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.

In recent decades Washington has seen an alarming rise in the number of revolving door lobbyistspoliticians and officials cashing in on their government experience to become influence peddlers on K Street. These lobbyists, popular wisdom suggests, sell access to the highest bidder. Revolving Door Lobbying tells a different, more nuanced story. As an insider interviewed in the book observes, where the general public has the impression that lobbyists actually get things done, I would say 90 percent of what lobbyists do is prevent harm to their client from the government.Drawing on extensive new data on lobbyists biographies and interviews with dozens of experts, authors Timothy M. LaPira and Herschel F. Thomas establish the facts of the revolving door phenomenonfacts that suggest that, contrary to widespread assumptions about insider access, special interests hire these lobbyists as political insurance against an increasingly dysfunctional, unpredictable government. With their insider experience, revolving door lobbyists offer insight into the political process, irrespective of their connections to current policymakers. What they provide to their clients is useful and marketable political risk-reduction. Exploring this claim, LaPira and Thomas present a systematic analysis of who revolving door lobbyists are, how they differ from other lobbyists, what interests they represent, and how they seek to influence public policy. The first book to marshal comprehensive evidence of revolving door lobbying, LaPira and Thomas revise the notion that lobbyists are inherently and institutionally corrupt. Rather, the authors draw a complex and sobering picture of the revolving door as a consequence of the eroding capacity of government to solve the public's problems.

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.

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.

In this study of clergy and politics, five social scientists tell how and why the technological orthodoxy and modernism that divides American Protestants into two camps increasingly correlates with today's political climate.

Recalling Tocqueville's exhortation for the French to ""look to America"" for a better understanding of their own government, this book reveals how much can be learned about American constitutionalism from a close study of French governance.

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.

Drawing on a sample of ten cities, Elaine Sharp explains how municipalities respond to sex business, abortion clinics, legalized gambling, gay rights and drug use. Analyzing the relative importance of subculture, economics, and institutional arrangements in the disputes, she offers an understanding of how cities respond differently to these issues.

Why do most neighbourhoods in the United States continue to be racially divided? In this work, author Mara Sidney offers a fresh explanation for the persistent colour lines in America's cities by showing how weak national policy has silenced and splintered grassroots activists.

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 text examines the factors that shape, reinforce or undermine reform efforts in urban education. It proposes that the barrier to reform can only be overcome by understanding how schools fit into the broader political contexts of their cities.

This study provides a history of presidential reorganization in the 20th century, from Theodore Roosevelt to Bill Clinton. The author highlights the century-long efforts of presidents to consolidate and expand their roles and powers within American government.

"No other book combines so much of modern military history with so rich an exploration of related factors in industry, finance, education, and technology, as well as statecraft. Combining strands of history from all these areas, Pearton makes an unusually complete and cogent case for the breakdown of traditional distinctions between the civil and the military, and even between war and peace. This is an excellent work of military and economic history."--Russell F. Weigley, author of The American Way of War. "Pearton's historical approach adds needed depth and perspective to many contemporary discussions of the arms problem. . . . This is an illuminating and incisive inquiry into a phenomenon of unquestioned importance."--International Affairs.

In twelve essays, influential scholars in political science explore the meaning of political leadership from the kaleidoscopic perspectives of the leaders, institutions, goals, procedures, problems, and traditions involved. The approaches, as varied as the subject itself, coalesce around the central question of how leaders interact with, transform, or are controlled by the organizations they lead.

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.

Provides a balanced, in-depth analysis of how No Child Left Behind (NCLB) became law. Using education as a case study of national policymaking, the author shows how the struggle to define the federal role in school reform took center stage in debates over the appropriate role of the government in promoting opportunity and social welfare.

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.

The authors of this work contend that it is essential for all important actors in an urban community to join together in a shared vision of what is wrong in their schools and how to fix it, and to pursue that vision strongly and systematically over a long time.