This monograph evaluates public policy responses to the Covid-19 pandemic through a public choice lens. The book compares two prominent, albeit mutually exclusive, theories in social sciences-public interest theory and public choice theory-and explores how their predictions perform within the framework of the Covid-19 pandemic. The chapters present different pandemic policies alongside empirical data in order to draw conclusions about their efficacy, and, in turn, draw conclusions about the veracity of each theory. By the end of the volume, the reader will be able to draw their own conclusions about whether the pandemic policy responses served the public interest, as public interest theory suggests, or the personal interests of the politicians who implemented them, as public choice theory holds.

This book examines why many ambitious public management policies do not materialize. Comprehensive reforms do not generate relevant and lasting changes. Yet some evolutions may occur that actually improve the efficiency level inside public administrations. The book identifies how and why such processes may occur. It explores an innovative approach to the way reform policies inside the public sector are assessed. The opening chapters examine the contributions of different disciplines to the study of change in the public sector, before proposing a framework to better understand management developments. The book then reviews eight crosscutting central government programmes successively launched since the late 1960s, examines how these programmes were designed and constructed, and analyses the ways in which three toolkits are appropriated: dashboards and indicators, cost-benefit analysis, and ex post evaluation. The final chapters examine the links between the development of agencification and the way in which central government proceeds to implement it, and demonstrate why and how the structure of human resources is crucial for initiating change processes. Together, the book proposes lessons for public practitioners as well as for academic purposes.

This book explores how taxation is related to the role of the state and its relationship with its constituents, the concept of private property rights, the concepts of societal fairness and justice, and the battle between the individual and the collective. This book appeals to students and scholars who want to know how philosophers in the past and present think about taxation, and how their thinking has developed through cross-influencing. There exists no comprehensive study providing such an overview. This book is a foundational study on the philosophical justification of taxation (qualitative aspect) and the normative qualifications required of tax law to constitute tax that is just and fair (distributive or quantitative aspect). The latter includes evaluation of what type of tax is morally correct or acceptable to realize distributive justice. This book covers periods from the Enlightenment era until the present. The philosophers are grouped together in schools of thought and each chapter except for chapter 1 and chapter 13, are is dedicated to a specific philosophical school. Moreover, this book aims to provide an overview of each school of thinking and the individual philosophers, including placing them in the context of their times. The book has particular importance as the study of taxation is an underdeveloped area of political and legal philosophy.

This volume explores the unanticipated consequences of emulating, importing, or imposing new institutional models without commensurate attention to the particular constellations of interests, identities, norms, and social relations embedded in local communities. Each chapter is organized around a common problematic that has received only limited attention in the literature on institutional change: the dilemmas of deploying the rules, practices, and design of institutions that have been imported or imposed from external environments in regions where actors are more familiar with and find more legitimate locally embedded norms, practices, social relations, and knowledge structures. The volume strives to illustrate the analytic power of the concept of 'syncretism, ' a concept that can be fruitfully deployed to analyze common aspects of institutional change not easily captured in existing frameworks.

This open access book presents an actor-centered study on Europeanization, based on the assumption that EU-driven reforms are highly dependent on the behavior and interests of the key domestic actors. Whether or not a state pursues a European and democratic agenda depends on domestic lawmakers. Further, political elites are pre-eminent in deciding on the nature, form and content of any law, and on the extent to which the rule of law is actually enforced. Elites can overcome structural or institutional barriers that stand in the way of achieving their goals. The empirical study on Romania presented here lends this observation a more profound meaning: it shows how, in contexts where high level corruption is the norm rather than the exception, self-serving political elites cannot be expected to genuinely commit to adopting sound anti-corruption reform. The book is an inquiry into the motivations that drive legislators to make particular decisions, but also into the structural characteristics and dynamics of the elite that invite a selfish rather than responsible and responsive behaviour.This publication was supported by funds from the Publication Fund for Open Access Monographs of the Federal State of Brandenburg, Germany.

In 2012, over four billion people tuned in to watch the London Summer Olympics. As the single largest mega-event in the world, the Olympics has the power to captivate the global imagination. Long before athletes vie for a gold medal, however, competition between cities eager to host the Games kicks off with a rigorous bid process. The lengthy and expensive endeavor to host the Olympics is as high-stakes as any sporting event. Rather than encouraging cities to refrain from bidding, Bidding for Development takes a policy approach that challenges stakeholders to bid responsibly and strategically in pursuit of concrete outcomes. Every bid city has the potential to accelerate long-term transportation development through a strategic and robust planning process. This book concentrates on the phenomenon of repeat Olympic bids and the opportunities that may come from bidding, particularly for those cities that never win the Games. In this context, Bidding for Development explores the intersection between transportation infrastructure development, the Olympic bid process, and the resulting legacies experienced by bid losers. The findings address the central question: how can participating in the Olympic bid process accelerate transportation development regardless of the bid result? In response, this book presents a Bid Framework outlining how and when cities may use the bid to unite resources, align transportation priorities, and empower leaders to achieve urban development objectives in preparation for the Olympic bid. The Bid Framework is then applied to two case studies, Manchester and Istanbul, to examine each bid loser's effectiveness in using the bid process to catalyze transportation development. Concurrently, the book takes into consideration how the International Olympic Committee's evolving bid regulations and requirements relate to urban development and positive social legacy. Bidding for Development delivers actionable recommendations for all Olympic stakeholders to improve the value of the bid process and transportation benefits beyond the Games.

The COVID-19 pandemic is the first time that many of the UK population, including its national politicians, have become aware of the practical dimensions of devolution to its four nations through the delivery of support to those affected by the virus. Part of the COVID Collection, this topical book explores how the public perception of the decentralized governments has changed during the pandemic and uses case studies to discuss the actions taken by central government to undermine the devolution settlement. Assessing the role of local government in supporting communities despite cuts from central government, it makes a vital contribution to the debate on the future options for the UK within the context of Brexit and what follows.

Connects the literature on public policy and cryptocurrency, examining the governance and democracy implications of the rise in cryptocurrency use Explores cryptocurrency's current and potential impacts on principles such as equity and inclusion, efficiency and effectiveness, accountability, and quality of life Covers a range of public policy and public administration issues, offering readers an understanding of how cryptocurrency intersects with democracy, governance, fiscal and monetary policies, economic growth, corruption, and privacy.

Over the past two decades public accountability has become not only an icon in political, managerial, and administrative discourse but also the object of much scholarly analysis across a broad range of social and administrative sciences. This handbook provides a state of the art overview of recent scholarship on public accountability. It collects, consolidates, and integrates an upsurge of inquiry currently scattered across many disciplines and subdisciplines. It provides a one-stop-shop on the subject, not only for academics who study accountability, but also for practitioners who are designing, adjusting, or struggling with mechanisms for accountable governance. Drawing on the best scholars in the field from around the world, The Oxford Handbook of Public Accountability showcases conceptual and normative as well as the empirical approaches in public accountability studies. In addition to giving an overview of scholarly research in a variety of disciplines, it takes stock of a wide range of accountability mechanisms and practices across the public, private and non-profit sectors, making this volume a must-have for both practitioners and scholars, both established and new to the field.

This book analyses the diffusion and implementation of Aid Effectiveness Principles in Kenya's agricultural sector. Although Aid Effectiveness Principles represent a significant step in aid and development discourse, studies on its implementation remain inadequate, especially in the African context. This book combines the perspectives of the Kenyan government, donor representatives and small-scale farmers. The discussion on Kenya brings in comparative perspectives and, therefore, would have broader relevance to the African region, in general. It highlights a disconnect between the government and farmers concerning the ownership concept, where farmers lack a voice in important policy matters. The book shows that donors have exploited the weaknesses in government responses to interpret The Principles in ways that suit their strategic interests. Consequently, the book argues that the diffusion of Aid Effectiveness Principles has taken the form of symbolic imitation - a form of policy diffusion where the policymakers choose policies for their symbolic value rather than their effectiveness.

This is an open access book discusses readers to various methods of modeling plans and policies that address public sector issues and problems. Written for public policy and social sciences students at the upper undergraduate and graduate level, as well as public sector decision-makers, it demonstrates and compares the development and use of various deterministic and probabilistic optimization and simulation modeling methods for analyzing planning and management issues. These modeling tools offer a means of identifying and evaluating alternative plans and policies based on their physical, economic, environmental, and social impacts. Learning how to develop and use the mathematical modeling tools introduced in this book will give students useful skills when in positions of having to make informed public policy recommendations or decisions.

This critical book focuses on two dominant reform agendas - managerialism and politicisation - to examine the condition of Anglophone countries after 40 years of reform to public sector management and governance. Comparing four countries using the Westminster system - Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom - John Halligan explores the changes resulting from distinctive reform agendas, exposing performance shortfalls and unintended consequences, such as bureaucratisation. Offering a broad overview of the implementation and outcomes of key administrative developments, Halligan unpacks those traditions and conventions of governance in Anglophone countries that have been disrupted by unrestrained political executives, producing dramatic imbalances in management and governance systems. Judicious and incisive, this book will be crucial reading to postgraduate and advanced undergraduate students of public policy seeking an in-depth understanding of both historic and contemporary reforms to public management and governance. Halligan's comparative approach to public management systems will also benefit government practitioners and specialists working closely with governments.

The scope of this book is to map China's city clusters and their individual directions for the national-level strategies in line with the 2060 carbon neutrality plan. Since China announced the carbon neutrality plan in autumn 2020, no study has looked at the role of city clusters in achieving this long-term plan. Hence, this study is believed to be the first attempt to explore this important topic from the city cluster perspective. It explores the challenges, opportunities, and directions of all 19 city clusters, allowing readers to have a clear picture of China's historical and ongoing progress, as well as the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. In a short time, China's city clusters have helped boost regional economic development, infrastructure development, trade and business, and better urban-rural integration. With enhanced coordination of connection and transport networks in and between the city clusters, we see a growing number of initiatives beyond just the initial economic strategies. The dual approach of top-down policies and infrastructure systems and bottom-up governance and investments has helped China consider urban-rural development strategies and regional sustainable development. These factors are essential to be explored from the city cluster perspective and in line with China's sustainable development and carbon neutrality directions. Hence, the book covers these points holistically, ensuring that regional planning and development are favored in the face of uneven urbanization trends. We anticipate this book to be a valuable resource for local governments and authorities, urban planners and practitioners, developers, and urban researchers. While the focus is on China's city clusters, we believe there are similar examples elsewhere. Hence, lessons learnt from this book could apply to other countries, regions, and subregions. Lastly, the book aims to put regional sustainable development at the heart of longer-term strategies and plans, such as the case of China's carbon neutrality plan.

In Morality, Leadership, and Public Policy, Eric Weber argues for an experimentalist approach to moral theory in addressing practical problems in public policy. The experimentalist approach begins moral inquiry by examining public problems and then makes use of the tools of philosophy and intelligent inquiry to alleviate them.

Part I surveys the uses of practical philosophy and answers criticisms - including religious challenges - of the approach, presenting a number of areas in which philosophers' intellectual efforts can prove valuable for resolving public conflicts.

Part II presents a new approach to experimentalism in moral theory, based on the insights of John Dewey's pragmatism. Focusing on the elements of good public inquiry and the experimentalist attitude, Weber discusses ways of thinking about the effective construction and reconstruction of particular problems, including practical problems of public policy prioritization.

Finally, in Part III the book examines real-world examples in which the experimentalist approach to ethics proves useful, including instances of "bandwidth theft" and the controversies surrounding activist judges in the US Supreme Court.

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This open access book focuses on Albanian internal and international female migration and places gender at the heart of postsocialist transformation. It explores the vulnerabilities that arise for female citizens from the contradictory policies produced by the Albanian state. By illuminating the intersection of gender and migration, it shows how Albanian women are likely to embed themselves in complex social relations and migration trajectories. By focusing on various cases - internal, international, return, economic and student female migrants - the book underlines that migration does not follow any kind of evolutionary development, according to which women go from 'traditional' to 'modern' gender relations. By providing a compelling account on the complex negotiations and tactics women employ to deal with gender inequalities, this book leads to a better understanding of gender and migration entanglements. It is a useful read to students, academics in migration and gender studies as well as social scientists and policy-makers in European countries.

This book analyses the transformation of European Education Policy from 1973 to 2020. In doing so, it offers a unique insight into the changes of European education from a predominantly national concern to a supranational policy framework, driven by an economic discourse concerning productivity and employability. The book shows that the idea of the "Europe of Knowledge" did not originate in the Lisbon Strategy of 2000, but rather was the result of a gradual development that started in the mid-1980s. This begun with the establishment of a specific problem definition of education as a solution for Europe's lack of competitiveness, a definition that was incrementally constructed by the European Commission and the European business community. Highlighting significant and unexplored questions such as the role of European transnational business in education and the role of the "problem entrepreneur" in defining policy issues, this book will provide a comprehensive perspective on European Education Policy that will be of interest to all students of European Politics, Education Policy, and Public Policy.

This book introduces a new approach to understanding security in the Mediterranean and explores current challenges at the European Union (EU) Mediterranean borders. It investigates the intertwined area at the South of the EU that we call the 'Mediterranean Global South' where common actions and strategies are required to face common security challenges. The book critically addresses the EU's capacity to manage its expanding borders and analyses the actors involved in providing security in the Mediterranean Global South. Specific attention is devoted to South to North migration, one of the most critical security issues of current times, deploying its effects well beyond states' borders.

This book analyses two key aspects of network management in the public sector: leadership and performance. It investigates what integrative leadership is, and how it differentiates from leadership in single-agency structures. It also examines the performance of public interest networks by proposing an analytical framework that highlights which factors lead to high performance networks. This book is of interest to scholars and students of public management and public administration, as well as public managers and practitioners acting through networks and partnerships.

This book provides an overview of the identity and sense of belonging of Muslims in the Western world. By presenting case studies on European countries such as France, the Netherlands and the UK, as well as the USA and Canada, it offers a comparative perspective on how Muslims feel toward and are integrated in their country of residence. The respective contributions examine the sense of belonging and identity of Muslims and compare their levels of integration. Furthermore, they discuss the compatibility of their religious beliefs and values with the political and democratic order of their country of residence, and make concrete policy recommendations. The book is chiefly intended for scholars of political science and migration studies who are seeking a comparative perspective on the status quo of Muslims' integration in the Western world.

How successful was the EU's Lisbon Strategy? This volume provides the first comprehensive assessment of the Strategy and reflects on its key developments during its 10-year cycle. The volume contains both theoretical and empirical contributions by some of the leading scholars of EU studies across the social sciences.

This book depicts and reveals the socioeconomic dynamics of the COVID-19 crisis, and its global, regional, and local perspectives. Explicitly interdisciplinary, this volume embraces a wide spectrum of topics across economics, business, public management, psychology, and public health. Written by global experts, each chapter offers a snapshot of an emerging aspect of the COVID-19 crisis for the benefit of academics and students, as well as the institutional, economic, social, and developmental policymakers and health practitioners on the ground.

This book provides a framework for understanding the creation of public value in urban environments. The ability of cities to produce value is related to their capacity to generate meaningful resources for city residents and workers that enable them to craft meaningfulness in life and work. Meaningfulness and public value require new ways of leading and developing city governance. This extends to designing inclusive structures and processes for people to grapple with the meanings and values underpinning public value creation. A public value framework demands that city governance goes beyond ordinary government to considerations of how to involve city residents and workers in creating and maintaining the common good. The common good is determined by an inclusive associational life characterized by deliberative processes and opportunities for social contribution. When acting upon their entitlements to make the city, urban residents and workers - as members of diverse civic, public and private organizations - co-create the meanings that facilitate the collective action necessary to translate values into value. The experience of cooperating for the common good produces meanings that people can adopt into a sense that their lives have significance and purpose. This is particularly relevant to understanding how to motivate just and inclusive sustainability transitions, especially as cities recover from the Covid-19 pandemic. Focusing on cities and urban policy, the main theme of this book is to elaborate on public values for cities and city policies, and to further develop the concept of the meaningful city. This book aims to provide new kinds of tools for city development that can help them co-create resilience against future shocks.

Given the ongoing discussions regarding the legitimacy of the public service in relation to both the rise of a multicultural society and of multi-level governance, representative bureaucracy remains of the utmost importance to public administration. This volume consists of apt and perceptive contributions to the debate made by authoritative writers in the field.' - Frits van der Meer, Leiden University, the NetherlandsAttempting to understand the politics of representation entails the close examination of the procedural, political, and conflicting nature of representation in public organizations. Shedding light on the study of public administration, this book provides a profound understanding of the causes, facets, and consequences of the politics of representation in the public sector. Using a comparative and interdisciplinary approach, and recognizing the inherently political nature of public bureaucracies, expert contributors extend our understanding of this salient topic. Three areas are discussed, catalysing debate about representation in the public sector: - The study of representative bureaucracy is explored, moving away from traditional viewpoints concerning passive and active representation, making room to capture additional 'channels for the expression' of interests. - Insight into the institutionalization and freezing of different types of representation is presented, drawing attention to factors that will help explain this variation among administrative systems in the future. - Lessons for theorizing public organizations are elaborated upon, to include how public sector bureaucracies play multiple and competing roles. Providing comprehensive analysis of representation in public organizations, Politics of Representative Bureaucracy will benefit scholars and practitioners alike, from comparative public administration and management, government, public policy, and diversity studies. Contributors: R. Hambleton, T. Herrschel, K.J. Meier, T.S.M. Morton, B. Guy Peters, E. Schroter, B. van Gool, P. von Maravic