant integration policies. It sheds light on how the decentralization of immigrant integration to substate regions can lead to conflict or cooperation, and how a variety of factors may shape different approaches to migrants. Immigrant integration is an increasingly important policy area for governments. However, in multi-level states, immigrant integration is rarely the responsibility of the 'central' government. Instead, it is often decentralized to substate regions, which may have formulated their own, unique approaches. The way in which migrants are included into one part of a state may therefore be radically different from the experiences of migrants in another. How do multi-level states deal with potentially diverging approaches? This book examines how governments coordinate on immigrant integration in multi-level states. Four multi-level states form the backbone of the analysis: two of which are federal (Canada and Belgium) and two that are decentralized (Italy and Spain). We find that intergovernmental dynamics on immigrant integration are shaped by a variety of factors ranging from party politics to constitutional power struggles. This analysis contributes not only to our understanding of intergovernmental relations in multi-level systems; it also enhances our knowledge of the myriad ways in which different regions seek to include migrants into their societies, economies and political systems. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Regional and Federal Studies.

After a great deal of discussion and debate across all levels of government, President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) into law in March 2010. Since President Trump's election into office, the ACA has stayed in the headlines. Trump has continued to call for the replacement and repeal of the ACA, and several efforts have spawned in both the House and the Senate to accomplish this goal. Unlike welfare reform, which was generally embraced by all states, the ACA has proven very divisive in some states, with some states actively seeking to block implementation. Alternative solutions continue to prove elusive. To better understand the major factors driving decision-making process and state-level dynamics influencing state support or opposition of the ACA, this book examines the initial implementation through established support and opposition factors across four states: Alabama, Michigan, California, and New Hampshire. The choices made by states are a direct consequence of long-term forces, and the choices made at the national level. State Politics and the Affordable Care Act will be of interest to scholars researching in public administration, policy formulation and implementation, and policy analysis.

While the focus on national governments as the main providers of different forms of transnational governance in Southeast Asia is entirely understandable, such a focus can significantly underestimate the roles played by non-state actors. This comprehensive collection provides five different case studies that explore in detail how these governance forms work in different policy arenas. While previous studies have noted the way that non-state actors act as pressure or advisory groups, lobbying or advising states and regional organisations, this book explores how they are now more actively involved in a variety of cross-border networked forms of coordination, providing standards, rules and practices that other actors voluntarily abide by. The chapters in this volume reveal variations in the architecture of transnational governance, why they emerge, the modes of social co-ordination through which they work to shape actor behaviour and achieve impact, their normative implications, and how these governance schemes intersect with state and national regulatory frameworks. The authors point to the importance of looking beyond arrangements established through intergovernmental mechanisms in order to gain a full understanding of how international interactions are organised in Southeast Asia. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Contemporary Asia.

In recent years, Republicans and Democrats have drifted toward polarized immigration policy positions, forestalling congressional efforts at comprehensive reform. In this book Gary M. Reich helps explain why some states have enacted punitive policies toward their immigrant populations, while others have stepped up efforts to consider all immigrants as de facto citizens. Reich argues that state policies reflect differing immigrant communities across states. In states where large-scale immigration was a recent phenomenon, immigrants became an electorally-enticing target of restrictionist advocates within the Republican party. Conversely established immigrant communities steadily strengthened their ties to civic organizations and their role in Democratic electoral and legislative politics. Reich contends that these diverging demographic trends at the state level were central to the increasing partisan polarization surrounding immigration nationally. He concludes that immigration federalism at present suffers from an internal contradiction that proliferates conflict across all levels of government. As long as Congress is incapable of addressing the plight of unauthorized immigrants and establishing a consensus on immigration admissions, state policies inevitably expand legal uncertainty and partisan wrangling. The Politics of Immigration Across the United States will appeal to scholars and instructors in the fields of immigration policy, social policy, and state government and politics. The book will also encourage public policy practitioners to reflect critically on their work.

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.

The growth of municipal waste is a common challenge found in the urbanised cities of Greater China, but the question of how to manage municipal waste is controversial. Wong examines the politics of managing municipal waste in three cities of Greater China: Guangzhou, Taipei, and Hong Kong. She looks at the controversies that arise from the issue and the consequent politicisation of the various solutions that are adopted. Focusing particularly on the dynamics of policy actors in the three cities, she compares the different political situations in each with the others. This provides a valuable lens through which to explore the larger issue of the political transformation of Environmental Management in the Greater China region. A compelling insight into environmental policymaking in Greater China, for scholars studying the dynamics of Chinese politics.

This book explores hitherto unaddressed dimensions in federalism studies in India. It traces continuities and changes in Indian federalism since independence and especially economic liberalization. Beginning with the 1990s, due to the emergence of multi-party system, coalition governments, change in judicial temper and the onset of privatization and globalization in the economy, there has been a trend towards greater federalization in India. However, in the context of one-party majority in a coalition government since 2014, new aspects have emerged in Indian federalism. The volume engages with several facets of federalism: administrative federalism; environmental and resource federalism; changing dynamics of fiscal federalism; and multi-level governance. With comparative data and case studies across different states of India, it brings together a range of issues, including Article 356 and its dysfunctions; land acquisition; decentralized governance; tribal rights; the roles of central and state governments; concerns regarding Citizenship Amendment Act; recent abrogation of Article 370 and 35 A; Delhi and statehood; climate change; MGNREGA; implementation of ICDS and the cooperative and competitive nature of Indian federalism. Comprehensive and topical, this book will be useful to scholars and researchers of political science, federalism, comparative federal studies, political studies, comparative politics, public administration, governance and development studies. It will also interest policy makers, bureaucrats, government organizations, NGOs, and civil society activists.

This book examines the issues of urban governance and local democracy in South India. It is the first comprehensive volume that offers comparative frameworks on urban governance across all states in the region: Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The book focuses on governance in small district-level cities and raises crucial questions such as the nature of urban planning, major outstanding issues for urban local governance, conditions of civic amenities such as drinking water and sanitation and problems of social capital in making urban governance work in these states. It emphasizes on both efficient urban governance and effective local democracy to meet the challenges of fast-paced urbanization in these states while presenting policy lessons from their urbanization processes. Rich in empirical data, this book will be useful to scholars and researchers of political studies, public administration, governance, public policy, development studies and urban studies, as well as practitioners and non-governmental organizations.

Distance, in its traditional sense, connotates "estrangement" and "division". But in the context of modern political studies, it means a controllable resource that can be manipulated to change the relationship between the government and the public. Drawing on this concept from Western political science, the author explores the law and mechanisms of China's political communication. In this volume, the author introduces a creative theoretical framework of distance, which is a dynamic system comprised of physical and psychological distance, ideal distance and real distance, and natural distance and consequent distance. Psychological distance is the core, because it signifies not only whether there is trust between a government and the public, but also whether the political community can maintain a high degree of harmony, stability, unity, and vitality. Events in the past five years in China are used as cases to illustrate the point. Students and scholars who are interested in political science and political communication, especially Chinese politics, would find this title a useful reference.