Kategoria BISAC: Political Science >> Public Affairs & Administration

The first systematic examination of the federal civil service in nearly forty years, The Foundation of Merit analyzes the historical development of the civil service in the context of the political and democratic environment that is central to its effectiveness and legitimacy. Patricia Ingraham describes theincremental and disjointed growth of the federal civil service and explains how, and why, it came to be a system with control in the wrong places, with discretion in the wrong places, and why--in its current form--it has little hope of meeting the enormous challenges of the next...

In this third edition of The President's Agenda, Paul Light brings his acclaimed study up to date by weighing the successes and failures of the Bush and Clinton presidencies in setting a legislative agenda of domestic issues for Congress. The most noticeable development, according to Light, is the shrinking of the agenda and the absence of fresh new ideas. Explaining the emergence of -the derivative Presidency, - he attributes this increasingly limited agenda to the problems associated with the end of the welfare state, the thickening of government, the problems of the budget, the...

When Franklin Roosevelt decided his administration needed a large executive staff, he instituted dramatic and lasting changes in the federal bureaucracy and in the very nature of the presidency. Today, no president can govern without an enormous White House staff. Yet analysts have disagreed about whether the key to a president's success lies in his ability to understand and adapt to the constraints of this bureaucracy or in his ability to control and even transform it to suit his needs.

In The Institutional Presidency John Burke argues that both skills are crucial. Burke...

In this groundbreaking book, J. Patrick Dobel describes and analyzes the elements that constitute integrity in public office. Drawing on case studies, memoirs, interviews, and fiction (e.g., John Le Carre), Dobel addresses such issues as when to resign and when to stay in office. He examines the temptations of power, the relation between private and public life, and the role of honor and prudence in making personal decisions. He applies not only moral theory but also the insights of history, organizational theory, and psychology. Unlike most political ethics books, Public Integrity...

Combining insights from traditional thought and practice and from contemporary political analysis, Madison's Managers presents a constitutional theory of public administration in the United States. Anthony Michael Bertelli and Laurence E. Lynn Jr. contend that managerial responsibility in American government depends on official respect for the separation of powers and a commitment to judgment, balance, rationality, and accountability in managerial practice.

The authors argue that public management--administration by unelected officials of public agencies and activities based...

Here, Kenneth J. Meier and Laurence J. O'Toole Jr. present a timely analysis of working democracy, arguing that bureaucracy--often considered antithetical to fundamental democratic principles--can actually promote democracy.

Drawing from both the empirical work of political scientists and the qualitative work of public administration scholars, the authors employ a -governance approach- that considers broad, institutionally complex systems of governance as well as the nitty-gritty details of bureaucracy management. They examine the results of bureaucratic and political interactions...

In this first in-depth examination of the governance of the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) in over twenty-five years, G. Bruce Doern and Richard Levesque show how the agency's history is interwoven with the evolution of Canada's economic and industrial development and with the fostering of science at Canada's universities, in industry, and within the federal government. Using a policy and institutional approach, the authors demonstrate the ways in which the NRC has had to simultaneously absorb significant budgetary and personnel cuts and become, in its own structure and...

Risky Business is a comprehensive look at Canada's science-based policy and regulatory regime. It asks what risks Canadians might be exposed to as fiscal pressures strain the capacity of regulators in areas such as food, drugs, pesticides, fisheries, and the environment.

The first part of this book focuses the reader's attention on diverse and major themes and issues that pervade science-based regulatory regimes today. The second part suggests a framework for analysis and endeavours to present both sympathetic and critical perspectives on the inner-workings of regulatory departments...

The creation and privatization of Petro-Canada provides an important lesson in state intervention and Canadian public policy. John Erik Fossum explores the reasons for the federal government's intervention in the energy industry between 1973 and 1984 and shows how its initial objectives failed, culminating in the privatization of Petro-Canada in 1990. In other countries, state oil policy unfolded along state-industry lines of conflict. Fossum shows us how in Canada the conflict was deflected to focus on the jurisdictional and constitutional concerns of governmental actors. The dismantling...