Kategoria BISAC: Political Science >> Public Affairs & Administration

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 4th IFIP International Working Conference, KMGov 2003, held in Rhodes, Greece in May 2003.

The 32 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected for presentation. The papers are organized in topical sections on KM concepts for inter-organization cooperation, requirements for KM systems in government, improving government activity through KM, representing governmental knowledge, innovative technologies to support KM, KM tools for public administration, approaching KM solutions, examples of KM in public...

This book brings together thirteen experts in subnational politics to examine the effects on local and regional governments of the pessimistic perception that governments are limited in their problem-solving abilities. Contributors discuss the issue of popular participation in the political decision-making process, which has led to the creation of community action groups and local and regional organizations that foster economic development. They take a hard look at the nature of relationships with other levels of government and address the problems caused by a shrinking budget.

In political science and sociology, great controversies exist concerning the desirable balance between national and local power, the relevant factors in sub-national decision making, and the social consequences of centralization and decentralization. "Regionalism and Regional Devolution in Comparative Perspective" explores these controversies and the elements which give rise to them. Students of comparative politics, political sociology, Western European history, international affairs, or comparative social institutions can turn to this book for a balanced assessment of the alternative...

This text is a must for all aspiring or serving policy supervisors. It sincerely deals with a problem that has perplexed police union representatives and could go a long way toward easing labor/management confrontations regarding marginal police performance. "Robert B. Kliesmet, General President, International Union of Police Associations, AFL-CIO"

"Burnout in Blue: Managing The Marginal Police Performer" is an important contribution to professional law enforcement. Today, as never before, the volume of crime and the limited resources allocated to provide police services places...

Organizational development, as an alternative to Reagan administration methods of revamping federal agencies, has been successfully applied in many public sector organizations. "High Performance and Human Costs" focuses on the effective new management approach of one such organization, the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA), and provides perspective on how administrators can move away from outdated bureaucratic models.

The work focuses on public agency dynamics using MARTA as an example. The authors begin by studying emerging practices for high performance and include...

The reasons for the success or failure of neighborhood organizing efforts have been a persistent concern of policymakers and political analysts for decades. However, most studies of the subject have been limited in their ability to offer generalizations beyond their target area due to the constraints of local conditions or idiosyncratic group histories. This volume employs a case study of Birmingham Alabama's successful citizen participation program to examine the dynamics of grassroots political activity and the techniques that are effective in promoting such activity. As Haeberle...

This new work offers an in-depth look at the roles played by professional local government managers within the changing circumstances of American community life. It analyzes the societal and political influences that have shaped the professionalization of local government managers, and projects how the roles of these officers will develop, now that the professional movement has been accepted. In preparing the work, the author has accessed, for the first time, the International City Management Association's decade of national survey information on cities and countries with recognized...

Designed to meet the growing demand for evaluation material, this volume fills a major gap in criminal justice literature. It details the first comprehensive, broad based, and theoretically grounded model for evaluating police management training programs. In a clear and concise style it develops a complete set of instruments for evaluation and then illustrates use of the model and the instruments on a specific program. Byron Simerson and William Markham have included all of the instruments needed to conduct a comprehensive evaluation and the instructions for their use. Alleviating the...

This study fills a void in the literature of Latin American politics by offering a comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of the state and its bureaucratic components in the various nations of the region. The author notes at the onset that the complexity of the state apparatus in Latin America--ranging from the entrenched bureaucracy of Brazil to the minimal administrative capabilities of Nicaragua--presents both a challenge and a problem for analysts. His unique contribution here is combining an overview of public bureaucracy in Latin America with a series of country and regional profiles....

Affirmative action programs have been implemented in over 50 jurisdictions in the United States, yet studies of a number of these communities have shown that most efforts to meet proposed race-conscious hiring goals have been unsuccessful. This unique comparative case study investigates the reasons for the success or failure of affirmative action programs in two Southern communities. Augustus J. Jones, Jr. challenges the findings in the literature that affirmative action efforts are doomed to failure. This analysis does what similar studies have failed to do: it identifies and defines...

The concept of decentralization embraces several distinct processes, including the deconcentration of governmental and administrative functions, involving both their physical relocation and the devolution of powers, whether political or economic. This book presents a theoretical framework for observations of such phenomena in Latin America, relating them to the modern, or post-modern, tendencies of fragmentation of monolithic structures in many countries and in many fields of human activity. As such it is the first book to systematically examine the process in a particular region and to...

Sir Henry Taylor's classic treatise "The Statesman," originally published in 1836, is the first modern book to be devoted to the subject of public administration. It has been read and studied by generations for its keen insights into the relationship between public administrators and elected officials in a democracy. It has also been appreciated for its wit. The present volume is the first twentieth-century edition to be based on the revised and expanded text that Taylor published in 1878 as part of his Collected Works. It is also the first edition to be fully annotated.

The lengthy...

Policing, environmental protection, and tax administration have much more in common than practitioners in these areas often recognize. Their cultures and traditions have, for the past few decades, incorporated a classic enforcement mentality, based on the underlying assumption that a ruthless and efficient investigative and enforcement capability would produce compliance through the mechanisms of deterrence. In these fields, and perhaps in many other enforcement or compliance oriented professions, Sparrow believes the traditional enforcement approach is under stress. There are too many...

This unique collection broadens the focus of public administration to include practical and theoretical insights from the worlds of literature and the arts. By making connections between what are normally seen as disparate arenas, the contributors seek to enrich the theory and practice of public administration. The volume connects administrative and management concepts to both Western and Eastern aesthetic theories; provides insights into administration by surveying literature and film for negative and positive constructs of bureaucracy; examines historical and fictional portrayals of...

Under pressure from both the Federal government and private citizens, local and state governments are restructuring their services, including the areas of education, highway, and transportation. While the federal government wants to reassign responsibilities to local governments, voters want greater efficiency and lower taxes via privatization. This edited collection considers these pressures, the responses from state and local governments, and specific experiments in privatizing local services.

The book's opening chapter presents an overview of the changing landscape, while the...

The growth in power of government bureaucracies is one of the more profound developments of 20th-century society. Bureaucracies impact the quality of life of every person in this country and many millions outside American borders. The president, governors, mayors, legislators, judges, and the public now are increasingly concerned with how bureaucracies are using their power, and accountability is at the heart of these concerns. For what and to whom are bureaucracies accountable? This acclaimed text examines these questions, primarily in the context of the federal bureaucracy.

Building...