From floods to fires, tornadoes to terrorist attacks, governments must respond to a variety of crises and meet reasonable standards of performance. What accounts for governments effective responses to unfolding disasters? How should they organize and plan for significant emergencies? With fifteen adapted Kennedy School cases, students experience first-hand a series of large-scale emergencies and come away with a clear sense of the different types of disaster situations governments confront, with each type requiring different planning, resourcing, skill-building, leadership, and execution. Grappling with the details of flawed responses to the LA Riots or Hurricane Katrina, or with the success of the Incident Management System during the Pentagon fire on 9/11, students start to see the ways in which responders can improve capabilities and more adeptly navigate between technical or operational needs and political considerations.
More than four decades after the publication of the controversial Moynihan Report, social scientists and policy analysts re-examine what the editors call "the most famous piece of social scientific analysis never published." As assistant secretary in the United States Department of Labor, Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote his report "The Negro Family: The Case for National Action" in 1965 as an internal document within the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson. It described alarming trends in black employment, poverty, and education and argued that they were exacerbated by black family instability. While Moynihan called for a jobs program to employ black men and stabilize families, the report was attacked as an attempt to blame blacks rather than the injustices in American society and widely vilified as sexist and racist in liberal circles. Now more than 40 years later, this issue of The ANNALS reviews this controversial yet "prophetic report" through a new lens, bringing together some of the country's foremost social scientists to consider how its arguments and predictions have fared in subsequent years and how the controversy surrounding it influenced social science in the late 20th century. The volume also examines current issues, such as the state of the labor market for young black men in the face of continued discrimination, the link between nonmarital childbearing and poverty, the impacts of the radical transformation in the welfare system, the emergence of mass incarceration society and the persistence of racial residential segregation. As race remains a fundamental cleavage in American society, intellectuals must embrace the systematic study of the sorts of difficult, sensitive, and often explosive issues first addressed in the Moynihan Report. This volume of The ANNALS is a must-read for students, scholars and policymakers who are ready for a more open, honest and civil debate on America's very real social problems today.
More than four decades after the publication of the controversial Moynihan Report, social scientists and policy analysts re-examine what the editors call "the most famous piece of social scientific analysis never published." As assistant secretary in the United States Department of Labor, Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote his report "The Negro Family: The Case for National Action" in 1965 as an internal document within the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson. It described alarming trends in black employment, poverty, and education and argued that they were exacerbated by black family instability. While Moynihan called for a jobs program to employ black men and stabilize families, the report was attacked as an attempt to blame blacks rather than the injustices in American society and widely vilified as sexist and racist in liberal circles. Now more than 40 years later, this issue of The ANNALS reviews this controversial yet "prophetic report" through a new lens, bringing together some of the country's foremost social scientists to consider how its arguments and predictions have fared in subsequent years and how the controversy surrounding it influenced social science in the late 20th century. The volume also examines current issues, such as the state of the labor market for young black men in the face of continued discrimination, the link between nonmarital childbearing and poverty, the impacts of the radical transformation in the welfare system, the emergence of mass incarceration society and the persistence of racial residential segregation. As race remains a fundamental cleavage in American society, intellectuals must embrace the systematic study of the sorts of difficult, sensitive, and often explosive issues first addressed in the Moynihan Report. This volume of The ANNALS is a must-read for students, scholars and policymakers who are ready for a more open, honest and civil debate on America's very real social problems today.
Publicness appears to be in decline or retreat in the face of markets, consumerism and individualism. Yet questions of public participation, public governance and the reform of public services are at the top of the political agenda in many countries. Publics, Politics and Power offers an innovative analysis of the changing fortunes of publicness. The book " Explores the emergence of new forms, sites and practices of publicness and the implications for public services. " Examines the remaking of the public in the context of new formations of the nation, where issues of migration, diversity and faith challenge traditional forms of solidarity and citizenship. " Traces the emergence of hybrid organizational forms and new strategies for governing publics and public services. " Assesses some of the ways in which the public domain is being recast around notions of civil society, community, and populist participatory politics. Chapters include vignettes illustrating the book's core concepts, making this a useful teaching resource and valuable reading for students of public management, public and social policy, sociology and cultural studies, and for those working in public services. Janet Newman is a Professor of Social Policy at the Open University, and Director of the Publics Research Programme within the Centre for Citizenship, Identities and Governance. John Clarke is a Professor of Social Policy at the Open University. His research has centred on conflicts over the future of welfare states, public services and citizenship in the UK and elsewhere.
Known for encouraging step-by-step problem solving and for connecting techniques to real-world scenarios, David Ammons Tools for Decision Making covers a wide range of local government practices from the foundational to the advanced. Brief and readable, each chapter opens with a problem in a hypothetical city and then introduces a tool to address it. Thoroughly updated with new local government examples, the second edition also incorporates chapters devoted to such additional techniques as sampling analysis, sensitivity analysis, financial condition analysis, and forecasting via trend analysis. Numerous tables, figures, exhibits, equations, and worksheets walk readers through the application of tools, and boxed features throughout each chapter present other uses for techniques, helpful online resources, and common errors. A handy guide for students and an invaluable resource and reference for practitioners.
'A comprehensive, multidisciplinary examination of the concepts embodied in governance and their wide-ranging applications and implications. An important read and reference for students and academics in the social sciences, particularly those engaged in public policy studies' - Professor Carolyn J. Heinrich, University of Wisconsin-Madison 'An authoritative short survey for which students and teachers alike will be profoundly grateful' - Professor Rod Rhodes, University of Tasmania and Australian National University 'Students of governance will welcome this book given the explosion of literature in the field. It provides a quick guide to key concepts and idea but does so with considerable originality. We are offered not just a review of well-established positions but a distinctive take on the governance debate' - Gerry Stoker, Professor of Governance, University of Southampton The language of governance has risen to prominence in the last 20 years as a way of describing and explaining changes in the nature and role of the state, but the concepts involved can be confusing as they are often new and come from diverse disciplinary and theoretical settings. Key Concepts in Governance provides a clear introduction to the technical concepts and policies of contemporary governance through short definitional essays. Each entry features: " a snapshot definition of the concept " a contextualization of the concept " an overview of relevant debates " a guide to further reading. The book also includes a substantial introductory chapter which gives an overview of governance studies as a whole, orientating and guiding the reader around the issues that the concepts address. Highly readable, with clear cross-referencing, this is an ideal book for students on introductory courses and an indispensable resource for anyone interested in governance.
Protecting the Public Interest in an Outsourced World
Delves into the issues of how to ensure that the work done by private sector contractors serves the public interest and argues for the necessity of making these organizations act as extensions of the public sector while maintaining their private character.
Take a sneak peak inside!Click on the link below to preview chapter one. Order your exam copy today by clicking on the Request an Exam Copy link above.Chapter 1With the shift from human resources to human capital management (HCM), public agencies are striving to strategically manage their workforces. Sally Selden s groundbreaking book moves far beyond describing best practices and offers the context in which innovative practices have been implemented. She details how agencies are creating performance-aligned workforces by adopting systems and policies that are driven by their strategic missions.This book covers core topics of personnel courses including hiring, training, retention, performance, and recognition but also includes integrated coverage on measuring success through assessment. Further helping readers grasp how HCM works, the book uses original data from the Government Performance Project and incorporates many comparative examples across a wide range of states, plus federal and municipal agencies. Unlike anything else available, Human Capital fills a critical gap for both students and public personnel professionals.
'A broad-ranging and highly intelligent account of key recent developments internationally which skillfully updates the public management and governance literatures' - Ewan Ferlie, Royal Holloway 'Public management has been radically changed and reformed...this book gives students a fine introduction to these changes and to the theories dealing with them' - Jorgen Gronnegaard Christensen, University of Aarhus An introduction and guide to the dramatic changes that have occurred in the provision of public services over the last two decades, this book combines theoretical perspectives with a range of case studies from Europe, North America and further afield to explain why, how and with what success liberal democracies have reformed the service role of the state. The book pays close attention to four major dimensions of this transition: " External challenges and opportunties: globalisation and EU integration " Reducing the role of the state: Liberalisation, privatisation, regulation and competition policy " Improving the role of the state: New Public Management, e-Government and beyond " Managing the New Public Sector: organisations, strategy and leadership This text is designed for undergraduate courses in public governance, but it also addresses the core components of MPA programmes - the parameters, tools, principles and theories of public sector reform.
