Service delivery in the digital era is all about bringing together innovative ideas from various stakeholders in the private, public, and civil sectors to meet customer expectations. Like any business, government public service entities must provide public service delivery to their customers in an age that is heavily influenced by technological advancements. Information Systems Strategic Planning for Public Service Delivery in the Digital Era is an essential reference source that discusses issues related to public service delivery in the digital era and the degree to which governments may take advantage of the transformational potential of ICT to move towards seamless government, particularly for improving service delivery, democratic responsiveness, and public outreach. The book also provides a pragmatic framework for government entities to define their information systems strategic plan (ISSP), guiding the reader in a step-by-step practical description of the various technical concepts, current and future technology trends, and implementation considerations for formulating their ISSP to ensure the maximum gain from public service delivery. Including research on topics such as human capital, knowledge economy, and block chain technology, this book is ideally designed for academicians, public administrators, government officials, IT consultants.

Over the past decade, putting public services on-line has been a focus of huge policy and financial investments aimed at providing more joined-up service delivery. For some this is part of a transformation that is bringing about a new era of integrated digital government. For others digitalization means threats to privacy and security and a strengthening of bureaucracy. In the UK and beyond, front-line service providers and citizens have been slow to take up digital services whilst major projects have floundered. This book takes a fresh look at this vital area for public policy and practice. Informed by over ten years of original research on the 'inside' of projects to put local services on-line, the authors combine cross-disciplinary insights to provide a new social informatics perspective on digital government. Experiences in areas such as health and social care are used to illustrate the dangers of 'over-integration' when key decisions are left to system designers, as they seek to integrate information in centralized systems. The authors argue for a new 'architectural discourse' to change the way that systems are deployed, evolve, and are governed. This leads to the conclusion that increased coordination of public services in a digital economy is better achieved through federated rather than integrated services that recognize the infrastructural nature of information systems and the essential role of co-production in their future evolution

Issues concerning the upbringing of children are among the most contested in modern political debate. How should childrearing rights and resources be distributed between families? To what extent are parents morally permitted to shape the beliefs and desires of their children? At what age should children acquire adult rights, such as the right to vote? Justice and Legitimacy in Upbringing sets out a liberal conception of political morality that supports a set of answers to these questions which many liberals have been reluctant to accept. The central argument is that the ideals of justice and individual autonomy place significant constraints on both governments and parents. Clayton insists that while their interests should count directly in allocating childrearing rights, parents should exercise their rights in accordance with these liberal ideals. He argues that we owe our children a childhood that develops their sense of justice, but in which further attempts to enrol them into particular religious practices, for instance, are illegitimate. Justice and Legitimacy in Upbringing is a work of applied political philosophy that will be of interest to students of political theory, the philosophy of education, and social and public policy.

This volume gives students, professors, and the general public a single, comprehensive source on the key themes in the historical development of the presidency from America's founding era through the presidency of George W. Bush. How has the role of the president changed since George Washington? How does the president interact with Congress? The courts? The states? Other nations? These are just a few of the overarching questions addressed in this volume in ABC-CLIO's About Federal Government set devoted to the president and the executive branch he manages. The Executive Branch of the Federal Government provides a brief history of the presidency, then looks at the constitutional powers of the office, the day-to-day functions of the federal bureaucracy, general elections, and presidential relationships with Congress and the courts. But perhaps most compelling are the insights into the officeholders themselves, the individuals who have served as president, each fashioning a term reflective of his own personality. Special features include edited and annotated texts of the presidents' inaugural addresses, a timeline of presidential elections and terms of office, and insightful portraits of all the major presidents A reference section includes lists of executive branch personnel and legislation aimed at granting or curtailing presidential power

Cases on Progressions and Challenges in ICT Utilization for Citizen-Centric Governance is a collection of case studies on the advancements and challenges of information technology in the involvements of citizens with the government. With contributions from authors around the world, this compilation is relevant to researchers, academics, and practitioners who wish to stay informed of the new world of technology in the government.

The Real World of EU Accountability reports the findings of a major empirical study into patterns and practices of accountability in European governance. The product of a 4-year, path-breaking project, this book assesses to what extent and how the people that populate the key arenas where European public policy is made or implemented are held accountable. Using a systematic analytical framework, it examines not just the formal accountability arrangements but also documents and compares how these operate in practice. In doing so, it provides a unique, empirically grounded contribution to the pivotal but often remarkably fact-free debate about democracy and accountability in European governance.
With four empirical chapters covering the Commission and its agencies, the European Council, and Comitology committees, it shows that a web of formal accountability arrangements has been woven around most of them, but that the extent to which the relevant accountability forums actually use the oversight possibilities offered to them varies markedly: some forums lack the institutional resources, others the willingness. But in those cases where both are on the increase, as in the European Parliament's efforts vis a vis the European Commission, fundamentally healthy accountability relationships are developing. Although ex-post accountability is only part of the larger equation determining the democratic quality of European governance, this study suggests that at least in this area, the EU is slowly but surely reducing its 'democratic deficit'.

This book aims to seek for the truth which connects public value and social development as basis to build a harmony community for individuals as well as society. The book tries to bridge science, technology, economics, politics, history, ethics, and environment under the concept of public values, and reveals the essentials of public policy for individual and social development. The potential audience of the book are officials and policy makers in the public sectors, as well as managers in the private sectors.

"In the Shadow of Good Governance" traces the implementation of the good governance agenda in Malawi from the loan documents signed by the representatives of the government and the Bretton Woods institutions to the individual experiences of civil servants who responded in unforeseen ways to the reform measures. Ethnographic evidence gathered in government offices, neighbourhoods and the private homes of civil servants living in Malawi s urban and peri-urban areas undermines the common perception of a disconnect between state institutions and society in Africa. Instead, the book presents a comprehensive analysis of civil servants attempts to negotiate the effects of civil service reform and economic crisis at the turn of the 21st century.

Just after 9:00 a.m. on February 1, 2003, the space shuttle "Columbia" broke apart and was lost over Texas. This tragic event led, as the "Challenger" accident had 17 years earlier, to an intensive government investigation of the technological and organizational causes of the accident. The investigation found chilling similarities between the two accidents, leading the "Columbia" Accident Investigation Board to conclude that NASA failed to learn from its earlier tragedy.

Despite the frequency with which organizations are encouraged to adopt learning practices, organizational learning -- especially in public organizations -- is not well understood and deserves to be studied in more detail. This book fills that gap with a thorough examination of NASA's loss of the two shuttles. After offering an account of the processes that constitute organizational learning, Julianne G. Mahler focuses on what NASA did to address problems revealed by "Challenger "and its uneven efforts to institutionalize its own findings. She also suggests factors overlooked by both accident commissions and proposes broadly applicable hypotheses about learning in public organizations.

"Consent of the Governed," was written to remind Americans that our government is supposed to be working for us. All politicians serve at the bidding of those who elect them. Political track records do not confirm reasons for continued employment in behalf of the citizens. There is something infinitely wrong when only 537 people - out of 300 million - believe themselves to be the only ones capable of making decisions that seriously effect what happens to the rest of us. There is also something wrong when we allow them continuance of service at such low levels of competence. If you believe that everything is peachy-keen with the way government functions and that whatever the politicians want to do is OK, then this book is NOT for you. If you believe that government does not need to be accountable or efficient; that obscene waste is acceptable, then this book is NOT for you. If you believe that our children are receiving the best possible education in our public schools, then this book is NOT for you. If you believe that taxes are not high enough and that we should regress to the levels of failed old-world socialistic empires, then this book is NOT for you. If you believe that incumbent politicians should have unchallenged rights to continual re-election, then this book is NOT for you. However, if you believe that politicians and bureaucrats are not doing a good job, that the media is more motivated to provide entertainment than substance, that our children are being ill-served by a bureaucratic public school systems run amok, that our taxes are indeed too high, that our congress is spending too much money - and mostly on the wrong things, that wasteful pork projects have reached obscenelevels, and that something needs to be done about it, then this book IS for you. "Consent of the Governed," is a compilation of the many things that have left Americans distraught and angry. It is also offers suggestions regarding what can be done about it - if you're willing to put forth a little effort. America belongs to you, not the politicians. Take it back

While most scholarship on public administration in Latin America has taken an overtly legal approach, this handbook examines the subject from a political and public management perspective. In so doing, this handbook brings the study of public administration in Latin America more in line with studies conducted in other parts of the world, providing a basis for much more fruitful comparison. The handbook is divided into two parts. The first section contains chapters that explore a range of administrative systems in existence across Latin America, including the major representative types of public administration. The second portion of the book presents comparative examinations of important issues relating to public administration across the region, including accountability, public personnel management, policy coordination and the politics of bureaucracy. In providing an in-depth examination of public administration in contemporary Latin America, this handbook is a vital resource for scholars interested in the fields of public administration in both a Latin American and comparative context, as well as practitioners in government.

For many younger and lower-income people, housing affordability continues to worsen. Based on the academic research of two distinguished housing economists - and stimulated by working with governments across the world - this wide-ranging book sets out clear theoretical and empirical frameworks to tackle one of today's most important socio-economic issues. Housing unaffordability arises from complex forces and a prerequisite to effective policy is understanding the causes of rising house prices and rents and the interactions between housing, housing finance and the macroeconomy. The authors challenge many of the conventional wisdoms in housing policy and offer innovative recommendations to improve affordability.

This book is a useful tool to anyone who is interested in the enlargement of the E.U., to the citizens of the ten acceded countries who would like to know how they managed to accede and also to officials of the new candidate countries, who are preparing their country for accession. The "Accession Story" provides a unique overview of the enlargement of the E.U. from 15 to 25 countries. It consists of two main parts. In the first part the then Director General of D.G. Enlargement, Mr. Eneko Landaburu, and Denmark's Permanent Representative in the E.U., Ambassador Poul Christoffersen, provides a comprehensive picture of the enlargement process from the beginning to the end, from the Brussels' point of view. The second part, written by the ten people responsible for negotiating the accession of their countries, presents the challenges, problems and difficulties each one of the ten countries had to overcome, in order to succeed to adopt the acquis communautaire and be accepted into the E.U.

This book explores the main elements of e-Democracy, the term normally used to describe the implementation of democratic government processes by electronic means. It provides insights into the main technological and human issues regarding governance, government, participation, inclusion, empowerment, procurement and, last but not least, ethical and privacy issues. Its main aim is to bridge the gap between technological solutions, their successful implementation, and the fruitful utilization of the main set of e-Services totally or partially delivered by governments or non-government organizations. Today, various parameters actively influence e-Services' success or failure: cultural aspects, organisational issues, bureaucracy and workflows, infrastructure and technology in general, user habits, literacy, capacity or merely interaction design. This includes having a significant population of citizens who are willing and able to adopt and use online services; as well as developing the managerial and technical capability to implement applications that meet citizens' needs. This book helps readers understand the mutual dependencies involved; further, a selection of success stories and failures, duly commented on, enables readers to identify the right approach to innovation in governmental e-Services. With its balanced humanistic and technological approach, the book mainly targets public authorities, decision-makers, stakeholders, solution developers, and graduate students.

"Critical Condition "tackles several issues in our country today for which the lack of using common sense has simply taken us down a road of bureaucratic nonsense, leaving fears of offending someone if our laws do not fit into the far lefter's expectations and laws being circumvented by our courts today. From the trillion dollar health care bill to our ridiculous income tax laws to worrying about offending those who attacked the US on September 11, 2001, our country's use of common sense is in "Critical Condition." In the pages of this book you will find a fair hearing on each issue, as well as how common sense can and will make things better for all of us.

Rome's once independent Italian allies became communities of a new Roman territorial state after the Social War of 91-87 BC. Edward Bispham examines how the transition from independence to subordination was managed, and how, between the opposing tensions of local particularism, competing traditions and identities, aspirations for integration, cultural change, and indifference from Roman central authorities, something new and dynamic appeared in the jaded world of the late Republic. Bispham charts the successes and failures of the attempts to make a new political community (Roman Italy), and new Roman citizens scattered across the peninsula - a dramatic and important story in that, while Italy was being built, Rome was falling apart; and while the Roman Republic fell, the Italian municipal system endured, and made possible the government, and even the survival, of the Roman empire in the West.

Delegating Rights Protection explores bill-of-rights outcomes in four "Westminster" countries - Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom - whose development exhibit an interesting combination of both commonality and difference. Comparative analysis of some thirty-six democracies demonstrates that the historic absence of a bill of rights in Westminster countries is best explained by, firstly, the absence of a clear political transition and, secondly, their strong British constitutional heritage. Detailed chapters then explore recent and much more diversified developments. In all the countries, postmaterialist socio-economic change has resulted in a growing emphasis on legal formalization, codified civil liberties, and social equality. Pressure for a bill of rights has therefore increased. Nevertheless, by enhancing judicial power, bills of rights conflict with the prima facie positional interests of the political elite. Given this, change in this area has also required a political trigger which provides an immediate rationale for change. Alongside social forces, the nature of this trigger determines the strength and substance of the bill of rights enacted. The statutory Canadian Bill of Rights Act (1960), New Zealand Bill of Rights Act (1990), and the Human Rights Act (UK) (1998) were prompted politically by a relatively weak and backward-looking 'aversive' reaction against perceived abuses of power under the previous administration. Meanwhile, the fully constitutional Canadian Charter (1982) had its political origins in a stronger, more self-interested and prospective need to find a new unifying institution to counter the destabilizing, centripetal power of the Quebecois nationalist movement. Finally, the absence of any relevant political trigger explains the failure of national bill of rights initiatives in Australia. The conclusionary section of the book argues that this Postmaterialist Trigger Thesis (PTT) explanation of change can also explain the origins of bills of rights in other internally stable, advanced democracies, notably the Israeli Basic Laws on human rights (1992).

When Michael Bloomberg handed over the city to Bill de Blasio, New York and the country were experiencing record levels of income inequality. De Blasio was the first progressive elected to City Hall in twenty years. Invoking Fiorello La Guardia's name, he pledged to improve the lives of those marginalized by poverty and prejudice. Unlike La Guardia, de Blasio did not have allies in Washington like President Franklin D. Roosevelt who could effectively support his progressive agenda. As de Blasio approached the end of his first term, the situation worsened, with Donald Trump in the White House and a Republican-controlled Congress determined to further reduce social programs that help the needy. As a result, de Blasio's mayoralty is an illuminating case study of what mayors can and cannot do on their own to address economic and social inequality. As the Democratic Party attempts to reassemble a viable political coalition that cuts across boundaries of race, class and gender, de Blasio's efforts to redefine priorities in America's largest city is instructive. Joseph P. Viteritti's The Pragmatist is the first in-depth look at de Blasioboth the man himself and his policies in crucial areas such as housing, homelessness, education, and criminal justice. It is a test case for the viability of progressivism itself. Along the way, Viteritti introduces the reader to every NYC mayor since La Guardia. He covers progressives who breathed life into the "soul of the city" before the devastating fiscal crisis of 1975 put it on the brink of bankruptcy, and those post-fiscal crisis chief executives who served during times of limiting austerity. This engaging story of the rise, fall, and rebirth of progressivism in America's major urban center demonstrates that the road to progress has been a longand continuingjourney.

"Mobile Government: An Emerging Direction in e-Government" contains introductory knowledge on m-government, and then moves on to a relatively deeper examination of various applications which are significant in terms of current and future developments. It provides various real-world examples, as well as their evaluations, challenges, and opportunities.

This book uses the case of the rise and fall of the Internet gambling industry to illustrate a new and comprehensive approach to understanding how public policy is made in the United States. The theory advanced is that different phases of the policy process are governed by three distinct political dynamics: constraint, momentum, and discretion. The book maps this CMD model of the policy process onto the case of Internet gambling, examining the full range political venues in which issues of public policy are acted upon. It argues that constraint rules the day in the early phases of the policy process, momentum builds in the middle, and discretion comes into play most prominently as the policy cycle concludes. This CMD model both draws attention to previously understudied elements of policymaking, and explores the dynamic and interrelated nature of these three phases of the policy process.