This book provides an in-depth analysis of the distribution of funds by the National Program for Local Development (PNDL), Romania's largest state funded budget program. It provides an objective assessment of the way state budget funds are allocated at the level of county councils and municipalities in urban and rural areas. It covers allocations of the second phase of program implementation, namely the reformed PNDL II 2017-2020, which has double the volume of funds than the previous phase. Using a conceptual framework at the crossroads of sociology, public management, and public finance, this book provides necessary context for the complex funding environment of first and second tier level institutions in Romania. A comprehensive study on public administration, politicization, and development imbalances, this book will be of interest to researchers in public administration, sociology, and public finance, as well as politicians, civil servants, consultants, decision-makers, and representatives of responsible institutions with EU funds at national and EU level.

This book examines the implications of The General Theory of Second Best for analyzing the economic efficiency of non-government conduct or government policies in an economically efficient way. It develops and legitimates an economically efficient economic-efficiency-analysis protocol with three unique characteristics: First, the protocol focuses separately on each of a wide variety of categories of economic inefficiency, many of which conventional analyses ignore. Second, it analyzes the impact of conduct or policies on each of these categories of economic inefficiency, primarily by predicting the respective conduct's/policy's impact on the distortion that the economy's various Pareto imperfections generate in the profits yielded by the resource allocations associated with the individual categories of economic inefficiency-i.e., on the difference between their profitability and economic efficiency. And third, it is third-best-i.e., it instructs the analyst to execute a theoretical or empirical research project if and only if the economic-efficiency gains the project is expected to generate by increasing the accuracy of economic-efficiency conclusions exceed the predicted allocative cost of its execution and public financing. The book also uses the protocol to analyze the economic efficiency of specific policies so as to illustrate both how it differs from the protocols that most applied welfare economists continue to use and how its conclusions differ from those produced by standard analysis.

"In their comparative analysis of several universities from different parts of the world, the authors make a case for the critical roles that higher education institutions can play in building the civic framework in a society."-Kyle Farmbry, Professor, School of Public Affairs and Administration, Rutgers University-Newark, United States "By defining community, discussing how universities are often contested spaces, and covering how universities and students engage their communities, the authors make the case for the future university as one that facilitates civic health."-William Hatcher, Associate Professor, Augusta University, United States; Co-Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Public Affairs Education "With a rich variety of historic notions, views, projects, examples and policies, the book inspires to re-think current positioning of students, staff and academic institutions in society."-Goos Minderman, Professor (Extraordinary), University of Stellenbosch Business School, South Africa This book adds to a robust dialogue about the role of higher education in society by examining the promotion of civic health through university-community partnerships and the role of intellectual leaders, scientists, philosophers, university administrators and students in shaping whole or parts of the world. Our global society faces significant social and environmental challenges. Professors and whole universities have an obligation to help address these issues; how they do so is subject to social, cultural, and institutional context. With lessons from Americans, British, Estonians, Lithuanians, Russians, South Africans and beyond, the authors describe the state of the practice and provide frameworks through which universities and people working within or in partnership with can affect change in communities and civic lives.

This book deals with the critical empirical void created by the speed at which healthcare restructuring has taken place in Europe. Chapters explore the political uncertainty and budgetary pressures which have led governments increasingly to turn to New Public Management (NPM)-style reforms to attempt to balance the financial viability of public health structures, with democratic imperatives to maintain socially just outcomes. The authors of this volume consider how governments have therefore shifted identities from principal care providers to contractual monitors, setting targets increasingly directed toward third-party managers in quasi-markets and the private sector. Drawing upon extensive data from Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, and Israel, the contributions explore the often unexpected policy outputs and outcomes engendered by such reforms.

Looking at discretion broadly as the exercise of controlled freedom, this edited volume introduces insights from a range of social sciences perspectives. Traditionally, discussions of discretion have drawn on legal notions of the appropriate exercise of legitimate authority specified by legislators. However, empirical and theoretical studies in the social sciences have extended our understanding of discretion, moving us beyond a narrow legal view. Contributors from a range of disciplines explore the idea of discretion and related notions of freedom and control across social and political practices and in different contexts. As this complex and important topic is discussed and examined, both total control and unconstrained freedom appear to be illusions.

The book discusses the socio-cultural-historical, occupational, educational, employment and discriminatory status of one of the most neglected and marginalised communities: the de-notified tribes or ex-criminal tribes of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Based on primary data collected from 14 communities in 11 districts in these states, it discusses the current state of affairs concerning de-notified tribes. There is no accurate and comprehensive information available on the present socio-economic status of these communities, either in the literature or with government agencies. This book provides valuable information on how they are faring in post-independence India since their de-notification from the Criminal Tribes Act, 1871.

We all strive for personal happiness in one way or another, but what about public happiness? What does public happiness mean and what role can governments and public policies play? The current COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the inadequacies of old governance paradigms and even before this pandemic, increasing inequalities and frustration with the old GDP-centric growth paradigm have fueled dissatisfaction with and distrust of governments. This book suggests a new path towards public happiness as a potential solution. The book builds a theory of public happiness as a distinct concept from individual happiness, borrowing especially from Eastern philosophy. It provides an overview of the efforts so far to go "beyond GDP" - including measurement and exploration of the determinants of happiness - and how these efforts have fallen short of expectation. Lastly, the book sketches out what a public happiness policy might look like and identifies the factors of a successful happiness policy.

Grounded in black feminist scholarship and activism and formally coined in 1989 by black legal scholar Kimberle Williams Crenshaw, intersectionality has garnered significant attention in the field of public policy and other disciplines/fields of study. The potential of intersectionality, however, has not been fully realized in policy, largely due to the challenges of operationalization. Recently some scholars and activists began to advance conceptual clarity and guidance for intersectionality policy applications; yet a pressing need remains for knowledge development and exchange in relation to empirical work that demonstrates how intersectionality improves public policy. This handbook fills this void by highlighting the key challenges, possibilities and critiques of intersectionality-informed approaches in public policy. It brings together international scholars across a variety of policy sectors and disciplines to consider the state of intersectionality in policy research and analysis. Importantly, it offers a global perspective on the added value and "how-to" of intersectionality-informed policy approaches that aim to advance equity and social justice.

The book analyzes the impact of urban movements on government and public policies in a context of rapid urban transformations, public policy crises and increasing social inequalities. The essays show how the impact of the movements is increasing and has effects both in the orientation of the policies, as in their form of management and its effects. The authors are leading scholars from universities and research centers in Spain, Italy, Portugal, France, Germany and the United Kingdom.

This book offers an authoritative analysis of the state-of-the art in energy and climate research and policy. It starts by describing the current status of technologies that are expected to have an influence on the energy systems of the future. For an adequate evaluation, it presents the latest findings on the effects of energy supply and consumption as well as of the emissions on both the environment and people's health. This is followed by an extensive discussion of the economic and social problems related to climate change, the need for energy transitions, and other issues that may require public investment and international agreements. The book reviews the problem of energy policy from a global perspective, providing readers with the technical, political, economic and ethical background needed to understand the current situation and work at better solutions for a sustainable, just and prospering world.

This volume analyzes the corruption phenomenon in Africa and how to combat it from a governance perspective with illustrated case studies from three of the most corrupt of those nations covering, respectively, the Southern Africa region (Swaziland); the Eastern Africa region (Kenya); and the Western Africa region (Nigeria). Drawing on the available data, research literature, and field practice experience, the nature and extent of corruption are identified; the factors influencing the causes and determining the consequences of corruption are delineated; measures that have been put in place to control corruption are outlined and discussed; and new policy solutions are proposed and advocated to more effectively control the corruption menace in Africa.

This book examines how privatization has transformed cities, particularly through the role of Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) in the revitalization of America's downtown. These public-private partnerships between property owners and municipal government have developed retail strips across the United States into lifestyle and commercial hubs. BIDs are non-profit community organizations with the public power to tax and spend on services in their districts, but they are unelected bodies often operating in the shadows of local government. They work as agents of economic development, but are they democratic? What can we learn from BIDs about the accountability of public-private partnerships, and how they impact our lives as citizens? Unger explores these questions of local democracy and urban political economy in this age of rampant privatization and the reinvention of neighborhoods.

This book focuses on the policy capacities, built up since the 2003 SARS crisis, that have contributed to Singapore's Covid-19 response efforts. In doing so, the book discusses the fiscal, operational, analytical and political capacities that have driven Singapore's policy response to the pandemic, and proposes a broad policy capacity framework that will be applicable to the analysis of other contexts as well. The Covid-19 pandemic has brought about massive disruptions in societies and economies across the world. Singapore's early success in managing the Covid-19 pandemic has received much attention from researchers and observers from across the world. A study by the T.H. Chan School of Public Health at Harvard University had described Singapore's early efforts to detect and contain Covid-19 as the "gold standard of near-perfect detection". Despite its success in containing Covid-19 infections, Singapore has also faced challenges arising from systemic policy blind spots, resulting in high levels of infection in its migrant worker dormitories. With that, the book also discusses the systemic blind spots and policy shortcomings that have emerged in Singapore's response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and provides policy recommendations on policy capacity-building for future pandemics and crises. The book will be of strong interest to scholars and students of public policy and crisis management, especially those who specialise in healthcare policy and pandemic response. Given the ongoing challenges posed by Covid-19 as well as the continued risks of other future infectious disease outbreaks, the book will also be useful for policymakers and practitioners seeking to draw policy lessons from Singapore's experience with the SARS and Covid-19 outbreaks.

This book offers a multidisciplinary resource on digital government, while specifically focusing on its role within the emerging market of India. The Government of India (GoI) is concentrating on transforming India under the Digital India initiative. In order to do so, it has emphasized three core areas: (1) Computing infrastructure as a utility to every citizen; (2) Governance and services on demand; and (3) Digital empowerment of citizens. The chapters in this book address issues surrounding these areas, highlighting concepts such as knowledge societies, urban operations and logistics, issues in managing emergent Information Communication Technologies (ICTs), and also smart analytics for urbanization. The chapters contribute to the theory, practice and policy for a "Digital India." The book captures lessons, knowledge, experiences (about challenges, drivers, antecedents, etc.) and best practices emerging from implementation of various projects. While the book is dedicated to a "Digital India," this book can also be valuable resource for public administrators, government officials and researchers in other emerging markets and developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America where similar socio-political and economic conditions exist.

For a long time, volunteering lacked standardized data sets allowing methodologically robust comparative analyses and global policy making. Starting from 2011, the International Labour Office (ILO) and the United Nations (UN) have provided global statistical standards for organization-based and direct volunteering which offer path-breaking opportunities. The global statistical standards on volunteering are however only relatively known. They also have to face difficult methodological and substantial challenges: Can they really account for the local varieties of volunteering in the different areas of the world? Does their adoption further develop our knowledge of volunteering both at national and international level? Beyond illustrating which innovations these statistical standards bring and critically assessing the tensions between the global guidelines and the local differences, the book shows how the ILO and the UN standards can be implemented into national statistics and which advancements in the understanding of characters, antecedents and impacts of contemporary organization-based and direct volunteering they allow. The Volume takes Italy as an illustrative case that offers global value. This multidisciplinary book demonstrates that a holistic approach to the implementation of the ILO and UN guidelines permits to virtuously balance international statistical standards and locally embedded cultures as well as to move knowledge of volunteering forward in a complexity-driven agenda. The book provides tools, evidences and inspiration for scholars, statistical agencies, practitioners and policy-makers.

This book gathers selected papers presented at the International Scientific Conference "Economics in the Changing World," held on June 26-27, 2018 at the Institute of Management, Economics and Finance of Kazan Federal University (Kazan, Russia). The conference featured contributions by leading specialists in the field of management, territorial development, and state, regional and municipal management, covering the modern trends in the development of economic complexes and firms, economics of innovative processes, social policy, financial analysis, and mathematical methods in economic research. The book highlights new approaches for the development of various sectors of the Russian economy and individual markets, as well as for the efficiency of entrepreneurship in general. It also analyzes the concept, meaning and directions of the socio-economic development of the regional subjects in the Russian Federation. The scientific studies included make a significant contribution to the development of entrepreneurship, regional management, rationalization and optimization of resource use, state territorial administration, and sustainable economic growth in the regions and the transport infrastructure.

The Sunday Times Bestseller 'Seasoned Whitehall watchers often remark: "It wouldn't have been like this if Jeremy Heywood were still around." ... How could it be that the effectiveness of the once-revered civil service had become reliant on a single man?' Guardian 'This book should be read in a similar spirit to Mantel's masterpieces - as a portrait of an exceptional man who was always at the centre of events ... Invaluable' Guardian As a young civil servant, Jeremy Heywood's insightful questioning of the status quo pushed him to the centre of political power in this country for more than 25 years. He directly served four Prime Ministers in various roles including as the first and only Permanent Secretary of 10 Downing Street, the Cabinet Secretary and the Head of the Home Civil Service. He was at the centre of every crisis from the early 1990s until 2018 and most of the key meetings. Invariably, when faced with a new policy initiative a Prime Minister's first response would be: 'but what does Jeremy think?' Jeremy worked up until his death, retiring just a few days before he died from lung cancer in October 2018. This book began as a joint effort between Jeremy and his wife Suzanne - working together in the last months of his life. Suzanne completed the work after his death. In a time of political uncertainty, this extraordinary book offers an unforgettable and unprecedented insight into political decision-making, crisis management and the extraordinary role of the civil service. It is also a moving celebration of Heywood's life in the beating heart of UK politics, and a man who for so long was the most powerful non-famous name in Britain. (Sunday Times Bestseller, February 2021)

This book examines the process, policies, and politics of urban development in China, with particular attention to city region governance, urban redevelopment, and urban-rural interaction through intensive theoretical discussions and extensive case studies. It offers ample data, pictures, and illustrations to provide readers with a deep understanding of urban policies and policies in China. The regional and metropolitan perspective is emphasized to analyze the urban-rural transition and how it affects urban governance. This book develops a well-grounded political economy analysis to examine how city region development and governance evolve in China. Such development is the focal point of China's continuing urbanization, and its impact needs to be carefully analyzed. In the end, this book aims to foster discussions that may lead to serious consideration on China's future urbanization route.

This book provides an examination of e-Government frameworks and maturity stages in governments around the world, including an overview of the legal frameworks that have supported them. Divided into three sections, the first part of this book analyses the theoretical context of current policies, codes of best practice and their implementation. The second section presents case studies which bring key issues to the fore including open government, privacy protection, social media, democracy, systems failures, innovations in inter-organizational e-government projects, and open data systems. The authors demonstrate the importance of the successful implementation of e-Government for improving managerial efficiency, public service delivery and citizen engagement, with special attention given to developing countries. The book concludes by drawing out the lessons learned from the latest research and recommending solutions for improving the implementation of e-Government in the future, thereby helping to achieve more transparent, participative and democratic societies. This book will provide an invaluable resource for researchers, policy-makers, public managers, international organizations and technical experts.

This book is an examination of the manner in which American presidents respond to pandemics and other public health crises. Skidmore argues that presidential performance in dealing with emergencies and pandemics varies, but those who are informed, focused, and confident that government can work are most likely to be successful. As an example, Gerald Ford's "Swine Flu program" is widely derided as incompetent and politically motivated. Closer examination, however, suggests the contrary, demonstrating the potential of government to act quickly and effectively against public health emergencies, even when facing formidable obstacles. The American government has a mixed record ranging from excellent to unacceptable, even counterproductive, in dealing with emergency threats to life and health. Despite ideological arguments to the contrary, however, governments are important to effective responses, and in the American setting, presidential action is essential.

This book examines security and defence cooperation between the EU and third countries, in particular the United Kingdom and Norway. Brexit has placed the question of third-party engagement firmly back in the spotlight, especially given the UK's significance as a security and defence actor, and the failure of both sides to agree terms for cooperation in this area. The book explains why the seemingly obvious need for cooperation and shared strategic interests alone does not lead to frictionless cooperation or integration between the EU and like-minded third countries. Adding a theoretical and conceptual depth to what is still largely an empirical topic, it draws important conclusions about the possibilities and limits of European security and defence cooperation during challenging times. It also raises key questions about the nature and suitability of the pre-existing security and defence architecture in Europe, and the place of non-EU members within it. The book will appeal to academics and students interested in European politics, EU security, and security and defence studies.

While the ambitious objectives outlined in the EU's Green Deal aim at making Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050, national implementation greatly varies depending on local geographies, history, culture, economics, and politics. This book analyses Member States' and EU neighbours' national efforts to combat climate change. It subsequently draws on these factors to highlight local challenges, tensions, and opportunities on the road towards climate neutrality. In the context of inter-country dependencies following Russia's war against Ukraine, it addresses strategic questions regarding EU integration, the transformation of our economies, the reduction of energy dependencies, and public perception of the above. The book also makes concrete recommendations, in various policy areas, on how individual countries and the EU as a whole should deal with the climate crisis.

Efficiency, Equality and Public Policy provides compelling arguments for the exclusive concern with efficiency in all specific areas of public economic policy, leaving the objective of equality to be achieved through the general tax/transfer system. Public policies, the author argues, should ultimately maximize the sum of individual welfares which should be individual happiness rather than preferences. The flip side is that relative-income and environmental disruption effects cause a bias in favor of private spending which is no longer conducive to social happiness.

Formal systems of comprehensive planning and performance-based management have a long if disappointing history in American government. This is illustrated most dramatically by the failure of program budgeting (PPB) in the 1960s and resurrection of that management technique in a handful of agencies over the past decade. Beyond its present application, the significance of PPB lies in its relationship to the goals and assumptions of popular reforms associated with the performance movement.

"Program Budgeting and the Performance Movement" examines PPB from its inception in the Department of Defense under Robert McNamara to its limited resurgence in recent years. It includes an in-depth case study of the adoption and effects of PPB at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The fact that program budgeting is subject to the same limitations today that led to its demise four decades ago speaks to the viability of requirements, such as those imposed by the Government Performance and Results Act, that are designed to make government more businesslike in its operations.