Books in the Studies in Government and Public Policy series

Speaking of cabinet appointments hed made as governor, presidential candidate Mitt Romney famously spoke of having whole binders full of women to consider. The line was much mocked; and yet, Kaitlin Sidorsky suggests, it raises a point long overlooked in discussions of the gender gap in politics: many more women are appointed, rather than elected, to political office. Analyzing an original survey of political appointments at all levels of state government, All Roads Lead to Power offers an expanded, more nuanced view of women in politics. This book also questions the manner in which political ambition, particularly among women, is typically studied and understood.In a deep comparative analysis of appointed and elected state positions, All Roads Lead to Power highlights how the differences between being appointed or elected explain why so many more women serve in appointed offices. These women, Sidorsky finds, are not always victims of a much-cited lack of self-confidence or ambition, or of a biased political sphere. More often, they make a conscious decision to enter politics through what they believe is a far less partisan and negative entry point. Furthermore, Sidorskys research reveals that many women end up in political appointmentsat all levelsnot because they are ambitious to hold public office, but because the work connects with their personal lives or careers.With its groundbreaking research and insights into the ambitions, recruitment, and motivations of appointed officials, Sidorskys work broadens our conception of political representation and alters our understanding of how and why women pursue and achieve political power.

Specialization and coordination have presented governments with a conundrum: specialized programme might be best for delivering one service to the public, but combining such programmes for all public services inevitably produces redundancies and inefficiencies. In this book, Guy Peters brings his expertise to bear on the problem of administrative and policy coordination.

This work tells the story of how cultural politics and economic greed transformed the New York's physical and social environment with an ongoing multibillion-dollar redevelopment programme, changing the district from a symbol of urban decay to one of urban renaissance.

This volume demonstrates that the democratic purposes of education are not outmoded ideas but can continue to be driving forces in public education. It establishes the intellectual foundation for revitalizing US schools and offers ideas for how the education process can be made more democratic.

This revised edition examines major redevelopment efforts in New York and London to uncover the forces behind these investment cycles and the role that public policy can play in moderating market instability. It chronicles the progress of three development projects in New York and three in London.

Examining the politics of nuclear power over the last 50 years, this study relates broad trends in American politics to changes in the regulation of the nuclear industry to show how federal policies in this area have been made, implemented and altered.

Provides an overview of American federal Inspectors General and analyzes their development and capacity to contribute to new forms of democratic legitimacy.

Politicians are polarized. Public opinion is volatile. Government is gridlocked. Or so journalists and pundits constantly report. But where are we, really, in modern American politics, and how did we get there? Those are the questions that Byron E. Shafer aims to answer in The American Political Pattern. Looking at the state of American politics at diverse points over the past eighty years, the book draws a picture, broad in scope yet precise in detail, of our political system in the modern era. It is a picture of stretches of political stability, but also, even more, of political change, one that goes a long way toward explaining how shifting factors alter the content of public policy and the character of American politicking.Shafer divides the modern world into four distinct periods: the High New Deal (19321938), the Late New Deal (19391968), the Era of Divided Government (19691992), and the Era of Partisan Volatility (19932016). Each period is characterized by a different arrangement of the same key factors: party balance, ideological polarization, issue conflict, and the policy-making process that goes with them.The American Political Pattern shows how these factors are in turn shaped by permanent aspects of the US Constitution, most especially the separation of powers and federalism, while their alignment is simultaneously influenced by the external demands for governmental action that arise in each period, including those derived from economic currents, major wars, and social movements. Analyzing these periods, Shafer sets the terms for understanding the structure and dynamics of politics in our own turbulent time. Placing the current political world in its historical and evolutionary framework, while illuminating major influences on American politics over time, his book explains where this modern world came from, why it endures, and how it might change yet again.

This work looks at the controversial social programme ""Aid to Families with Dependent Children"" (AFDC). It includes an examination of the role of the courts in AFDC, the rise of welfare waivers, and the failure of the Clinton welfare plan. The book also discusses how AFDC will fare in the future.

This edition includes three chapters that add analysis and perspective to debates surrounding the political and administrative change in less-developed countries, the deficiencies of public administration theory, and the ways in which reform begets further reform.

"Empowering the White House" examines how Richard Nixon entered the Oval Office in 1969 and managed to change it in a way that augmented the power of presidency and continues to influence into the 21st century how his successors have governed.

With the collapse of national health care reform efforts in the early 1990s, states emerged as a focal point for new policy and administrative developments in US health care. This work provides an overview of key issues facing states as they have responded to this challenge.

This analysis of urban neighbourhoods in the United States from 1960 to 1995 presents 15 original essays by scholars of urban planning and development. Together they show how urban neighbourhoods can and must be preserved as economic, cultural and political centres.

This study of how the American Congress communicates shows that although at any one time there are relatively few in Congress undertaking extensive searches for information, the collective base of information generated by all searches is unexpectedly comprehensive. Practical examples are included.

A critical analysis of the statewide initiative process in the United States, challenging readers to look beyond populist rhetoric and face political reality. Through prose, anecdotes and historical context, Richard Ellis seeks to reveal the ""dark side"" of direct democracy.

Even when effective treatments become available, efforts to control disease often fall short. Written to improve the prospects for managing AIDS, this work draws on previous large-scale public health initiatives to show how management effectiveness can meet threats to public health.

Many of the basic issues of political science have been addressed by pluralist theory, which focuses on the competing interests of a democratic polity, their organization, and their influence on policy. Andrew McFarland shows that this approach still provides a promising foundation for understanding the American political process.