The Transformation of Governance

The Transformation of Governance
Author: Donald F. Kettl
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 239
Release: 2015-04
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1421416352

An updated edition of the classic text on public administration presents practical steps for managing government effectively in an age of hyperpartisanship. Co-winner of the Louis Brownlow Book Award from the National Academy of Public Administration The traditional theory of public administration is based on entrenched notions of hierarchy and authority. However, as the structure of public work has grown less hierarchical, managers have adopted a wide variety of non-authoritarian strategies. This growing gap between theoretical ideas and actual practice poses enormous challenges for front-line leaders struggling to deal with ever-larger expectations and ever-tighter budgets—and for American government in determining how best to hold public administrators accountable for their performance. The Transformation of Governance offers a new framework for reconciling effective administration with the requirements of democratic government. Instead of thinking in terms of organizational structure and management, Donald F. Kettl suggests, administrators and theorists need to focus on governance, or the links between government and its broader environment—political, social, and administrative—through which social action occurs. In this updated edition, a new epilogue shows Kettl urging political leaders to step back from the political barricades of hyperpartisanship to consider government’s contemporary dilemma: Is there any practical way forward for public administrators to manage government effectively? Reinforcing the ten principles of bridge building which he developed in the original book, Kettl adds an eleventh, which lays out five transformative strategies: redefining public law to promote public accountability; re-conceptualizing government agencies as instruments of leverage; launching government leaders as boundary spanners; using information technology for building authority and trust; and incorporating performance management into processes that drive collaboration. With a new preface from Michael Nelson, editor of the Interpreting American Politics series, this award-winning book will be sought out by public policymakers eager to read a leading scholar's newest insights into the field.

Governance And The Changing American States

Governance And The Changing American States
Author: David Hedge
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 223
Release: 2018-02-12
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0429979762

This book chronicles the kinds of changes that have occurred on the "demand" and "supply" sides of American state government. It assesses the consequences of those developments for the quality of statehouse democracy and the ability of state governments to govern responsibly and effectively.

The Transformation of American Politics

The Transformation of American Politics
Author: Paul Pierson
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 341
Release: 2011-06-27
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1400837502

The contemporary American political landscape has been marked by two paradoxical transformations: the emergence after 1960 of an increasingly activist state, and the rise of an assertive and politically powerful conservatism that strongly opposes activist government. Leading young scholars take up these issues in The Transformation of American Politics. Arguing that even conservative administrations have become more deeply involved in managing our economy and social choices, they examine why our political system nevertheless has grown divided as never before over the extent to which government should involve itself in our lives. The contributors show how these two closely linked trends have influenced the reform and running of political institutions, patterns of civic engagement, and capacities for partisan mobilization--and fueled ever-heightening conflicts over the contours and reach of public policy. These transformations not only redefined who participates in American politics and how they do so, but altered the substance of political conflicts and the capacities of rival interests to succeed. Representing both an important analysis of American politics and an innovative contribution to the study of long-term political change, this pioneering volume reveals how partisan discourse and the relationship between citizens and their government have been redrawn and complicated by increased government programs. The contributors are Andrea Louise Campbell, Jacob S. Hacker, Nolan McCarty, Suzanne Mettler, Paul Pierson, Theda Skocpol, Mark A. Smith, Steven M. Teles, and Julian E. Zelizer.

The Transformation of Governance

The Transformation of Governance
Author: Donald F. Kettl
Publisher:
Total Pages: 204
Release: 2002
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780801870484

The theory of public administration has long been based on the notions of hierarchy and authority. However, the way managers actually manage has increasingly become at odds with the theory. The growing gap between theory and practice poses enormous challenges for managers in determining how best to work - and for American government in determining how best to hold public administrators accountable for effectively doing their jobs.

First to the Party

First to the Party
Author: Christopher Baylor
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2018
Genre: History
ISBN: 0812249631

What determines the interests, ideologies, and alliances that make up political parties? In its entire history, the United States has had only a handful of party transformations. First to the Party concludes that groups like unions and churches, not voters or politicians, are the most consistent influences on party transformation.

The Transformation of the Organization of American States

The Transformation of the Organization of American States
Author: Betty Horwitz
Publisher: Anthem Press
Total Pages: 269
Release: 2011-10
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780857288196

This book explores the extent and significance of the transformation of the Organisation of American States since 1991: its roots, the reasons for and extent of its emergence, and the role that the organisation currently plays in the promotion of regional governance in the two key issue-areas of security and the defense and promotion of democratic norms and principles of good governance. By assessing where the OAS has succeeded and failed, Horwitz provides an in-depth explanation of how cooperation and consensus works in the Inter-American system.

From Liberty to Democracy

From Liberty to Democracy
Author: Randall G. Holcombe
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2002
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0472112902

An analysis of American political history using the economic framework of public choice theory

New Democracy

New Democracy
Author: William J. Novak
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 385
Release: 2022-03-29
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0674260449

The activist state of the New Deal started forming decades before the FDR administration, demonstrating the deep roots of energetic government in America. In the period between the Civil War and the New Deal, American governance was transformed, with momentous implications for social and economic life. A series of legal reforms gradually brought an end to nineteenth-century traditions of local self-government and associative citizenship, replacing them with positive statecraft: governmental activism intended to change how Americans lived and worked through legislation, regulation, and public administration. The last time American public life had been so thoroughly altered was in the late eighteenth century, at the founding and in the years immediately following. William J. Novak shows how Americans translated new conceptions of citizenship, social welfare, and economic democracy into demands for law and policy that delivered public services and vindicated peopleÕs rights. Over the course of decades, Americans progressively discarded earlier understandings of the reach and responsibilities of government and embraced the idea that legislators and administrators in Washington could tackle economic regulation and social-welfare problems. As citizens witnessed the successes of an energetic, interventionist state, they demanded more of the same, calling on politicians and civil servants to address unfair competition and labor exploitation, form public utilities, and reform police power. Arguing against the myth that America was a weak state until the New Deal, New Democracy traces a steadily aggrandizing authority well before the Roosevelt years. The United States was flexing power domestically and intervening on behalf of redistributive goals for far longer than is commonly recognized, putting the lie to libertarian claims that the New Deal was an aberration in American history.

The Global Public Management Revolution

The Global Public Management Revolution
Author: Donald F. Kettl
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 96
Release: 2006-05-24
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0815797745

Over the last quarter century, governments around the world have launched ambitious efforts to reform how they manage their programs. Citizens have demanded smaller, cheaper, more effective governments. They have also asked for more programs and better services. To resolve this paradox, governments have experimented with scores of ideas to be more productive, improve performance, and reduce costs. In this new edition of T he Global Public Management Revolution, Donald F. Kettl charts the basic models of reform that are being employed worldwide. Reviewing the standard strategies and tactics behind these reforms, Kettl identifies six common core ideas: the search for greater productivity; more public reliance on private markets; a stronger orientation toward service; more decentralization from national to subnational governments; increased capacity to devise and track public policy; and tactics to enhance accountability for results. Kettl predicts that reform and reinvention will likely become mantras for governments of all stripes. Ultimately, this strategy means coupling the reform impulse with governance—government's increasingly important relationship with civil society and the institutions that shape modern life.