Public Administration and Public Policy – serie

Contemporary public administration research has marginalized the importance of “taking history seriously.” With few exceptions, little recent scholarship in the field has looked longitudinally (rather than cross-sectionally), contextually, and theoretically over extended time periods at “big questions” in public administration. One such “big question” involves the evolution of American administrative reform and its link since the nation’s founding to American state building. This book addresses this gap by analyzing administrative reform in unprecedented empirical and theoretical ways. In taking a multidisciplinary approach, it incorporates recent developments in cognate research fields in the humanities and social sciences that have been mostly ignored in public administration. It thus challenges existing notions of the nature, scope, and power of the American state and, with these, important aspects of today’s conventional wisdom in public administration.Author Robert F. Durant explores the administrative state in a new light as part of a “compensatory state”—driven, shaped, and amplified since the nation’s founding by a corporate–social science nexus of interests. Arguing that this nexus of interests has contributed to citizen estrangement in the United States, he offers a broad empirical and theoretical understanding of the political economy of administrative reform, its role in state building, and its often paradoxical results. Offering a reconsideration of conventional wisdom in public administration, this book is required reading for all students, scholars, or practitioners of public administration, public policy, and politics.

Contemporary public administration research has marginalized the importance of “taking history seriously.” With few exceptions, little recent scholarship in the field has looked longitudinally (rather than cross-sectionally), contextually, and theoretically over extended time periods at “big questions” in public administration. One such “big question” involves the evolution of American administrative reform and its link since the nation’s founding to American state building. This book addresses this gap by analyzing administrative reform in unprecedented empirical and theoretical ways. In taking a multidisciplinary approach, it incorporates recent developments in cognate research fields in the humanities and social sciences that have been mostly ignored in public administration. It thus challenges existing notions of the nature, scope, and power of the American state and, with these, important aspects of today’s conventional wisdom in public administration.Author Robert F. Durant explores the administrative state in a new light as part of a “compensatory state”—driven, shaped, and amplified since the nation’s founding by a corporate–social science nexus of interests. Arguing that this nexus of interests has contributed to citizen estrangement in the United States, he offers a broad empirical and theoretical understanding of the political economy of administrative reform, its role in state building, and its often paradoxical results. Offering a reconsideration of conventional wisdom in public administration, this book is required reading for all students, scholars, or practitioners of public administration, public policy, and politics.

Local officials are responsible for a number of important tasks that have a significant impact on the quality of life of most Americans. Arguably, the policy choices made by local governments in the United States more directly impact individual well-being than do the choices made at any other level of government. From zoning decisions to the creation of parks and the maintenance of sidewalks and trails, local governments are largely responsible for direct services to the public and can provide the necessary tools and skills to create an attractive and vibrant community. And yet one area of significant importance for both individuals and for the country as a whole, local sustainability, is a relatively new policy area for many American municipalities. For example, how many local governments are adopting sustainability policies and plans? How are those initiatives performing? Without an honest and robust examination of both the effectiveness and the efficiency of local sustainability policies, the success of the entire sustainability movement in the United States is uncertain. This book provides readers with a comprehensive understanding of what constitutes local sustainability and why it matters. Focusing closely on environmental initiatives, economic development issues, and social equity concerns, each chapter offers both an account of the sustainability policies being adopted and a close exploration of the performance measurement activities of cities in that policy area. Readers are introduced to the metrics that American cities are using to measure the performance of their sustainability efforts, as well as benchmarks and comparison statistics that may be used to develop and evaluate the performance assessment efforts in their own sustainability programs. Students of public administration, urban planning, and political science – as well as public officials – will find this book useful to understand the complexity of sustainability and local government.

Can a baker refuse to make a wedding cake for a gay couple? Despite the U.S. Supreme Court decision guaranteeing marriage equality in 2015, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) citizens in the United States continue to be discriminated against in fundamental areas that others take for granted as a legal right. Using social equity theory and intersectionality but written in an accessible style, this book demonstrates some of the ways in which LGBTQ citizens have been marginalized for their identity and argues that the field of public administration has a unique responsibility to prioritize social equity. Categories utilized by the U.S. Census Bureau (male or female, heterosexual or homosexual), for example, must shift to a continuum to accurately capture demographic characteristics and citizen behavior. Evidenced-based outcomes and disparities between cisgender and heterosexual and LGBTQ populations are carefully delineated to provide a legal rationale for a compelling governmental interest, and policy recommendations are provided – including overdue federal legislation to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Presenting emphases on and approaches to issues such as government spending, reporting, pricing and fiscal federalism, the Handbook of Public Finance demonstrates the utility of integrating public finance theory with actual public policy practices. It discusses applications in major subfields of public finance, including public education, environmental regulation, energy policy, social welfare programs, and local and state politics. Other topics of discussion include the theory and practice of tax incidence analysis; the marginal costs of taxation and regulation, the economics of expenditure incidence, discounting and the social discount rate; passive use benefits, and public sector pricing.

Organizational Behavior and Public Management reveals how organizational behavior enables managers to direct resources that advance the programs and policies of public and government. This edition offers a public sector perspective of core topics, such as communication, decision-making, leadership, management ethics, motivation, organizational change, participation and performance appraisal. Contemporary Psychology called this book "skillful and comprehensive…There is a need for a text like this…the device of juxtaposing theory and application is a sound one." The authors discuss such topics as communication, decision making, worker participation and total quality management, organizational change, management systems, information, computers and organization theory in public management.

Written by nearly 25 authorities in the field, the Handbook of Global International Policy focuses on public policy issues among and within nations on every continent-comparing approaches and applications to real-world problems.Beginning with a thorough introduction to the subject, the Handbook reviewsformer and emerging U.S. decisi

Building upon the strengths of the first edition while continuing to extend the influence and reach of organizational behavior (OB), the Second Edition of this groundbreaking reference/ text analyzes OB from a business marketing perspective-offering a thorough treatment of central, soon-to-be central, contiguous, and emerging topics of OB to facilitate greater viability and demand of OB practice. New edition incorporates more comparative perspectives throughout!Contributing to the dynamic, interdisciplinary state of OB theory and practice, the Handbook of Organizational Behavior, Second Editioncomprehensively covers strategic and critical issues of the OB field with descriptive analyses and full documentation details the essential principles defining core OB such as organizational design, structure, culture, leadership theory, and risk taking advances solutions to setting operational definitions throughout the field comparatively discusses numerous situations and variables to provide clarity to mixed or inconclusive research findings utilizes cross-cultural approaches to examine recent issues concerning race, ethnicity, and gender reevaluates value standards and paradigms of change in OB investigates cross-national examples of OB development, including case studies from the United States and India and much more!Written by 45 worldwide specialists and containing over 3500 references, tables, drawings, and equations, the Handbook of Organizational Behavior, Second Edition is a definitive reference for public administrators, consultants, organizational behavior specialists, behavioral psychologists, political scientists, and sociologists, as well as a necessary and worthwhile text for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students taking organizational behavior courses in the departments of public administration, psychology, management, education, and sociology.

Exploring a variety of methods for improving the economic performance of organizations, this multidisciplinary text covers macro- and micro-perspectives while considering strategic planning, systematic process analysis, leadership studies, group dynamics, and human motivation theories. It highlights "quality of relationships" as a guiding principle within the framework of public administration and stresses customer, client, and stakeholder satisfaction. With over 1000 literature references, tables, drawings, and equations, and appendices of laws and regulations, the book responds to the mandate for high performance and increased productivity.

This work addresses perspectives on the judicial, correctional and law enforcement components of the criminal justice system, including history, ethics, prevention, intervention, due process, marginalized populations, international consequences and demands for professionalism. It also examines critical variations in the criminal justice systems of countries worldwide.

Considering the current challenges to human progress, this reference book examines recent theories, policies, and sectoral priorities, as well as various social, economic, and administrative factors that impact worldwide modernization and development. The book emphasizes the fact that communities must evaluate continuously and adjust their program activities in order to achieve a genuine mode of development. This volume includes case studies demonstrating effective applications of the major operational tools for the layout and execution of major development policies and examines the current trends and future directions in development theories, policies, and practices in the 21st century.

The central resource for process improvement and innovation, this book includes valuable techniques to identify and improve organizational processes, as well as manage the change that accompanies implementation. Strategic Management for Public and Nonprofit Organizations discusses SWOT analysis, TQM, systematic innovation, Six Sigma, quality function deployment, process mapping, gap analysis, and activity based costing. With helpful references to secondary sources and a comprehensive glossary, this text will benefit public administrators, financial managers, public planners, investment managers, policy analysts, and public policy specialists, and upper-level undergraduate and graduate students in these disciplines.

A resource for administrators seeking innovative ideas and supporting precedents in formulating policy, this book also provides a useful textbook for public administration and policy students. It employs a wealth of case studies in budgeting and financial management to demonstrate strategies in system implementation, policy formulation, government

The public administrator just not benefit from any analytic tool plan or design, no matter how well thought out, unless it is implemented successfully. Handbook of organisation management addresses the challenges managers face when trying to achieve desired results in public organisations, stressing the integration of both techniques and personal skills.Written by leading experts in their respective fields each topic is treated from the manager's point of view. In five distinctive sections this comprehensive practical guide offers an invaluable overview of major concerns of public managers… discuss is the management of public employees… examines overall organisation issues and management skills… illustrates several specific tools and techniques necessary for successful public management… and explores the ongoing interactions of organisations with the outside world.Moreover this extraordinary book presents a final chapter surveying concepts and methods examined throughout the text and summarising the major characteristics of the public agencies environment. In this environment of rapid change mounting pressures and increasing sophistication practitioners and students of public management or administration as well as educators and managers in business, cannot afford to be without Handbook of Organisation Management!

Bureaucracy is an age-old form of government that has survived since ancient times; it has provided order and persisted with durability, dependability, and stability. The popularity of the first edition of this book, entitled Handbook of Bureaucracy, is testimony to the endurance of bureaucratic institutions. Reflecting the accelerated globalization of corporate capitalism, cultures, and governance systems and the additional complexity in the tasks of public administrators, Bureaucracy and Administration presents a comprehensive, global perspective that highlights the dramatic changes of the last 15 years in governance, business, and public administration.Reflects Dramatic Changes in Governance, Business, and Public AdministrationThrough articles contributed by international experts, this volume provides a thorough analysis of bureaucracies worldwide and their effect on politics, economics, and society. The book begins by exploring the historical antecedents of bureaucracy, looking at some of the great ancient civilizations and their administrative traditions, achievements, and contributions to modern administration and governance systems. In the next section, leading scholars from political science, sociology, governance, and public administration present a detailed review of theoretical and conceptual perspectives on bureaucracies and bureaucratic politics. Following an examination of bureaucracy and public management and presenting topics such as the response to Hurricane Katrina, training of bureaucrats, and ethical issues, contributors review bureaucratic politics in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The book concludes with a focused analysis of bureaucracy, change, reform, and revolution, highlighting implications for future governance and administration.Comprising theoretical and empirical analyses and including perspectives which span from ancient to modern times, this volume comprehensively and authoritatively advances the knowledge of the nature, role, and function of bureaucracy as the core of sound governance and administration around the world.

The Handbook of Conflict Management cuts across theoretical perspectives, strategic models, and situational contexts as the first all-encompassing conflict management reference. A young field in both research and practice, this foundational text sets precedents for furthering academic study and real-world progress in managing diverse instances of conflict. It draws on more than 600 references to probe sources of conflict and to prescribe means of reducing tension in organizational, institutional, and community settings. Introducing core themes and issues into the dialogue, the handbook provides techniques to promote peaceful negotiation, cooperation, and consensus.

An impressive study of economic, state, social, and international restructuring, International Public Policy and Management explores new patterns and advances in the global integration of policies that result from an ever-increasing pace of shared knowledge, regulations, and norms in countries around the globe. It considers the impact of globalized knowledge on society and its effects on societal norms, values, and quality of life and contains up-to-date theories and practices for both scholars and practitioners interested in policy development and implementation. This book helps administrators create improved strategic management policies and political arrangements in modern, rapidly changing communities and environments.This volume is essential for all practitioners and public service managers, public and government administrators, political scientists, sociologists, and public policy and public management specialists, and upper-level undergraduate and graduate students taking courses in political science, sociology, public affairs, and political development.

Bioterrorism in Medical and Healthcare Administration provides an efficient method to identify, manage, and control transformations in the provision of health services during elevated levels of bioterrorist threat - offering step-by-step procedures and templates to prepare and implement a coordinated response to high-alert situations. This reference proposes an efficient method to identify, manage, and control transformations in the provision of health services during elevated levels of bioterrorist threat - offering step-by-step procedures and templates to prepare and implement a coordinated response to high-alert situations.

This book reviews the evolution of organization theory literature and explains other theories of organization and the implicit wisdom of the instructor's favorite theory. It helps the reader to understand the relevance of organization theory to the problems of administering public organizations.

Marking the 97th anniversary of Woodrow Wilson’s landmark The Study of Administration, this major work focuses on Wilson, his times, and his widely discussed politics-administration di-chotomy. The 21 distinguished contributors-brought together after a nationwide search for the finest writ-ing on this topic-weave a unique text that offers a single-source reference investigating the study as well as the practice of public administration ... presents a cohesive, original ac count of the subject by concentrating on Wilson’s contributions-an approach superior to that of the ordinary text ... and spotlights key current issues and challenges resulting from obser vations made during Wilson’s era. Politics and Administration provides such an exceptional perspective of this field that it is sure to attain rapid recognition as the ideal textbook for graduate-level introductory public admin-istration or management, political science, and American history courses. What is more, ongo-ing examinations of public administration make this volume a requisite reference for political scientists, historians, public administrators, politicians, and sociologists.

Managing Administration represents the only introductory text covering management in every occupational setting. This matchless single-source provides the conceptual framework vital to comprehension of the whole system ... offers the foundation for resource deployment-crucial in day-to-day organizational function and problem solving ... and presents a basis for asking pertinent questions, necessary to make the fullest use of specialists within the system. Managing Administration tackles the subject in four logical sections. The first addresses the ad­ministrative setting, and sets up a conceptual framework. Next, the section on information re­sources in administration explores key research tools. The third unit examines human resources in administration, highlighting organizational change and labor relations. Finally, the section on financial resources delves into financial management, decision making, and budgeting. Managing Administration truly is a unique addition to the literature. It is the ideal text for grad­uate as well as undergraduate students of public administration, personnel administration, busi­ness management, organization theory, information systems management, and political science. Moreover, any practicing management personnel will find this insightful work indispensable as a reference.

This book provides the reader with an introduction to the concept and practice of terrorism embedded within a firm understanding of politics and social structure. It explores the major theories, typologies, strategies, ideologies, practices, and responses to contemporary political terrorism.

This important text integrates the study of ethics into public management training, highlighting Supreme Court opinions on three specific constitutional values-equality, freedom, and property-focusing on the pedagogical aspects of law and posing challenging questions to help readers apply theories to concrete situations. It includes a case index for further research. Topics of specific interest include abortion, affirmative action, bureaucratic bashing, civil disobedience, the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, the Iran-Contra scandal, moral absolutism, privileged communications, religious fundamentalism, and whistle blowing. The Midwest Review of Pubic Administration lauds it as "…a unique teaching tool."

Blending both the theoretical and applied aspects of contemporary issues in court management, this reference/text offers in-depth coverage of all major topics and developments in judicial systems administration. It is suitable for use in the classroom or for self-study.;Providing the background material to clarify even the most technical management application, this book: presents the history and theory of the court management movement; examines the separation of powers doctrine, and its relationship to judicial independence; discusses the latest developments in court reform, the American Bar Association standards, alternative dispute resolution techniques and caseflow considerations; analyzes unified court budgeting and revenue generation by judicial systems; describes personnel administration, training and jury management; and elucidates court performance evaluation, planning approaches, the use of cameras in the courtroom and audio-visual applications.

"This entirely updated and enlarged Second Edition of a landmark reference/text continues to provide comprehensive coverage of every important aspect of policy studies--discussing concepts, methods, utilization, formation, and implementation both internationally and across each level of government."

This theoretically and experientially grounded reference provides a complete overview of the principles and applications of government administration and management practices in the local public sector. Written by over 25 distinguished academics and professionals with substantial experience as practitioners and consultants of administrative operations to local governments, the book covers the effects of environmental conditions on local administrators and management techniques to administration in different types of local government. It helps readers reduce research time by presenting advanced materials on local government administration and management in a single source.

Understanding the effects of radical change on public personnel systems is critically important both now and in the future to all those interested in the quality of American democracy. Civil service reform is occurring at all levels of government both in the United States and abroad.American Public Service: Radical Reform and the Merit System is a collection of papers that examine the innovations, strategies, and issues found in the contemporary civil service reform debate. Offering diverse perspectives from expert contributors, this book presents matters concerning radical reform and the merit system at the federal, state, and local levels of government. This volume offers fresh insight into the effects of merit system changes on employees. Divided into four sections, this book… · Examines a portrait of contemporary reforms from across the country and concepts to interpret those data · Addresses whether the relaxation of civil service protections against partisan intrusion will result in corruption · Provides examples of ongoing changes and analyzes survey data from state managers · Discusses a variety of key issues, such as the impact on racial inequality of moving from a protected class employment status to an unprotected at-will relationship The book provides a baseline of data on reforms as well as an account of their current promises and pitfalls. Covering topics ripped from the headlines, this text also identifies pressing issues and makes suggestions for the future. Offering a variety of methodological approaches, it is ideal for all those interested in effective governance.

Intense media coverage of the public pension funding crisis continues to fuel heightened awareness in and debate over public pension benefits. With over $3 trillion in assets currently under management, the ramifications of poor oversight are severe. It is important that practitioners, researchers, and taxpayers be well-advised regarding any concerns, but until now traditional references have provided very little coverage.State and Local Pension Fund Management provides a basic and systematic discussion of all the major issues facing those responsible for state and local public retirement programs. The author begins with a technical overview that examines the history of the public pension system. He then proceeds to examinations of pension benefit design, actuarial valuation and funding methods, financial reporting, and pension asset investment management. These technical discussions prepare readers for the second component, which is a focus on policy. The book delves into issues such as managing public pension programs in the political context of public budgeting, pension benefit reforms, and the fairness and sustainability of pension benefits in the public sector. In addition, the author dedicates a chapter to a detailed discussion of other postemployment benefits (OPEBs) such as life, disability, and long-term care insurance, as well as healthcare subsidies. The book concludes by exploring the dilemma over how to ensure financial security for public employees in their retirement without putting additional pressure on state and local government finance. By understanding the major issues involved in managing retirement benefit programs in the public sector, readers will gain the knowledge needed to make informed decisions regarding specific fund management. They will also be better able to participate in the debate over the larger issues regarding pension fund policy and reform measures.

Describing new techniques and novel applications, Handbook of Research Methods in Public Administration, Second Edition demonstrates the use of tools designed to meet the increased complexity of problems in government and non-profit organizations with ever-more rigorous and systematic research. It presents detailed information on conceptualizing, planning, and implementing research projects involving a wide variety of available methodologies. Providing a reference of systematic research methods, this second edition explains how these techniques aid in understanding traditional issues, and reveals how they might be applied to answer emerging theoretical and practical questions.Following a linear, logical organization, this handbook meets systematic goals and objectives through eight groups of chapters. The first group explains the logic of inquiry and the practical problems of locating existing research. The second group deals with research design and the third examines pitfalls in measurement and data collection. The authors give practical, considered advice in the fourth section to anticipate and solve data management problems. They include numerous illustrations to supplement two separate sections devoted to basic and advanced quantitative analysis. The seventh section covers unique analytical techniques used to gain insight specific to the non-market sector’s knotty problems. The final section addresses the impact of research and describes how to overcome illusive, tricky, and sizeable barriers to influence other researchers, decision makers, foundations, and grant making institutions. With a comprehensive survey of research methods and an examination of their practical and theoretical application in the past, present, and future, Handbook of Research Methods in Public Administration, Second Edition gives you the tools to make informed decisions.