Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Central government > Central government policies
|
Buy Now
Do They Walk Like They Talk? - Speech and Action in Policy Processes (Hardcover, 2009 ed.)
Loot Price: R4,537
Discovery Miles 45 370
You Save: R640
(12%)
|
|
Do They Walk Like They Talk? - Speech and Action in Policy Processes (Hardcover, 2009 ed.)
Series: Studies in Public Choice, 15
Expected to ship within 12 - 17 working days
|
George Bush's 1988 campaign pledge, "Read my lips: no new taxes,"
has become a mantra for those who distrust politicians and
bureaucrats. The gulf between what political leaders say and do
seems to be widening, and in democratic societies around the world,
contributing to an atmosphere of cynicism and apathy among the
citizenry. Understanding the characteristics and functions of
speech in policy processes is a requirement for trying to overcome
this problem; indeed, politicians and bureaucrats spend a good
proportion of their time and resources discoursing, i.e., writing,
speaking, and publishing. However, there has been scant analysis of
political discourse; the aim of this book is to fill this
analytical gap, by exploring political speech from a variety of
perspectives, including normative, epistemological, and empirical.
Incorporating insights from economics, political science,
philosophy, and law, and evidence from the United States, Canada,
France, Italy, Turkey, and the EU, the book addresses a wide
variety of timely issues, including:. Fiscal discipline in speeches
vs budget balance: Is an improvement (deterioration) of the budget
balance preceded by a more (less) fiscally disciplined discourse?
Revenues and spending forecasted in budget speeches vs realised
budget outcomes: Is there a systematic bias? If so, how can we
explain it? Electoral pledges vs actual realisations: Do
governments follow up on their electoral pledges? Ideological
stance in party publications vs spending and revenues of party
governments: Do parties of the right and the left speak different
languages? How can we validly classify a government as of the left
or of the right? Is there a systematic difference between
governments of the right and of the left in terms of their policy?
Speeches by central bank officers vs monetary policy: Can changes
in monetary policy be predicted by official speeches? The political
business cycle: How can taking into consideration the speech-action
relationship strengthen (or threaten) our knowledge about electoral
and partisan cycles in public spending? Other questions explored
include: Should policy makers always tell the truth and all the
truth? What are the benefits and the costs of transparency? How can
we resolve the apparent contradiction between the democratic demand
for transparency and the efficiency requirement of secrecy in many
policy areas (budget preparation, monetary policy, foreign policy,
security, etc.)? Under which conditions is secrecy acceptable in a
democratic society? To what extent may deception and lies lead to a
breach of trust or to power abuse? What are the most efficient
institutional mechanisms to prevent such abuse? Collectively, the
authors present new insights for understanding political process
and government activity, and suggest avenues for further research.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
|
You might also like..
|