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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Public administration
From attempts to control inflation in the 1970s, through the reforms of the Thatcher years, to the rise and fall of New Labour, this book shows how different theories and conceptual models have been critical to the development of industrial relations in the UK.
This book offers a detailed account of the life and career of William Armstrong, the most influential civil servant in Britain in the 1960s and 1970s, and one of the most powerful and significant Whitehall officials in the post-1945 period. He was at the centre of the British government policy-making machine for over 30 years - the very incarnation of the 'permanent government' of the country. He was the indispensable figure at the right hand of successive Chancellors of the Exchequer, and a reforming Head of the Civil Service. His role and power was such that he was controversially dubbed 'deputy prime minister' under Edward Heath. The book also casts light on wider institutional, political and historical issues around the working and reform of the civil service and the government machine, the policy-making process, and the experience in office of Labour and Conservative governments from the 1940s to the 1970s. ;;;;;;;;;;;
This book demonstrates through country case studies that, contrary to received wisdom, Latin American militaries can contribute productively, but under select conditions, to non-traditional missions of internal security, disaster relief, and social programs. Latin American soldiers are rarely at war, but have been called upon to perform these missions in both lethal and non-lethal ways. Is this beneficial to their societies or should the armed forces be left in the barracks? As inherently conservative institutions, they are at their best, the author demonstrates, when tasked with missions that draw on pre-existing organizational strengths that can be utilized in appropriate and humane ways. They are at a disadvantage when forced to reinvent themselves. Ultimately, it is governments that must choose whether or not to deploy soldiers, and they should do so, based on a pragmatic assessment of the severity and urgency of the problem, the capacity of the military to effectively respond, and the availability of alternative solutions.
Working to demystify the enigmatic process behind unexpected policymaking, this important book proposes to understand the significance of meaning struggles and the uncertainty provoked by the multiple pressures in governmental decision making. Using the French case, where the government shifted position 3 times before banning hydraulic fracturing, The Politics of Meaning Struggles addresses the wider phenomenon of governmental shifts in policy decisions through a new perspective, a pragmatist constructivism approach. This controversial governmental U-turn is thoroughly analysed through the meticulous reconstitution of multiple debates which took place not only in the public arena but also in the privacy of government. Based on 3 years of investigation and 52 lengthy qualitative interviews across the hierarchical levels of the bureaucracy including former ministers, and through exclusive access to the archive of Prime Minister, the authors allow us to better understand the complexity and uncertainty in the policy process, which has yet to be explained by classical theories, frameworks and concepts. It builds from the oversights of existing policy approaches to create a more comprehensive understanding as to why State decisions, pressured by power struggles and mutating proposals, are never written in advance. > Working towards gaining a better grasp of the complexity and diversity of public policies, this insightful book will be invaluable to public policy students and scholars. It will also be particularly useful to policy makers working within the gas industry and wider governmental roles that involve policy and decision making.
While globalization and the European construction increasingly undermine the model of the nation-state in the Mediterranean world, conversions reveal the capacity of religion to disrupt, and unsettle previous understandings of political and social relations. Converts' claims and practice are often met with the hostility of the state and the public while converts can often be perceived either as traitors or as unconscious and weak tools of foreign manipulation. Based on first-hand ethnographical research from several countries throughout the Mediterranean region, this book is the first of its kind in studying and analyzing contemporary conversions and their impact on recasting ideas of nationalism and citizenship. In doing so, this interdisciplinary study confronts historical, anthropological, political science and sociological approaches which offers an insight into the national, legal and political challenges of legislating for religious minorities that arise from conversions. Moreover, the specific examination of contemporary religious conversion contributes more widely to debates about the delinking of religion and culture, globalization, and secularism.
This book provides an innovative re-examination of the 'recovery' phase of a disaster by one of the UK's most experienced disaster management specialists. Drawing on two decades' of work, the book develops an ethnography of the residents and responders in one flooded village and applies this to other cases of UK flooding, as well as to post-disaster recovery in New Zealand. The book shows how localised emergency responders find ways to collaborate with residents, and how an informal network uses nationally generated instruments differently to co-produce regeneration within a community. The book considers the plethora of government instruments which have been produced to affect recovery, including checklists, templates and guidance documents, and discusses approaches to community resilience and recovery risk management. The book appeals to students and scholars of Government and Public Policy, Disaster and Emergency Management, Community Resilience, Law, Sociology and Geography.
This book provides a multidisciplinary analysis of the production of Turkish cultural policies in the context of globalization and of the circulation of knowledge and practices. Focusing on circulations, the book proposes an innovative approach to the transfer of cultural policies, considering them in terms of co-production and synchrony. This argument is developed through an examination of circulations at the international, national, and local levels; employing original empirical data and case study analyses. Divided into three parts the book first examines the Kemalist legacy, before turning to the cultural policies developed under the AKP's leadership, and concludes by investigating the production of cultural policies in the outlying regions of Turkey. The authors shed new light on the particular importance of culture to the understanding of the societal upheavals in contemporary Turkey. By considering exchanges as circulations rather than one-way impositions, this book also advances our understanding of how territories are (re)defined by culture and makes a significant contribution to the interrogation of the concept of "Westernization". This book brings into clear focus the reconfigurations currently taking place in Turkish cultural policy, demonstrating that while they are driven by the ruling party, they are also the work of civil society actors. It convincingly argues that an authoritarian turn need not necessarily spell the end of the cultural scene, and highlights the innovative adaptations and resistance strategies used in this context. This book will appeal to students and scholars of public policy, sociology and cultural studies.
Internationalisation is now a necessity for American organisations, leading to unprecedented cultural exchanges in multinational employers. Much has been written about Americans working abroad, but how do non-Americans feel about working for Americans? To answer this question, Bond Benton directly surveyed nearly 600 Foreign Service Nationals working for the US State Department.
Centering its study around three explanatory variables - actors, institutions and ideas - this book argues that Russia's hybrid institutional environment reduces the competition of policy ideas, both at the stage of policy elaboration by the community of state and non-state policy experts, and also at the stage of policy adoption by parliament.
The goal of this book is to provide a comprehensive, multi-dimensional approach to research and practice in e-government 2.0 implementation. Contributions from an international panel of experts apply a variety of methodological approaches and illustrative case studies to present state-of-the-art analysis and perspectives. Around the world, governments are employing technological advancements to revolutionize their ways of working, resulting in changing relationships among public organizations and their constituents. Important enablers are new uses of information and knowledge-sharing technologies that emerged with the advent of the Web 2.0 paradigm; initially used in the private arena, such user-friendly, participatory, intuitive and flexible Web 2.0 technologies (e.g., blogs, Wikis, RSS, social networking platforms, folksonomy, podcasting, mashups, virtual worlds, open linked data, etc.) are increasingly disseminated within the professional sphere, regardless of organization type or field of activities. Current e-government environments have undergone considerable transformations in an attempt to satisfy the incessant demand for more advanced e-service delivery, better access to information and more efficient government management. Looking to the future, the emergence of Web 2.0, the rise of social networks and the wider dissemination of data and information are expected to generate many benefits, such as a better match between public services and citizens' expectations, greater adoption of online services by citizens and better control of costs and prevention of delays in the implementation of new services. Governments around the world are building frameworks and proposals for e-government 2.0, in the hopes of improving participation, transparency and integration, while speeding up the pace of innovation through collaboration and consultation.This volume addresses a gap in the research literature, offering timely insights on the e-government 2.0 phenomenon and directions for future practice and policy.
An examination of how the (hyper)local is the locus of real changeMany of America's downtowns, waterfronts, and innovation districts have experienced significant revitalization and reinvestment in recent years, but concentrated poverty and racial segregation remain persistent across thousands of urban, suburban, and rural neighborhoods. The coronavirus pandemic magnified this sustained and growing landscape of inequality. Uneven patterns of economic growth and investment require a shift in how communities are governed and managed. This shift must take into account the changing socioeconomic realities of regions and the pressing need to bring inclusive economic growth and prosperity to more people and places. In this context, place-based ("hyperlocal") governance structures in the United States and around the globe have been both part of the problem and part of the solution. These organizations range from community land trusts to business improvement districts to neighborhood councils. However, very little systematic research has documented the full diversity and evolution of these organizations as part of one interrelated field. Hyperlocal helps fill that gap by describing the challenges and opportunities of "place governance." The chapters in Hyperlocal explore both the tensions and benefits associated with governing places in an increasingly fragmented and inequitable economic landscape. Together they explore the potential of place governance to give stakeholders a structure through which to share ideas, voice concerns, advocate for investments, and co-design strategies with others both inside and outside their place. They also discuss how place governance can serve the interests of some stakeholders over others, in turn exacerbating wealth-based inequities within and across communities. Finally, they highlight innovative financing, organizing, and ownership models for creating and sustaining more effective and inclusive place governance structures. The authors hope to provoke new thinking among place governance practitioners, policymakers, private sector leaders, urban planners, scholars, students, and philanthropists about how, why, and for whom place governance matters. The book also provides guidance on how to improve place governance practice to benefit more people and places.
In modern times, Ethiopia has suffered three grievous famines, two of which-in 1973-74 and in 1984-85-caught the world's attention. It is often assumed that population increase drove Ethiopia's farmers to overexploit their environment and thus undermine the future of their own livelihoods, part of a larger global process of deforestation. In Farming and Famine, Donald E. Crummey explores and refutes these claims based on his research in Wallo province, an epicenter of both famines. Crummey draws on photographs comparing identical landscapes in 1937 and 1997 as well as interviews with local farmers, among other sources. He reveals that forestation actually increased due to farmers' tree-planting initiatives. More broadly, he shows that, in the face of growing environmental stress, Ethiopian farmers have innovated and adapted. Yet the threat of famine remains because of constricted access to resources and erratic rainfall. To avoid future famines, Crummey suggests, Ethiopia's farmers must transform agricultural productivity, but they cannot achieve that on their own.
The book examines the highly dynamic communication ecology of recent contentious politics and its expanding digital footprint. First, it looks at the attainment of democratic citizenship through practice as street protests attract substantial numbers of followers who narrate their involvement or reflect on the claims and the implications of collective action on social media. Secondly, it considers the ramifications for contemporary democracy arising from the large-scale uptake of social media by variegated protest networks, which no longer pivot on the coordination capacity of bureaucratic movement organizations. The book ties these aspects together to propose that contentious politics can be a fertile ground for progressive civic participation.
This book analyses the World Bank's provision of technical assistance from 1946 to the present day. It argues that the relational dynamics between technical assistance provider and recipient affects the legitimacy of policy norms travelling from the 'international' to the 'domestic'. Beginning from the constructivist position that 'development' is a social construct, the author contends that successful policy movement via technical assistance depends on the recipient's perception of the validity of policy reforms, with perception being influenced by the way those ideas and practices are presented, packaged, and transferred. In advancing this argument, Bazbauers analyses four pillars of World Bank technical assistance: technical assistance components (advisory services incorporated within lending operations), stand-alone technical assistance projects (projects designed to solely deliver technical assistance), survey missions (activities involved in measuring the development status of developing countries), and training institutes (the courses of the Economic Development Institute and World Bank Institute).
The proceedings from the eighth KMO conference represent the findings of this international meeting which brought together researchers and developers from industry and the academic world to report on the latest scientific and technical advances on knowledge management in organizations. This conference provided an international forum for authors to present and discuss research focused on the role of knowledge management for innovative services in industries, to shed light on recent advances in social and big data computing for KM as well as to identify future directions for researching the role of knowledge management in service innovation and how cloud computing can be used to address many of the issues currently facing KM in academia and industrial sectors.
A radical vision for a better future: an economy that works for us, rather than the other way around. As this major German bestseller reports, our world is at a tipping point, and we feel it every day. Costs are rising, the gap between the rich and poor is increasing, natural resources are depleted, and the effects of climate change are starting to take hold. We are under increasing social and environmental stress. But, as leading economist Maja Göpel argues here, there is another path forward. She invites us to imagine what we want our future to look like, and offers solutions that will help us to get there. It’s time to question our principles, set new goals, and re-evaluate our priorities. Time to rethink our world and find new ways of living that don’t drain our planet any further. We need a fair distribution of wealth, and a way to reconcile the social with the ecological. We need to work smarter, not harder. Critical, yet full of encouragement, Maja Göpel chooses surprising and enlightening examples to illustrate how we can leave behind our familiar ways of living to achieve a better future.
Written by scholars from both inside and outside China, this wide-ranging collection of essays explores the complexity of the relationship between governance and civil society by combining theoretical exploration and empirical case studies based on the governance practice in China.
This book examines the relationship between regulation and market integration, with a special focus on China. It pursues a Law and Economics and Comparative Law approach (China and EU) to analyze the current obstacles to market integration and domestic economic growth in China. Topics covered at the national level include competition law, public procurement rules and financial regulation. At the regional and local level, this book addresses questions related to administrative monopolies, self-regulation, legal services markets, and environmental law.
This comprehensive volume provides uniquely diverse insights into various aspects of decentralization and development from both developed and developing countries, with special reference to Sri Lanka. For a quarter century, Sri Lanka was battered by its prolonged civil war, which ended in 2009, but has now achieved relative peace and stability. Having developed rapidly, Sri Lanka offers a classic example for developing countries. There is, however, a strong need, particularly in the context of postwar conflict, to formulate policies for reconciliation, peace building, and development at all levels-local, provincial, and national. Decentralization itself is not a new subject; however, how to devolve power to local administrative levels within a unitary system and how to link the devolved power to make local administrative systems more conducive to development and provide better services for citizens are challenging tasks in many countries. Taking into account the developmental, governance, and conciliatory needs and the sensitivity of central-local relations, this volume critically examines the local government systems in Sri Lanka. It also proposes a viable, effective and autonomous local-level administrative unit based, which draws on experiences from Japan and other countries, and identifies the role and functions of such a unit. The book presents commissioned papers from a three-year research project undertaken by internationally respected experts with financial support by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) under a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research.
In a series of essays, this book describes and analyzes the concept and theory of the recent smart city phenomenon from a global perspective, with a focus on its implementation around the world. After defining the concept it then elaborates on the role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as an enabler for smart cities, and the role of ICT in the interplay with smart mobility. A separate chapter develops the concept of an urban smart dashboard for stakeholders to measure performance as well as the economic and public value. It offers examples of smart cities around the globe, and two detailed case studies on Genoa and Amsterdam exemplify the book's theoretical and empirical findings, helping readers understand and evaluate the effectiveness and capability of new smart city programs.
This book deals with the role of expertise and public participation in modern governance. It explores the relationship, tensions and compatibility of these increasingly important and partly conflicting sources of legitimacy and authority. By zooming in on the coordinated procedures of environmental policy-making in European consensus systems and by interconnecting theories of democracy, knowledge and science, organisation and decision-making, the author develops institutional solutions to the tensions between epistemic and democratic demands on public policy-making.
As a usability specialist or interaction designer working with the government, or as a government or contractor professional involved in specifying, procuring, or managing system development, you need this book. Editors Elizabeth Buie and Dianne Murray have brought together over 30 experts to outline practical advice to both usability specialists and government technology professionals and managers. Working with internal and external government systems is a
unique and difficult task because of of the sheer magnitude of the
audience for external systems (the entire population of a country,
and sometimes more), and because of the need to achieve government
transparency while protecting citizens privacy.. Open government,
plain language, accessibility, biometrics, service design, internal
vs. external systems, and cross-cultural issues, as well as working
with the government, are all covered in this book.
In the first book of its kind, Leo Huberts provides a critical synthesis of cutting-edge research on public sector integrity exploring issues such as the definition and importance of public sector integrity, the various methodological approaches to the field as well as considering the causes of for the violation of values associated with integrity.
"Public Service Media and Policy in Europe" provides an in-depth account of EU policies in the area of public service broadcasting, focusing mainly on the application of the European State aid rules. The book discusses when, how and with what impact the European Commission deals with public service broadcasting. There is an element of fear towards the intervention of the European Commission, and a worry that it is overly focused on economic goals to the detriment of public interest objectives. More specifically, the fear exists that 'Europe' might hamper the evolution from public service broadcasting to public service media and introduce harmonized European rules for public service broadcasting. Private media companies have lobbied extensively against the expansion of public broadcasters' tasks and for a European straitjacket in this regard. Karen Donders evaluates whether the European Commission has indeed satisfied private sector interests by marginalising public broadcasters, or whether it has in fact contributed to the emergence of a public service media project.
This book studies the relationship between administrative capacity and a member state's influence in the European Union. More specifically, it studies member states' ability to exert control over the European Commission during trade negotiations. But what determines administrative capacity and how do member states ensure their preferences are defended during trade negotiations? A combination of qualitative fieldwork and survey-analysis provides the answer. Interviews in Belgium, Poland, Estonia and Spain offer a privileged insight into the functioning of national trade administrations and its effects on their behavior in the Council of Ministers. Through survey data, these findings are further corroborated. The book is aimed at a readership interested in EU decision-making, negotiation theory, comparative public administration and the international political economy of trade. |
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