Government by Contract

Government by Contract PDF Author: Jody Freeman
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674032088
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 550

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Book Description
The dramatic growth of government over the course of the twentieth century since the New Deal prompts concern among libertarians and conservatives and also among those who worry about government’s costs, efficiency, and quality of service. These concerns, combined with rising confidence in private markets, motivate the widespread shift of federal and state government work to private organizations. This shift typically alters only who performs the work, not who pays or is ultimately responsible for it. “Government by contract” now includes military intelligence, environmental monitoring, prison management, and interrogation of terrorism suspects. Outsourcing government work raises questions of accountability. What role should costs, quality, and democratic oversight play in contracting out government work? What tools do citizens and consumers need to evaluate the effectiveness of government contracts? How can the work be structured for optimal performance as well as compliance with public values? Government by Contract explains the phenomenon and scope of government outsourcing and sets an agenda for future research attentive to workforce capacities as well as legal, economic, and political concerns.

Government by Contract

Government by Contract PDF Author: Jody Freeman
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674032088
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 550

Get Book Here

Book Description
The dramatic growth of government over the course of the twentieth century since the New Deal prompts concern among libertarians and conservatives and also among those who worry about government’s costs, efficiency, and quality of service. These concerns, combined with rising confidence in private markets, motivate the widespread shift of federal and state government work to private organizations. This shift typically alters only who performs the work, not who pays or is ultimately responsible for it. “Government by contract” now includes military intelligence, environmental monitoring, prison management, and interrogation of terrorism suspects. Outsourcing government work raises questions of accountability. What role should costs, quality, and democratic oversight play in contracting out government work? What tools do citizens and consumers need to evaluate the effectiveness of government contracts? How can the work be structured for optimal performance as well as compliance with public values? Government by Contract explains the phenomenon and scope of government outsourcing and sets an agenda for future research attentive to workforce capacities as well as legal, economic, and political concerns.

The Submerged State

The Submerged State PDF Author: Suzanne Mettler
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226521664
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 172

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Book Description
“Keep your government hands off my Medicare!” Such comments spotlight a central question animating Suzanne Mettler’s provocative and timely book: why are many Americans unaware of government social benefits and so hostile to them in principle, even though they receive them? The Obama administration has been roundly criticized for its inability to convey how much it has accomplished for ordinary citizens. Mettler argues that this difficulty is not merely a failure of communication; rather it is endemic to the formidable presence of the “submerged state.” In recent decades, federal policymakers have increasingly shunned the outright disbursing of benefits to individuals and families and favored instead less visible and more indirect incentives and subsidies, from tax breaks to payments for services to private companies. These submerged policies, Mettler shows, obscure the role of government and exaggerate that of the market. As a result, citizens are unaware not only of the benefits they receive, but of the massive advantages given to powerful interests, such as insurance companies and the financial industry. Neither do they realize that the policies of the submerged state shower their largest benefits on the most affluent Americans, exacerbating inequality. Mettler analyzes three Obama reforms—student aid, tax relief, and health care—to reveal the submerged state and its consequences, demonstrating how structurally difficult it is to enact policy reforms and even to obtain public recognition for achieving them. She concludes with recommendations for reform to help make hidden policies more visible and governance more comprehensible to all Americans. The sad truth is that many American citizens do not know how major social programs work—or even whether they benefit from them. Suzanne Mettler’s important new book will bring government policies back to the surface and encourage citizens to reclaim their voice in the political process.

The Government as Dominant Shareholder

The Government as Dominant Shareholder PDF Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Subcommittee on Domestic Policy
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Industrial policy
Languages : en
Pages : 52

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Book Description


Visualized American Government

Visualized American Government PDF Author: Philip Dorf
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : United States
Languages : en
Pages : 464

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Book Description


American Government and Politics

American Government and Politics PDF Author: Robert Singh
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1446236463
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 362

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Book Description
American Government and Politics is a completely new introductory textbook designed and written for all students of politics coming to the subject for the first time. It provides a lively and accessible introduction and guide to all the main features and characteristics of one of the most distinctive and complex contemporary political systems in the world. From the impeachment of Bill Clinton, to the controversy surrounding the 2000 presidential election, and the Bush administration′s responses to September 11, students will gain a balanced and critical understanding of all the key issues and debates in contemporary American government and politics today. A number of key underlying themes include: - the nature of American values and identity - the influence of the constitution on political development - the ways in which key governing institutions function to produce domestic and foreign policy. Key features include: - comprehensive glossary of key terms - discussion and summary boxes - web links and guides to further reading Robert Singh is a lecturer in politics at Birkbeck College, London. American Government and Politics: A Concise Introduction is the foundation companion text to Contemporary American Politics: Issues and Controversies also published by SAGE. `Rob Singh has written a finely organized and informative textbook that combines to an unusually high degree analytical clarity, accessibility of style and form, and an enlightened scepticism about received wisdom. This is an admirable book′ - Nigel Bowles, St Anne′s College, Oxford `Full of topical information and written with sparkling clarity, this book is a short-cut to excellence for the discriminating student′ - Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones, Professor of American History, University of Edinburgh `In American Government and Politics Robert Singh provides an excellent introduction to the subject. His approach is wide ranging, his examples well selected and his style is accessible. It will make an ideal book for introductory and more advanced university courses on US government. I strongly recommend the book to teachers and students′ - Desmond King, Mellon Professor of American Government, University of Oxford `This is a well written and lively book that is an important addition to the ranks of textbooks on American politics. One of its many virtues is its recognition that the textbook today is useful to a student only if it links to the world of web-based resources. Highly recommended′ - Alan Ware, Worcester College, Oxford

Visualized American Government

Visualized American Government PDF Author: Philip Dorf
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : United States
Languages : en
Pages : 442

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Book Description


Domestic Interests, Democracy, and Foreign Policy Change

Domestic Interests, Democracy, and Foreign Policy Change PDF Author: Brett Ashley Leeds
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1009036904
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 147

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Book Description
When new leaders come to office, there is often speculation about whether they will take their countries' foreign policies in different directions or stick to their predecessors' policies. We argue that when new leaders come to power who represent different societal interests and preferences than their predecessors, leaders may pursue new foreign policies. At the same time, in democracies, leadership selection processes and policymaking rules blunt leaders' incentives and opportunities for change. Democracies thus tend to pursue more consistent foreign policies than nondemocracies even when new leaders with different supporting coalitions assume office. Statistical analyses of three distinct foreign policy areas – military alliances, UNGA voting, and economic sanctions – provide support for our argument. In a fourth area – trade – we find that both democracies and nondemocracies are more likely to experience foreign policy change when a new leader with a different supporting coalition comes to power. We thus conclude that foreign policy responds to domestic political interests, and that, even as the interests supporting leaders change, democracies' foreign policies are no less stable than those of nondemocracies and often exhibit greater consistency.

Setting Domestic Priorities

Setting Domestic Priorities PDF Author: Henry J. Aaron
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
This book brings together a prominent group of experts to answer a critical question: " What can government do?" Edited by Henry Aaron and Charles L. Schultze, two of the nation's most noted and experienced economists, the book focuses on the crucial domestic and social issues confronting America today.

The President's Agenda

The President's Agenda PDF Author: Paul Light
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
In this third edition, Paul Light updates his study by weighing the successes and failures of the Bush and Clinton presidencies in setting up 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 social arena to the problems associated with the end of the welfare state, the thickening of government, the problems of the budget, the Reagan effect, and the changing nature of party politics.

Foreign in a Domestic Sense

Foreign in a Domestic Sense PDF Author: Christina Duffy Burnett
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 0822381168
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 440

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Book Description
In this groundbreaking study of American imperialism, leading legal scholars address the problem of the U.S. territories. Foreign in a Domestic Sense will redefine the boundaries of constitutional scholarship. More than four million U.S. citizens currently live in five “unincorporated” U.S. territories. The inhabitants of these vestiges of an American empire are denied full representation in Congress and cannot vote in presidential elections. Focusing on Puerto Rico, the largest and most populous of the territories, Foreign in a Domestic Sense sheds much-needed light on the United States’ unfinished colonial experiment and its legacy of racially rooted imperialism, while insisting on the centrality of these “marginal” regions in any serious treatment of American constitutional history. For one hundred years, Puerto Ricans have struggled to define their place in a nation that neither wants them nor wants to let them go. They are caught in a debate too politicized to yield meaningful answers. Meanwhile, doubts concerning the constitutionality of keeping colonies have languished on the margins of mainstream scholarship, overlooked by scholars outside the island and ignored by the nation at large. This book does more than simply fill a glaring omission in the study of race, cultural identity, and the Constitution; it also makes a crucial contribution to the study of American federalism, serves as a foundation for substantive debate on Puerto Rico’s status, and meets an urgent need for dialogue on territorial status between the mainlandd and the territories. Contributors. José Julián Álvarez González, Roberto Aponte Toro, Christina Duffy Burnett, José A. Cabranes, Sanford Levinson, Burke Marshall, Gerald L. Neuman, Angel R. Oquendo, Juan Perea, Efrén Rivera Ramos, Rogers M. Smith, E. Robert Statham Jr., Brook Thomas, Richard Thornburgh, Juan R. Torruella, José Trías Monge, Mark Tushnet, Mark Weiner