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These two landmark volumes - prepared by leading authorities in the
field - locate bureaucracy in its proper historical and theoretical
context. They demonstrate that far from being a spent force
bureaucratic organisations and processes are, and will continue to
be, of central importance in the new millennium. Volume I outlines
both the changing historical forms of bureaucracy and its operation
in contemporary political systems before moving on to examine the
detail of bureaucratic structures and processes. Volume II
discusses bureaucrats in action and the political dimensions of
bureaucratic power. In addition it explores the various critiques
of bureaucracy before analysing the recent agendas for bureaucratic
reform and the strengths and weaknesses of alternative structures.
These two authoritative volumes will be essential reading for
political scientists, historians, organisational and administrative
theorists and students of public sector management old and new.
The International Group for Policy and Program Evaluation (INTEVAL)
serves as a forum for scholars and practitioners of public policy
to discuss ideas and developments as a community dedicated to
enhancing the contribution of evaluation to government. From the
group's studies has emerged a concern with the impact of public
management reforms. Collaboration in Public Services examines
collaboration in the delivery of public policies and identifies the
challenges for policy and program evaluation. Written by a mix of
academics, program managers, evaluators, and auditors, this volume
explores the forms and challenges of collaboration in different
national contexts. Chapter 1 introduces the notion and
manifestations of collaboration and discusses emerging issues.
Chapter 2 examines partnerships and networks of public service
delivery. Chapter 3, drawing on Dutch and British data, reveals the
QUANGO as both a collaborative end and means. Chapter 4 analyzes
Israel's push to enhance collaboration with voluntary
organizations. Chapter 5 examines the Canadian and Danish
experiences. Chapter 6 suggests that the creation of markets to
improve quality has not been totally successful at least in Nordic
countries. Chapter 7 suggests that traditional service values such
as trust and parliamentary accountability are challenged by the
complexity of collaboration, but, using illustrations from Canada
and other OECD countries, argues that results-based governance can
increase trust, flexibility, and empowerment. Chapter 8
demonstrates from Dutch and Canadian experiences that auditor
responses to collaborative delivery tend to overlook traditional
roles as guardians of accountability on behalf of parliaments.
Chapter 9 deliberates the efficacy of programs involving multiple
partners. Chapter 10 discusses the lessons and challenges of
evaluation and collaborative government.
It was long believed that evolutionary theories received an almost
universally cold reception in British natural history circles in
the first half of the nineteenth century. However, a relatively
recently serious doubt has been cast on this assumption. This book
shows that Edinburgh in the late 1820s and early 1830s was witness
to a ferment of radical new ideas on the natural world, including
speculation on the origin and evolution of life, at just the time
when Charles Darwin was a student in the city. Those who were
students in Edinburgh at the time could have hardly avoided coming
into contact with these new ideas. This book is the first major
study of what was probably the most important centre or
pre-Darwinian evolutionary thought in the British Isles. It sheds
new light on the genesis and development of one of the most
important scientific theories in the history of western thought.
Policy making is not only about the cut and thrust of politics. It
is also a bureaucratic activity. Long before laws are drafted,
policy commitments made, or groups consulted on government
proposals, officials will have been working away to shape the
policy into a form in which it can be presented to ministers and
the outside world. Policy bureaucracies - parts of government
organizations with specific responsibility for maintaining and
developing policy - have to be mobilized before most significant
policy initiatives are launched. This book describes the range of
work policy officials do. The 140 civil servants interviewed for
this study included officials who helped originate policies which
were subsequently taken over as manifesto commitments by the Labour
Party; officials who helped devise the formula by which billions of
pounds are allocated to local government in grants; and also
officials who recommended to the Secretary of State that a
controversial publisher be allowed to take over a national
newspaper. The background and career paths of middle-ranking
officials show them to be a diverse group who do not tend to
develop long-term subject specialisms. The instructions to which
these officials work - whether coming from ministers or senior
officials - are often very broad and leave much to personal
interpretation. Policy Bureaucracy goes on to examine how ministers
and senior officials affect the work of middle ranking officials
and the cues policy bureaucrats use to develop policy. The
analytical approach adopted in the book is derived from Alvin
Gouldner's Patterns of Industrial Bureaucracy and his elaboration
of Max Weber's notion that hierarchy and expertise place a
fundamental tension at the heart of modern bureaucracies. In the UK
this tension is handled by combining 'invited authority' with
'improvised expertise'. The book also explores other models of
handling this tension in political systems in Europe and the USA.
It was long believed that evolutionary theories received an almost
universally cold reception in British natural history circles in
the first half of the nineteenth century. However, a relatively
recently serious doubt has been cast on this assumption. This book
shows that Edinburgh in the late 1820s and early 1830s was witness
to a ferment of radical new ideas on the natural world, including
speculation on the origin and evolution of life, at just the time
when Charles Darwin was a student in the city. Those who were
students in Edinburgh at the time could have hardly avoided coming
into contact with these new ideas. This book is the first major
study of what was probably the most important centre or
pre-Darwinian evolutionary thought in the British Isles. It sheds
new light on the genesis and development of one of the most
important scientific theories in the history of western thought.
The International Group for Policy and Program Evaluation
(INTEVAL) serves as a forum for scholars and practitioners of
public policy to discuss ideas and developments as a community
dedicated to enhancing the contribution of evaluation to
government. From the group's studies has emerged a concern with the
impact of public management reforms. Collaboration in Public
Services examines collaboration in the delivery of public policies
and identifies the challenges for policy and program
evaluation.
Written by a mix of academics, program managers, evaluators, and
auditors, this volume explores the forms and challenges of
collaboration in different national contexts. Chapter 1 introduces
the notion and manifestations of collaboration and discusses
emerging issues. Chapter 2 examines partnerships and networks of
public service delivery. Chapter 3, drawing on Dutch and British
data, reveals the QUANGO as both a collaborative end and means.
Chapter 4 analyzes Israel's push to enhance collaboration with
voluntary organizations. Chapter 5 examines the Canadian and Danish
experiences.
Chapter 6 suggests that the creation of markets to improve
quality has not been totally successful at least in Nordic
countries. Chapter 7 suggests that traditional service values such
as trust and parliamentary accountability are challenged by the
complexity of collaboration, but, using illustrations from Canada
and other OECD countries, argues that results-based governance can
increase trust, flexibility, and empowerment. Chapter 8
demonstrates from Dutch and Canadian experiences that auditor
responses to collaborative delivery tend to overlook traditional
roles as guardians of accountability on behalf of parliaments.
Chapter 9 deliberates the efficacy of programs involving multiple
partners. Chapter 10 discusses the lessons and challenges of
evaluation and collaborative government.
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