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.

The Popular Economy in Urban Latin America: Informality, Materiality and Gender in Commerce advances comparative knowledge and theoretical reflections on urban popular economies in Latin America by going beyond the lenses of so-called informal and street economies. It develops a cultural-economic perspective on the popular urban economy and provides new insights in key concepts such as informality, materiality, and gender. Based on ethnographic work and archival research, the authors of this volume address cases in Brazil, Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru. The guiding questions of these case studies are: which actors, and with what agencies, are forming and transforming street markets and other place-based economies, and with what effects? What are the emerging lines of tension in these particular economies? Urban economies in Latin America are becoming increasingly diverse and internally stratified. Itinerant traders work side-by-side with permanent street and market vendors, shopkeepers, and wholesalers who conduct business trips to neighboring countries and China several times a year. International trade and investment as well as technological change foster new forms of interaction between traders, companies and customers, but also create new imbalances in economic communities. Remaining sensitive to history, gender, and urban politics, this volume offers an ethnographically informed cultural and socio-material perspective on how popular economies and commerce thrive, transform, and persist in Latin American cities today.

Nominated for World Press Photo and a finalist for the Gran Prix Fotofestival, in The Observation of Trifles the Madrid-born photographer Carlos Alba suggests a unique, random guide through the conventionalisms of a London seen through objects found on its streets. This London is a far cry from postcards and is defined by both these everyday objects (which are therefore forgotten in the routine) and the look of the people that Alba photographed in the neighbourhoods of Hackney and Tower Hamlets, which make up a panoply of stories which may be analytical or superficial but are always poetic.

Part of the International Library of Policy Analysis series, this book provides the first detailed examination of the practice of policy analysis in Mexico. Whilst shaped by the legacy of the Mexican state's colonial history as well as by recent social, economic and political developments, the study of policy analysis within Mexico provides important comparative lessons for other countries. Contributors study the nature of policy analysis at different sectors and levels of government as well as by non-governmental actors, such as unions, business, NGOs and the media, promoting the use of evidence-based policy analysis, leading to better policy results. The book is a vital resource for academics and students of policy studies, public management, political science and comparative policy studies.

This book explores globalization as actually experienced by most of the world's people, buying goods from street vendors brought by traders moving past borders and across continents under the radar of the law. The dimensions and practices of 'globalization from below' are depicted and analyzed in detail by a team of international scholars. Topics covered include the 'New Silk Road', African traders in China, street hawking in Calcutta and pirate CDs in Mexico. The chapters provide intimate portrayals of routes, markets and people in locations across the globe and explore theories that can help make sense of these complex and fascinating case studies. Students of globalization, economic anthropology and developing-world economics will find the book invaluable.

When you don't see the world like everyone else does, how can you convince it that you're innocent? George Lovelace has always done everything by the book - a steady job, wife and children, always there for school plays and sports days, never late for an appointment - so why has he felt perpetually out of step with those around him? His sharp, analytical mind only got him so far in his career because he couldn't relate to his workmates. Outside of the office, he never managed to make friends and relations with his wife, Susan, and children, Roz and Melvyn, were strained and unpredictable. Now a widower in his 70s, he stands alone against a world that feels as alien and incomprehensible as ever - where feelings and intuition always seem more important than cold logic. There's a Problem with Dad is a family tragedy that asks what it means to be different. When George is charged with sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl, his inability to communicate with others pushes him, and those around him, to the limit. Through his eyes, the reader is given a privileged view of his thoughts and reasoning and the devastating impact they have on his loved ones. Following Susan's death, George decides to write a book about his great obsession, John Lennon - the 'world's greatest songwriter' - but as the criminal case against him gathers pace, his hero's decline starts to mirror his own, leaving, in his mind, no way back. This pacey yet thoughtful novel is the first to explore how high functioning autism affects people of all ages, and it serves as a reminder that neurodiversity always demands empathy and consideration for voices too often left on the margins.

This book explores globalization as actually experienced by most of the world's people, buying goods from street vendors brought by traders moving past borders and across continents under the radar of the law. The dimensions and practices of 'globalization from below' are depicted and analyzed in detail by a team of international scholars. Topics covered include the 'New Silk Road', African traders in China, street hawking in Calcutta and pirate CDs in Mexico. The chapters provide intimate portrayals of routes, markets and people in locations across the globe and explore theories that can help make sense of these complex and fascinating case studies. Students of globalization, economic anthropology and developing-world economics will find the book invaluable.