Author: Timothy Besley
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 019927150X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 279
Book Description
What is good government? Why do some governments fail? How do you implement political accountability in practice? What incentives do you need to put in place to ensure that politicians and public servants act in the public interest and not their own? These questions and many more are addressed in Timothy Besley's intriguing Lindahl lectures. Economic analyses of government usually divide into two broad camps. One which emphasizes government as a force for public good that can regulate markets, distribute resources and generally work towards improving the lives of its citizens. The other sees government as driven by private interests, susceptible to those with the power to influence its decisions and failing to incentivize its officials to act for the greater public good. This book adopts a middle way between the two extremes, the Publius approach, which recognizes the potential for government to act for the public good but also accepts the fact that things often go wrong. It shares the view that there are certain institutional preconditions for effective government but then proceed to examine exactly what those preconditions are. Timothy Besley emphasises that it is not just about designing an appropriate institutional framework but also about understanding the way incentives work and the process by which the political class is selected.
Principled Agents?
Author: Timothy Besley
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 019927150X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 279
Book Description
What is good government? Why do some governments fail? How do you implement political accountability in practice? What incentives do you need to put in place to ensure that politicians and public servants act in the public interest and not their own? These questions and many more are addressed in Timothy Besley's intriguing Lindahl lectures. Economic analyses of government usually divide into two broad camps. One which emphasizes government as a force for public good that can regulate markets, distribute resources and generally work towards improving the lives of its citizens. The other sees government as driven by private interests, susceptible to those with the power to influence its decisions and failing to incentivize its officials to act for the greater public good. This book adopts a middle way between the two extremes, the Publius approach, which recognizes the potential for government to act for the public good but also accepts the fact that things often go wrong. It shares the view that there are certain institutional preconditions for effective government but then proceed to examine exactly what those preconditions are. Timothy Besley emphasises that it is not just about designing an appropriate institutional framework but also about understanding the way incentives work and the process by which the political class is selected.
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 019927150X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 279
Book Description
What is good government? Why do some governments fail? How do you implement political accountability in practice? What incentives do you need to put in place to ensure that politicians and public servants act in the public interest and not their own? These questions and many more are addressed in Timothy Besley's intriguing Lindahl lectures. Economic analyses of government usually divide into two broad camps. One which emphasizes government as a force for public good that can regulate markets, distribute resources and generally work towards improving the lives of its citizens. The other sees government as driven by private interests, susceptible to those with the power to influence its decisions and failing to incentivize its officials to act for the greater public good. This book adopts a middle way between the two extremes, the Publius approach, which recognizes the potential for government to act for the public good but also accepts the fact that things often go wrong. It shares the view that there are certain institutional preconditions for effective government but then proceed to examine exactly what those preconditions are. Timothy Besley emphasises that it is not just about designing an appropriate institutional framework but also about understanding the way incentives work and the process by which the political class is selected.
Principled Agents?
Author: Timothy Besley
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 9780199283910
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288
Book Description
What is good government? Why do some governments fail? How do you implement political accountability in practice? What incentives do you need to put in place to ensure that politicians and public servants act in the public interest and not their own? These questions and many more are addressed in Timothy Besley's intriguing Lindahl lectures.
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 9780199283910
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288
Book Description
What is good government? Why do some governments fail? How do you implement political accountability in practice? What incentives do you need to put in place to ensure that politicians and public servants act in the public interest and not their own? These questions and many more are addressed in Timothy Besley's intriguing Lindahl lectures.
Four Guardians
Author: Jeffrey W. Donnithorne
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
ISBN: 1421439921
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 287
Book Description
Exploring the profound differences between what the military services believe—and how they uniquely serve the nation. When the US military confronts pressing security challenges, the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps often react differently as they advise and execute civilian defense policies. Conventional wisdom holds that these dynamics tend to reflect a competition for prestige, influence, and dollars. Such interservice rivalries, however, are only a fraction of the real story. In Four Guardians, Jeffrey W. Donnithorne argues that the services act instead as principled agents, interpreting policies in ways that reflect their unique cultures and patterns of belief. Chapter-length portraits of each service highlight the influence of operational environment ("nature") and political history ("nurture") in shaping each service's cultural worldview. The book also offers two important case studies of civil-military policymaking: one, the little-known story of the creation of the Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force in the early 1980s; the other, the four-year political battle that led to the passage of the Goldwater-Nichols Act in 1986. Donnithorne uses these cases to demonstrate the principled agent framework in action while amply revealing the four services as distinctly different political actors. Combining crisp insight and empirical depth with engaging military history, Four Guardians provides practical utility for civil-military scholars, national security practitioners, and interested citizens alike. This timely work brings a new appreciation for the American military, the complex dynamics of civilian control, and the principled ways in which the four guardian services defend their nation.
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
ISBN: 1421439921
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 287
Book Description
Exploring the profound differences between what the military services believe—and how they uniquely serve the nation. When the US military confronts pressing security challenges, the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps often react differently as they advise and execute civilian defense policies. Conventional wisdom holds that these dynamics tend to reflect a competition for prestige, influence, and dollars. Such interservice rivalries, however, are only a fraction of the real story. In Four Guardians, Jeffrey W. Donnithorne argues that the services act instead as principled agents, interpreting policies in ways that reflect their unique cultures and patterns of belief. Chapter-length portraits of each service highlight the influence of operational environment ("nature") and political history ("nurture") in shaping each service's cultural worldview. The book also offers two important case studies of civil-military policymaking: one, the little-known story of the creation of the Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force in the early 1980s; the other, the four-year political battle that led to the passage of the Goldwater-Nichols Act in 1986. Donnithorne uses these cases to demonstrate the principled agent framework in action while amply revealing the four services as distinctly different political actors. Combining crisp insight and empirical depth with engaging military history, Four Guardians provides practical utility for civil-military scholars, national security practitioners, and interested citizens alike. This timely work brings a new appreciation for the American military, the complex dynamics of civilian control, and the principled ways in which the four guardian services defend their nation.
The Peter Principle
Author: Dr. Laurence J. Peter
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062359495
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 138
Book Description
The classic #1 New York Times bestseller that answers the age-old question Why is incompetence so maddeningly rampant and so vexingly triumphant? The Peter Principle, the eponymous law Dr. Laurence J. Peter coined, explains that everyone in a hierarchy—from the office intern to the CEO, from the low-level civil servant to a nation’s president—will inevitably rise to his or her level of incompetence. Dr. Peter explains why incompetence is at the root of everything we endeavor to do—why schools bestow ignorance, why governments condone anarchy, why courts dispense injustice, why prosperity causes unhappiness, and why utopian plans never generate utopias. With the wit of Mark Twain, the psychological acuity of Sigmund Freud, and the theoretical impact of Isaac Newton, Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull’s The Peter Principle brilliantly explains how incompetence and its accompanying symptoms, syndromes, and remedies define the world and the work we do in it.
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062359495
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 138
Book Description
The classic #1 New York Times bestseller that answers the age-old question Why is incompetence so maddeningly rampant and so vexingly triumphant? The Peter Principle, the eponymous law Dr. Laurence J. Peter coined, explains that everyone in a hierarchy—from the office intern to the CEO, from the low-level civil servant to a nation’s president—will inevitably rise to his or her level of incompetence. Dr. Peter explains why incompetence is at the root of everything we endeavor to do—why schools bestow ignorance, why governments condone anarchy, why courts dispense injustice, why prosperity causes unhappiness, and why utopian plans never generate utopias. With the wit of Mark Twain, the psychological acuity of Sigmund Freud, and the theoretical impact of Isaac Newton, Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull’s The Peter Principle brilliantly explains how incompetence and its accompanying symptoms, syndromes, and remedies define the world and the work we do in it.
Computational Theories of Interaction and Agency
Author: Philip Agre
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262510905
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 794
Book Description
Over time the field of artificial intelligence has developed an "agent perspective" expanding its focus from thought to action, from search spaces to physical environments, and from problem-solving to long-term activity. Originally published as a special double volume of the journal Artificial Intelligence, this book brings together fundamental work by the top researchers in artificial intelligence, neural networks, computer science, robotics, and cognitive science on the themes of interaction and agency. It identifies recurring themes and outlines a methodology of the concept of "agency." The seventeen contributions cover the construction of principled characterizations of interactions between agents and their environments, as well as the use of these characterizations to guide analysis of existing agents and the synthesis of artificial agents.Artificial Intelligence series.Special Issues of Artificial Intelligence
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262510905
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 794
Book Description
Over time the field of artificial intelligence has developed an "agent perspective" expanding its focus from thought to action, from search spaces to physical environments, and from problem-solving to long-term activity. Originally published as a special double volume of the journal Artificial Intelligence, this book brings together fundamental work by the top researchers in artificial intelligence, neural networks, computer science, robotics, and cognitive science on the themes of interaction and agency. It identifies recurring themes and outlines a methodology of the concept of "agency." The seventeen contributions cover the construction of principled characterizations of interactions between agents and their environments, as well as the use of these characterizations to guide analysis of existing agents and the synthesis of artificial agents.Artificial Intelligence series.Special Issues of Artificial Intelligence
Principled Spying
Author: David Omand
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
ISBN: 1626165602
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 297
Book Description
Collecting and analyzing intelligence are essential to national security and an effective foreign policy. The public also looks to its security agencies for protection from terrorism, from serious criminality, and to be safe in using cyberspace. But intelligence activities pose inherent dilemmas for democratic societies. How far should the government be allowed to go in collecting and using intelligence before it jeopardizes the freedoms that citizens hold dear? This is one of the great unresolved issues of public policy, and it sits at the heart of broader debates concerning the relationship between the citizen and the state. In Safe and Sound, national security practitioner David Omand and intelligence scholar Mark Phythian offer an ethical framework for examining these issues and structure the book as an engaging debate. Rather than simply presenting their positions, throughout the book they pose key questions to each other and to the reader and offer contrasting perspectives to stimulate further discussion. They probe key areas of secret intelligence including human intelligence, surveillance, ethics of covert and clandestine actions, and oversight and accountability. The authors disagree on some key questions, but in the course of their debate they demonstrate that it is possible to strike a balance between liberty and security.
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
ISBN: 1626165602
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 297
Book Description
Collecting and analyzing intelligence are essential to national security and an effective foreign policy. The public also looks to its security agencies for protection from terrorism, from serious criminality, and to be safe in using cyberspace. But intelligence activities pose inherent dilemmas for democratic societies. How far should the government be allowed to go in collecting and using intelligence before it jeopardizes the freedoms that citizens hold dear? This is one of the great unresolved issues of public policy, and it sits at the heart of broader debates concerning the relationship between the citizen and the state. In Safe and Sound, national security practitioner David Omand and intelligence scholar Mark Phythian offer an ethical framework for examining these issues and structure the book as an engaging debate. Rather than simply presenting their positions, throughout the book they pose key questions to each other and to the reader and offer contrasting perspectives to stimulate further discussion. They probe key areas of secret intelligence including human intelligence, surveillance, ethics of covert and clandestine actions, and oversight and accountability. The authors disagree on some key questions, but in the course of their debate they demonstrate that it is possible to strike a balance between liberty and security.
Getting to Yes
Author: Roger Fisher
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 9780395631249
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 242
Book Description
Describes a method of negotiation that isolates problems, focuses on interests, creates new options, and uses objective criteria to help two parties reach an agreement.
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 9780395631249
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 242
Book Description
Describes a method of negotiation that isolates problems, focuses on interests, creates new options, and uses objective criteria to help two parties reach an agreement.
Principled Ethics
Author: Sean D. McKeever
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 260
Book Description
Moral philosophy has long been dominated by the aim of understanding morality and the virtues in terms of principles. However, the underlying assumption that this is the best approach has received almost no defence, and has been attacked by particularists, who argue that the traditional link between morality and principles is little more than an unwarranted prejudice. In Principled Ethics, Michael Ridge and Sean McKeever meet the particularist challenge head on, and defend a distinctive view they call 'generalism as a regulative ideal'. After cataloguing the wide array of views that have gone under the heading 'particularism' they explain why the main particularist arguments fail to establish their conclusions. The authors' generalism incorporates what is most insightful in particularism (e.g. the possibility that reasons are context-sensitive - 'holism' about reasons) while rejecting every major particularist doctrine. At the same time, they avoid the excesses of hyper-generalist views according to which moral thought is constituted by allegiance to a particular principle or set of principles. Instead, they argue that insofar as moral knowledge and practical wisdom are possible, we both can and should codify all of morality in a manageable set of principles even if we are not yet in possession of those principles. Moral theory is in this sense a work in progress. Nor is the availability of a principled codification of morality an idle curiosity. Ridge and McKeever also argue that principles have an important role to play in guiding the virtuous agent.
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 260
Book Description
Moral philosophy has long been dominated by the aim of understanding morality and the virtues in terms of principles. However, the underlying assumption that this is the best approach has received almost no defence, and has been attacked by particularists, who argue that the traditional link between morality and principles is little more than an unwarranted prejudice. In Principled Ethics, Michael Ridge and Sean McKeever meet the particularist challenge head on, and defend a distinctive view they call 'generalism as a regulative ideal'. After cataloguing the wide array of views that have gone under the heading 'particularism' they explain why the main particularist arguments fail to establish their conclusions. The authors' generalism incorporates what is most insightful in particularism (e.g. the possibility that reasons are context-sensitive - 'holism' about reasons) while rejecting every major particularist doctrine. At the same time, they avoid the excesses of hyper-generalist views according to which moral thought is constituted by allegiance to a particular principle or set of principles. Instead, they argue that insofar as moral knowledge and practical wisdom are possible, we both can and should codify all of morality in a manageable set of principles even if we are not yet in possession of those principles. Moral theory is in this sense a work in progress. Nor is the availability of a principled codification of morality an idle curiosity. Ridge and McKeever also argue that principles have an important role to play in guiding the virtuous agent.
The Trouble with Principle
Author: Stanley Fish
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674910126
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 348
Book Description
The author explains that history and context determine a principle's content and power and that "intellectual and religious liberty ... are artifacts of the very partisan politics they supposedly transcend."--Jacket.
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674910126
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 348
Book Description
The author explains that history and context determine a principle's content and power and that "intellectual and religious liberty ... are artifacts of the very partisan politics they supposedly transcend."--Jacket.
Principled Ministry
Author: Loughlan Sofield
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781594712630
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 141
Book Description
Expanding their foundational work on collaborative ministry, these bestselling authors now offer thirty principles for effective, spiritually healthy, mission-focused ministry. Disciplines like set boundaries; facilitate, dont dominate; think developmentally; be comfortable with conflict; and avoid ambiguity are presented with real-world stories, compelling commentary, and follow-up exercises that reinforce and help the reader apply what has been learned. Arranged into five chapters, the principles are explored in light of the best servant-leadership theory and praxis and situated within a variety of contexts and ministerial settings in the Catholic Church. An ancillary workbook, available for free download, helps both the apprentice and well-seasoned Church leader immediately apply the lessons and incorporate the disciplines presented in this eminently practical and vitally needed book.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781594712630
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 141
Book Description
Expanding their foundational work on collaborative ministry, these bestselling authors now offer thirty principles for effective, spiritually healthy, mission-focused ministry. Disciplines like set boundaries; facilitate, dont dominate; think developmentally; be comfortable with conflict; and avoid ambiguity are presented with real-world stories, compelling commentary, and follow-up exercises that reinforce and help the reader apply what has been learned. Arranged into five chapters, the principles are explored in light of the best servant-leadership theory and praxis and situated within a variety of contexts and ministerial settings in the Catholic Church. An ancillary workbook, available for free download, helps both the apprentice and well-seasoned Church leader immediately apply the lessons and incorporate the disciplines presented in this eminently practical and vitally needed book.