James H. Svara – författare

This work examines the roles of mayors, council members and administrators in the urban governmental process and seeks to identify ways to improve the performance of these key figures.

The burden of addressing the problems of urban society fall increasingly on cities as the federal government cuts back domestic spending. This book examines the roles of mayors, councils, and administrators in governing and managing their cities. Positing that the internal dynamics of city governments are largely shaped by their structures, the author shows how council-manager governmental structures often foster more cooperation than do mayor-council structures. Svara provides contrasting models of interaction among officials in the two forms and shows how conflict and cooperation affect the performance of officials in the two structures; he contends that proper understanding of the roles and behavior appropriate to each will lead to equal effectiveness between the two.

Justice for All is the first book that provides a comprehensive examination of social equity in American public administration. The breadth of coverage--theory, context, history, implications in policy studies, applications to practice, and an action agernda--cannot be found anywhere else.

Justice for All is the first book that provides a comprehensive examination of social equity in American public administration. The breadth of coverage--theory, context, history, implications in policy studies, applications to practice, and an action agernda--cannot be found anywhere else.

Selections from The Municipal Year Book: On Innovative Practices contains facts, figures, and research-based articles on management trends and intergovernmental relations: (1) Award-Winning Innovations in 2011: Exploring the Boundaries of Transformation and (2) Recurrent Themes in Local Government Innovation.

Selections from The Municipal Year Book: On Strategies and Services During Fiscal Stress contains facts, figures, and research-based articles on management trends and intergovernmental relations: (1) Economic Development Strategies for Recessionary Times, (2) The Hurt Divide: Residents' Appreciation for Local Government Services in Tough Times, (3) How Local Governments Are Navigating the Fiscal Crisis, and (4) Building Child- and Age-Friendly Communities in Tight Fiscal Times.

Selections from The Municipal Year Book: On Sustainability contains facts, figures, and research-based articles on management trends and intergovernmental relations: (1) Early Stages of Local Government Action to Promote Sustainability, (2) Off the Beaten Path: Sustainability Activities in Small Towns and Rural Municipalities, and (3) Local Government Support for Food System Development.

Providing a critical examination of government in American cities, this volume presents the innovative view that mayors in council-manager cities are better positioned to develop positive leadership than their peers in mayor-council cities. This book develops a deeper understanding of city government institutions with an examination of groundbreaking conceptual model of leadership and how it relates to local government forms. Based on the observation of mayors who have served in the past decade in cities ranging in size from 1500 to 1.5 million, fourteen case studies evaluate factors that contribute to effective leadership and highlight emerging issues faced by today‘s cities.

Written to introduce students to the fundamentals of administrative responsibility and ethics, The Ethics Primer for Public Administrators in Government and Nonprofit Organizations provides a clear understanding of why ethics are important to administrators in governmental and non-profit organizations, and how these administrators can relate their own personal values to the norms of the public sector.The Ethics Primer guides the student to align his or her own ethical commitments with the ethical standards of the field.  Further, it helps the reader understand how to put these standards into practice as an individual administrator and as a leader of a public or nonprofit organization. Utilizing the " ethics triangle" as a framework that stresses virtue, principles, and promoting good outcomes, this text clearly articulates for the reader the duties and responsibilities of public servants.Thoroughly updated, the Third Edition offers:- Greater attention to administrators in nonprofit organizations throughout the book.- New discussion of the American Society of Public Administration (ASPA) code of ethics, in addition to its focus on key professional codes as a guide to ethical behavior.- Stronger emphasis on reconciling one's personal and professional code of ethics.- New chapter on Public Affairs Education and Ethics that examines the ethical issues and challenges associated with each of the NASPAA core competencies.- Updated Section on Responsible Whistleblowing features new information pertaining to the whistleblower report that contributed to investigation of presidential activities in Ukraine.

Justice for All is the first book that provides a comprehensive examination of social equity in American public administration. The breadth of coverage--theory, context, history, implications in policy studies, applications to practice, and an action agernda--cannot be found anywhere else.

Justice for All is the first book that provides a comprehensive examination of social equity in American public administration. The breadth of coverage--theory, context, history, implications in policy studies, applications to practice, and an action agernda--cannot be found anywhere else.

Two forms of local government are prevalent in American cities. The style of leadership found in mayor-council cities draws attention to the mayor and frequently involves power struggles as mayors attempt to assert control over city councils and city staff. However, the leadership of the mayor in council-manager cities can be less visible and easily overlooked. The Facilitative Leader in City Hall: Reexamining the Scope and Contributions boldly suggests a collaborative model for leadership that identifies what is unique in the council-manager setting. Mayors acting as facilitative leaders can successfully guide their cities drawing on the contributions of the council and the manager rather than attempting to drive them. Scholar James H. Svara builds on his work in the 1994 book Facilitative Leadership in Local Government, and provides a more critical analysis of the mayor’s office in a wider variety of cities. This book examines the model of facilitative leadership and the importance of vision in explaining the nature of mayoral leadership and its effect on the performance of city government. It analyzes responses from a 2001 national survey of city council members and examines the findings of fourteen case studies of mayors who have served in recent years. The book features ten case studies from council-manager cities, three from mayor-council cities, and one from Denmark that highlights the importance of culture as well as formal structure in understanding leadership style. This book reexamines facilitative leadership across forms of government and addresses two questions: can mayors without separate formal powers be effective leaders? And alternatively, can mayors with formal powers provide more effective leadership by using facilitative approaches? The unexpected answer to both questions is "yes." As cities face the challenge of adapting to new approaches to governance, all mayors need to lead with facilitation and vision.

Providing a critical examination of government in American cities, this volume presents the innovative view that mayors in council-manager cities are better positioned to develop positive leadership than their peers in mayor-council cities. This book develops a deeper understanding of city government institutions with an examination of groundbreaking conceptual model of leadership and how it relates to local government forms. Based on the observation of mayors who have served in the past decade in cities ranging in size from 1500 to 1.5 million, fourteen case studies evaluate factors that contribute to effective leadership and highlight emerging issues faced by today‘s cities.

This concise text is a reader friendly primer to the fundamentals of administrative responsibility and ethics. Your students will come away with a clear understanding of why ethics are important to administrators in governmental and non-profit organizations, and how these administrators can relate their own personal values to the norms of the public sector. Since the publication of the first edition of The Ethics Primer, there has been significant change in the climate of public affairs that impacts the discussion of ethics for those who serve the public in governmental and nonprofit organizations. The new edition reflects those changes in three major areas:•Ethics in an era of increasing tension between political leaders and administrators over the role and size of government.•Ethical choices in making fiscal cuts or imposing new taxes in the face of the greatest economic crisis since the Depression.•Ethical challenges to established practices in public organizations.The Second Edition also offers thoroughly updated data and sources throughout, as well as examples that incorporate new research and new developments in government and politics. The Second Edition of The Ethics Primer for Public Administrators in Government and Nonprofit Organizations:•Introduces readers to the fundamentals of administrative responsibility and provides comprehensive coverage of the important elements of ethics.•Features an accessible and interactive approach to maximize understanding of the subject.•Includes information on the nature of public service and the ethical expectations of public administrators, as well factors that may lead to unethical behavior.•Written from a political perspective, the book addresses questions that are highly salient to persons working in government and nonprofits.•Offers helpful ways to link ethics and management in order to strengthen the ethical climate in a public organization.